“No one is different in front of a target”. Lorenza Spina, a 38-year-old Florentine bartender and entrepreneur, is one of those people who really involve you when they talk, you can’t help but listen to them. I meet her in the restaurant in Piazza Beccaria, the second open after the “Vinyl”, near Dante’s ‘house’. Here, behind the counter, she has placed a target, where between one order and the other she takes two shots: because every moment is good for training. September 30th won the Italian Darts Championship (soft section) Fidart, in category D, both in single and double, paired with another Florentine. Perhaps an unexpected victory, especially since Lorenza started playing at the end of November 2021. But the stuff was already there.
“It all started because one of my closest friends, Simona, said to me one evening: ‘Come with me to shoot two arrows?‘. That’s how it went, I accepted, it had to be simply an evening with friends at the pub and it has become something that I really like, that makes me happy every time I go to play. Then he allowed me to create myself a round of friendships, of personal relationships with really beautiful people. And everyone and everyone can play with ityou can really compare yourself with anyone ”he points out.
Double and single, different emotions
“With regard to the double was a surprise for me. She was supposed to be my partner Simona but due to work problems she was unable to come to Caorle (Venice) ”. And the same happened to Clara Greco, ‘orphan’ of her gaming partner. “So she and I met again: both from Florence, we knew each other but had never played together. We found an affinity right away – he explains to me -. And we won. I would like to underline one thing: in the double I suffer a lot of emotion, because I know that if I shoot an arrow badly I also damage my partner; I feel a lot of tension but Clara has reassured me a lot ”, she adds and reveals that she too suffers in team races,“ because I feel I have to bring the point for everyone ”.
And the individual instead? Also in this case the tension was felt, but for different reasons: “I was very keen in Caorle, it is the conclusion of the sporting year: it is the chance you have of seeing the results of the work you have done in one year. Indeed less, since I started playing at the end of November / December 2021. One case, then the competition increased – she says amused -. I wanted to do it best. And then the Italian champion of each category is selected for the national team so, since I won in category D, I will go to the European Championship in June, just a year and a half after I started ”. She is proud of the achievement, she shows it, and she is right. Even if he may not play, “but I will go to live an experience that intrigues me and if I ever touch the arrow I would like to make a good impression“.
The Italian championship of Caorle
They were present at the championship in Veneto 36 players in category Dand there was a ‘double knockout’ draw, “so to be disqualified you have to lose twice. I lost the first game, I practically played an arrow, the others from what I was nervous did not even reach the scoreboard ”, the Florentine continues. “I ended up in the losers’ group where, obviously, you have to play a lot more games to get to the podium. There I told myself that I couldn’t throw away all those months of work for nothing, I started think about one game at a time. In the end I got to the match for 2nd / 3rd place: I was very tense but I played well – I tell myself – and I made it to the final. My opponent came from the group of winners and therefore had to be beaten twice. And I did it ”. An exhausting event, not so much from a physical point of view as from a mental one, which however gave her the greatest satisfaction, the first step of the podium. But once again, behind the joy of remembering that moment, the athlete hungry for victories resurfaces: “I played far below my ability, how I do in training, but it’s the result of emotion and I’m not sure how to work on it again. I think the more races you play, the better ”.
The “pillars” of Lorenza
In this first year (even if 12 months have not yet passed) there have been a number of people who have been very close to her and she is keen to name them, to thank them because “for me it was nice to win but above all because they were there . It was my acknowledgment to them, for their indispensable help ”. Let’s start with Niccolò and Sashathe two boys of the “Dartzone Club Firenze“, The association that manages the little room at the“ Progresso ”club where they train:“ They helped me a lot at the beginning, when I started, one practicing the other in counting the scoreboard ”. Then, there is Ferrucciothe captain of his new team for the provincial championship which he will play as category C, the Antica Filoneria Fiorentina“With whom I exchange a lot of advice and he was with me in Caorle”. Claudio Saletti, “Who for me is a bit of a father, is a very strong player with a great deal of experience: help with the movement of the arm is essential, because in darts there is no coach who explains the right technique”. It’s still, Alessio Staccioli, the competition and training partner, “we ‘get together’ with him and he too was in Caorle with me”. And finally, he too in the new society, Alessio Chiesi“With whom we exchange advice, we make videos of each other while we shoot and in short we compare ourselves “.
A game for everyone and all where there are no differences
Considered a bit the sport of drunkards, where those who play are the patrons of pubs and night clubs, with the classic beer in one hand and the dart in the other, one wonders if, as in other disciplines, there are differences between genres. “There are fewer women. But on a physical level absolutely there are no disparities, it is not a game of strength. There are fewer women but there are, and when they are strong it is really nice to see them play. In the official competitions we are divided, males and females, each with its own categories – Lorenza specifies -. But there are so many unofficial tournamentsin which I also participate, which I am mixed. Even the team championship it is mixed, it is the single ones that are divided. In the D team category it is even mandatory that there be a woman and there are many ”. There is no gender difference: same categories, same game, identical prizes. There are players of all ages and all physical aspects, “while in other sports you either have a certain physical predisposition (which is usually genetic) or you can’t do them: are you tall * one meter and 50? You will hardly be able to play volleyball competitively. Are you a not very tall and chubby girl? You will never be called to be the prima ballerina at La Scala. But not out of inability, absolutely! But because unfortunately there are gods standards imposed, they want a slender and lean physique. At darts no, you can have any body, any appearance and still win. It is a sport for everyone and everyone really“.
One step at a time towards the center of the target
Lorenza mainly plays in softeven if he will soon participate in the Italian Cup of the section steel (where the darts have steel tips, ndr). “Especially as a beginner, the soft gives you the opportunity to learn better, to compare yourself with players of the same level as you“. And in view of the very important appointment with the European, what will change in his routine? “I would like to train every day, even if I can’t, compatibly with the work. At home I have a target and I play, but after you’ve worked a full day maybe I just can’t do it. I try and surely I will step up the trainings in view of the European Championship, where I want to arrive knowing of having done everything possible, to have no regrets even if it goes wrong. Then how it goes – she says simply -. For the future I have no particular dreams, I hope to continue and to improve. I would like not to stop, it is easy to improve when you play recently, then it is always more difficult, but with small steps I hope to always go forward. I have learned, in general, that even if a person does a lot of projects then they jump and then better take what life gives us – concludes with a smile – and let’s be happy! ”.