The Letter

24 January 2013Manuel

That of the Umbrian judo was a four Olympic years unprecedented success in all categories: youth and seniors, male and female. Four years in which the small region of Umbria has grown thanks to one person: Giulio Famà, coach of regional team, that together with his boys has reached peaks that seemed inaccessible. "The four-year Olympic period is now over - says the coach Famà - and the recent articles published in local newspapers do not help to understand the enormity of the sacrifices faced by the Umbrian companies and their technicians. To remedy to all the oversights and unexplained omissions emerged these days, I would like to highlight the real situation and give weight to the actual work done. As Regional Technical Commissioner I had the merit of having involved in this adventure great masters of great moral depth: Celestino Magnini, long-time technical of the noble team Ripabianca, and Dario Dionisi, who managed to lead the athletes of Gubbio at the top of the national judo (remember Bianchini and Fiorucci, winners of the Trophy Italy in 2012, without forgetting his son Marco, great silver medal at the Italian championships). One can not ignore the excellent work done by Leonardo Perini and Mirco Diarena, responsible of the major competitive team: Leonardo (for all the Coach) has conquered the affection of the entire regional team with his friendliness and availability, and he is also the master of a historical society in Umbria where great athletes like Daniele Sciabola (bronze at Italy Cup 2012), and Giacomo Mellone (bronze at Italians Juniors 2012) grew up. Mirco, at the head of the Kodokan Fratta after the untimely death of his father Silvano, has been able to create a team that today boasts captains as Matthew Lascialfari (second at the Italian Cup 2012) and Nicola Becchetti (Italian Junior Champion).All the guys mentioned could take advantage of the support of exceptional teachers like Giovinazzo, Lepre, Cattedra, a slice of the history of Italian judo part of our regional team. I must also mention who made it possible for the region Umbria to be represented in European tournaments, World and Olympic Championships. I refer to the Blue Flames Perugia of Francesco Bruyere (gold in the Jigoro Kano Cup), the London Olympic athletes Francesco Faraldo and Elena Moretti and many others, among whom I would like to quote the Umbrian Matteo Celesti (5th overall in Italy). A collaboration with the prison officers Dr. Marcello Tolu and Dr. Francesco Pennisi, that will continue in the next four years and will allow increasing growth of judo in Umbria. Finally - concludes Famà - I can only show my satisfaction for the revival of judo in Terni. I recall with pleasure the two Italian titles of Pragliola Francesco and Massimo Mancini of the team Passpartout conducted by Ferdinando Fiocchetti and Stefano Nardone. There are also other interesting promises like the aforementioned Mellone and Nicholas Colomboni athlete of team Guazzaroni of the master Gianluca Guazzaroni and the technicians Roberto Colombini and Alessandro Cervelli.I would like to continue the list, but it is not possible to mention all the athletes of the Umbrian teams that, with the exception of the team of Città di Castello, in the past four years have participated at the regional trainings and have contributed to the success of our team. Though the credits go to Filippo Tonzani, a promising young athlete trained by Maestro Poeta, the athletes of the historical society of Maestro Giampaolo Magri, to Elisa Mazzetti and Riccardo Basili, flagship of the association San Sisto, and finally to the boys of my and president Giuseppe Famà’s team: Binucci, Battistoni, Balzana, Damiani".