MERANO. A bolt from the blue, the one that fell on the directors of schools but also on the companies that use the gym every day. School village in via Wolfafter following a series of inspections, with a letter in early August the Province has ordered it to be unusable due to urgent works to be carried out on the roof.
To tell the truth, the feeling that for the 2022/2023 school year the multifunctional gym in via Wolf might not have made it through the periodic review process had already arrived at the beginning of July, when always with a letter the Province communicated to school managers that «on the basis of surveys on the existing structure, the first intermediate results were not positive, even if the calculations must be examined in more detail. However, we feel compelled to inform you as of now that the gym is likely to be temporarily closed and therefore not available at the beginning of the next school year. By the beginning of August we expect more detailed results of the ongoing review, on the basis of which we will be able to make a more conclusive statement ».
Results arrived a few days ago and which, except for last-minute twists, give no escape to the gym which will have to be closed from September and for which it is expected up to a year of unavailability for work to secure the roof. Translated in simple terms, the schools that usually make use of, but also sports clubs including the handball Sportclub from the first team with all its youth formations (including two Italian champions), from September will have to be another venue for physical education lessons (schools), for training but also for championship matches (clubs).
The building.
A blow that brings back the topicality of the project, for a city of over 40 thousand inhabitants and with thousands of other citizens in the surroundings, of a sports hall for the exclusive use of sports associations, also to free up a difficult coexistence of schools / sports clubs that in the undergrowth of relationships creates daily frictions between needs that are very often difficult to agree on.
Lessons.
On the issue, the first to intervene is Riccardo Aliprandini, director of the Gandhi Higher Institute who explains: «We await the meeting scheduled for 23 August with the Province that will have to tell us something more precise about the times for carrying out the work. We were told that they should finish in a few months, and in this case we will adapt to the beginning of the school year. The outdoor pitch is the solution as long as the weather is good, but theoretical lessons are also possible. In the event that the times are dilated, we will try to devise other options. Having said that, the news is a tile for our exercise science teachers, after everything we have been through in recent years, but also pending the expansion of the institute and the solution to the parking issue, ”explains the manager.
An alternative in the medium term could also be to imagine a tensile structure in the spaces common to the three institutes. “It’s a possibility, but now it’s too early to talk about it. Regardless of how it goes, what I hope is not to witness the race for who comes first best lodges for the spaces. I hope that those in charge will establish a coordination plan to ensure all their rights ”, concludes Aliprandini who agrees with the need for Merano to equip itself with a sports hall.
I club.
The situation for sports clubs is even more complex, as explained by Denis Pellegrini, head of SCM handball and for the 50 boys of his association. “From what they explained to us, the roof of the gym needs to be rearranged for which they say it will take a year, but since we are at this point we asked to redo the floor at the same time and that in the end our carpenters repair cyclically, as do the lighting and bathrooms, in order to be in place for the next few years and not to make a bad impression with the other teams every time », explains Pellegrini who also speaks of an economic damage to his company.
«Between 30,000 and 50,000 euros, if we were to move to Lagundo, due to missing tickets and income derived from the catering we offer at the school village, as well as an even more disturbing fact. We have two youth teams that are Italian champions, but not the place to train our boys and for now we have not been offered an alternative solution. Of course, if they had communicated it to us in January, we would have revised our budget but so, three weeks into the season, it is really difficult. And it happens precisely on the 50th anniversary of our birth ”, bitterly underlines the manager who at this point asks at least for the preparation of a tensile structure in the school area or, alternatively, at the Palamainardo. “After years of promises, what do you expect to build a sports hall in Merano, perhaps in the Palamainardo which seems the most obvious solution for the city?”.