Special Olympics

Project location: Italy, Marche
Project start date: December 2007 - Project end date: This project covers various years
Project number: 2007-10
Beneficiary: SPECIAL OLYMPICS ITALY

Timeline of the present activity report: From 1/11/2010 to 15/12/2010

 

5/7 November: regional directors meeting. This meeting was held in Rome, the participants were more than 40 people from all the regions. The main purpose was to receive a feedback from the regions about unified sports and their impact on local communities. There was a round table about that, with discussion on how to enhance unified sports, recruit new athletes, partners and coaches, and expositions of best practice from each participant so they can share their experiences. There was also a session dedicated to the European Basketball Week, the major event dedicated to unified basketball. Guidelines on how organize the event were given by Special Olympics national staff, and each region showed its ideas and its job status.
25 November. Press conference of the European Basketball Week. The conference was held in Rome, in the conference hall of Italian National Commettee. There was the participation of: the Vice president of Italian Basketball Federation mr. Gateano La Guardia, the President of LegaDue mr. Marco Bonamico, the Managing Director of Female LegaBasket mr. Mario Ghiacci, the manager of Pepsi Caserta Club mr. Antonello Riva, the General Manager of Prima Veroli Club mr. Ferenc Bartocci, the former basketball player Max Monti, the gold medal Francesca Quondamcarlo, the Porsche Cup Pilot Stefano Comandini, and on behalf of Special Olympics Italy the Vice President mr. Maurizio Romiti. Special guest was the anchorman Flavio Insinna. There was also a representative of Special Olympics Athletes from Sardinia. During the conference was also launched the promotional video of the event "see the athletes first".
27 November - 5 December: European Basketball Week. More than 15.000 involved in 30 countries across Europe/Eurasia. FIBA Europe and Euroleague Basketball gave the patronage. Almost 4.400 athletes and partners was involved in the following cities across Italy:
- 28 of November: Biella, exhibition match during the break of the Serie A match between Angelico Biella and Air Avellino.
- 30 of November - 1 of December: Lodi, athletes of primary schools involved in training sessions.
- 5 of December: Venezia, exhibition match during the break of the Serie A match between Umana Reyer Venezia and GMA Pozzuoli.
- 29 of November: La Spezia, training session and tournaments for more than 250 athletes from the following high schools: "Istituto Casini", "Da Passano", "Fossati", "Einaudi", "Chiodo" and "Liceo Mazzini", and from secondary schools ""Alfieri" and "2 giugno".
- 2 of December: Genova, training session and tournaments
- 4 of December: Savona, training session and tournaments
- 3 of December: Prato, athletes and partners of high schools"F. Datini" involved in training session and tournament
- 27 of November: Rome, athletes and partners of high school "E. Majorana" involved in training session and tournament
- 27 of November: Rieti, athletes and partners from secondary schools involved in training session and tournaments. The chools were: "Angelo Maria Ricci", "Istituto d'Istruzione Superiore" of Palombara, "Elena Principessa di Napoli", "Strampelli" of Rieti, "Istituto Professionale Agrario" of Cittaducale, "Calcagnadoro". Also athletes from teams "Polisportiva Noi con Voi" "Atletica Sport e Terapia" participated at the event.
- 27 of November: Sabaudia, Lt, athletes and partner of high school "G. Cena" involved in training session
- 28 of November: Osimo, An, athletes and partners of secondary schools "Bruno da Osimo", "Corridoni Campana" and "Soprani Castelfidardo" involved in training session and tournaments. The participants were about 350.
- 3 of December: Gela, athletes and partners of primary and secondary schools involved in training session and mni- tournaments
- 4 of December: Calasetta, Ca, athletes and partners of high school "Istituto Comprensivo di Calasetta" involved in training session.
Special events:
Euroleague decided, for the second year, to promote Special Olympics European Basketball Week during its matches. Special Olympics Athletes had the chance to enter with the teams carryng the Special Olympics banner. All professional players weared Special Olympics tshirts and red laces to support also the "Wear the Laces" campaign. In Italy the teams involved by Euroleague were:
- Armani jeans Milano vs. CSKA Mosca, 24 of November
- Montepaschi Siena vs Lietuvos Rytas, 1 of December
- Virtus Roma vs Spirou Charleroi, 2 of December

As the initiative supported by Euroleague, also Serie a and Lega Due Clubs decided to support Special Olympics the same way. The Serie A clubs involved were:
- Lottomatica Roma vs Angelico Biella, 19 of November
- Pepsi Caserta vs Bennet Cantù, 27 of November
- Benetton Treviso vs Scovolini Siviglia pesaro, 27 of November
- Lottomatica Roma vs Vanoli Braga Cremona, 28 of November
- Cimberio Varese vs Canadian Bologna, 28 of November
- Angelico Biella vs Air Avellino, 28 of November
- Dinamo Sassari vs Enel Brindisi, 28 of November
- Bennet Cantù vs Dinamo Sassari, 5 of December
- Canadian Bologna vs Benetton Treviso, 5 of December
- Air Avellino vs banca Tercas Teramo, 5 of December
The LegaDue clubs were:
- Sigma Barcellona vs Casale Monferrato, 5 of December
On 3 of December started the auction on ebay to raise funds through tshirt and balls signed by the players of all these clubs mentioned above.
Danilo Gallinari, star of New York Knicks was also one of the ambassador of this event, together with Dino Meneghin, former player and actually president of Italian Basketball Federation.
Institutions that gave the patronage to the event were:
Italian Olympic Commette CONI, Italian Paralympic Commette CIP, Italian Basketball Federation FIP, Lega Basket, Lega Due, Lega basket Femminile Serie A, GIBA and LNP.


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