Ice Sledge Hockey: Interview with Fabrizio Cozzolino Fabrizio Cozzolino
How, when and why he started to play sports at a competitive level?
Before the 'incident, which occurred July 3, 1983 in the mountains, I always practiced sport, soccer (goalkeeper), basketball, rugby, American football and, after several years of inactivity, in 2002, I accepted the proposal of a dear friend paraplegic (Francesco Mondini) 's start promoting the Ice Sledge Hockey.
Perché proprio l’Hockey?
Ho scelto questo sport perché, così come il Rugby ed il Football Americano che praticavo prima dell’incidente, e’ uno sport di squadra e di “contatto”.
Parliamo di uno sport ancor poco praticato in Italia ma così completo da racchiudere in sė, la tattica di gioco, l’individualismo e il gioco di squadra… quali percentuale si dà ad ognuna di esse per arrivare alla vittoria? Perché?
Essendo un gioco di squadra la “collaborazione” tra i compagni, tattica compresa, è fondamentale ma, in casi estremi, avere anche un “fuoriclasse” che con qualche individualismo risolva la partita è sicuramente utile.
Le Paralimpiadi sono alle porte e, in Nazionale, si troverà in squadra a giocare fianco a fianco con quelli che sono i suoi rivali nella quotidianità del campionato italiano, e’ stato difficile raggiungere un’intesa?
Assolutamente no, dato l’ottimo rapporto con i compagni di squadra.
Per quanto riguarda la rosa degli atleti convocati, stima qualcuno in particolare?
Si, Ambrogio Magistrelli, Balossetti Bruno, Andrea Chiarotti and Marco Re Calegari. In my opinion, also the last two (Chiarotti and Re Calegari) athletes are better prepared and motivated.
What are your expectations for the upcoming Paralympics? Do you think the odds of winning are or may be discounted, as we saw for the Olympics, the surprises?
The "dream" is to get on the podium and, in my opinion, there may be some surprises in the sport since "nothing is obvious"
What 'the team that most afraid of? Why?
I fear all teams since, unlike ours was born a few years ago, the other representative has certainly more experience.
What do you think of the choice of Melania Corradini as standard-bearer?
It was a choice "courageous" because it is a young girl. The hope is that this "transparency / will to live" could help other disabled people to approach the world of sport and do not turn in on themselves.
What do you think the organization, the Olympic villages / Paralympics in Turin and understood as host ? From what I saw and heard, the organization was excellent.
Paralympic Games can be a good opportunity to give more visibility to the sport differently abled?
Absolutely! I hope that from these Paralympics will come a series of actions aimed at achieving greater visibility and view of disabled people and awareness of people still "very civil". Also I hope that this serves to encourage the disabled to do any kind of sport.
advice for young people to take up the sport? Why?
course because the sport is good and, Furthermore, it is wonderful to share the moments of the group (meetings, compared with the other on the pitch, training, etc...)
generally devotes much time to training? The preparation for the Paralympics was different?
As for the Ice Sledge Hockey I train twice a week and the weekend league matches are played. Usually in the afternoon I go to the gym or pool. In recent months, in anticipation of the Paralympics, the few week-end "free" were used to make the meetings.
Mariangela Badagliacca
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