Pietro and his passion for football | Sport for Change

Pietro smiles back with a ball!

Pietro is a 10-year-old boy who became passionate about football thanks to his older brothers, seeing them play he decided to enrol in the course to start training. All this was made possible thanks to the Sport for Change project “Fare Rete!” which was created thanks to the collaboration between A.S Cometa and Fondazione Milan in the city of Como.

After the stop due to the Covid emergency, the trainings have finally resumed the normal weekly operation, keeping in mind, however, the new anti-counterfeiting regulations that the Association is committed to comply with in full. In fact, they have decided to divide the field into many small spaces to allow all the children to continue to do what they are most passionate about, always respecting the right distance. The role that Pietro prefers is that of the protagonist, he dreams of contributing to his team with lots of shots on goal, and of course, scoring goals, just like a real striker would.

In the lockdown period, what we observed, is that the children lacked the relationship with their peers and with adult reference figures that they find, in addition to school and family, also in out-of-school learning contexts such as a sports association.

During the period of training from home, in fact, Pietro tells us that he suffered from the lack of being able to shoot with the ball, he felt happy to be able to share a moment of healthy sports competition with others. One of Pietro’s fondest memories is when he happily remembers the time he played in the goal and in a moment of difficulty one of his teammates helped him avoid a goal by the opposing team.

The main objective of the Sport for Change “Fare Rete!” project is therefore to offer support to 30 minors who find themselves in conditions of hardship and poverty, using football as a tool for social change and the psychophysical and relational benefits that come from playing sport.