The societies and voluntary work that make Italia great

There is a national team in the Italian national team. Its name is Polha Varese and, with the gold medal won by Emanuel Perathoner in snowboarding, it has 57 Paralympic medals in its trophy cabinet, won in more than forty years, from 1984 to the present day, between summer and winter editions. If this is not an added national team... Even among the 45 athletes competing in Milan Cortina, eight are members of the Varese club. This demonstrates how important the contribution of local sports clubs is in building, together with the CIP and military sports groups, a strong National Team. Polha (Polisportiva handicappati, later Associazione polisportiva dilettantistica per disabili) was founded in 1982 at the behest of Giacinto Zoccali, a visionary physiotherapist convinced that sport opens up new lives for people with disabilities. Thousands of children and 57 medals later, the spirit is the same and should be cloned in Italian societies.

Daniela Colonna-Preti is the president, busier than ever, between the birth of her fifth granddaughter, her boys on the snows of Cortina, those of Ital-hockey at the Santagiulia Arena, and the swimmers at the World Series in Lignano Sabbiadoro: 'I live with my phone in my hand, they are all a bit like children. The sports we offer are many, the members are growing and so are the needs, but there we are', a close-knit group of volunteers for about 300 children/young people with disabilities practising athletics, boccia and Paralympic table football, handbike, kayaking, swimming, para ice hockey and snowboarding. And, among those children, grew up Federico Morlacchi, Simone Barlaam, Giulia Terzi, faces to cover. "Our mission," emphasises the president, "remains that of giving a chance to everyone who enters this office. If then champions bloom, all the better'. They are many because Polha is a model society at world level, whose commitment is also recognised in the area: 'Sponsors are many - because providence exists - and their generosity is multiplied in others. These days, we are considering the exchange of a minibus and, just this evening, I am going to a charity dinner of Costruiamo il futuro and Fondazione Allianz Umana Mente to receive 20 thousand euro'.

It all sounds logical when Daniela speaks, but it is not so. The management of a sports club is demanding and this is confirmed by Angelo Martinoli, technical director of the Polisportiva disabili Valcamonica, which was present at the Games with four athletes, Beppe Romele, Davide Bendotti, Federico Pelizzari, and Cristian Toninelli: 'With Federico's silver, we are now down to three Paralympic medals, and what a pity Beppe's fourth place yesterday,' he begins. Doing sports in a closed valley was difficult at the beginning, in 1992, but now the Polisportiva, which offers courses in athletics, swimming, hand-biking, archery, wheelchair tennis, and hippotherapy, is a reference point for a hundred or so members with physical, sensory, and intellectual disabilities: "Volunteering is our driving force and many of us feel the joy of pouring our knowledge and dedication into those in need, then you happen to meet Beppe as a child and take him to the Games. Also thanks to No surrender, the Bruce Springsteen song that is never missing on the buses.

There is another club that is a pillar of Italia Cortina: it is the Alto Adige Disabled Sports Group from Bolzano, which has nine athletes in the Italian hockey team and has won seven Paralympic medals: 'In 1990, at the age of 23, I had my left leg amputated,' recalls president Markus Kompatscher, 'and I founded the group with some friends to provide a home for those who practised downhill skiing on mono-skis. The beginning was in a garage, today there are 150 members and the training sessions, including of the blue hockey players, take place in Egna: "But everything is always based on voluntary work, on the synergy between associations and on caring for others".