Stretcher at the Bebe Vio Academy: “How exciting, I’ll be back”

When one loves sport, he never backs down. It takes Nicolò Barella very little to get into the mood of the Bebe Vio Academy. The gymnasium in via Iseo is teeming with children and young people, both disabled and non-disabled, with educators and friends. He participates in the warm-up and then throws himself into the first group. He laughs, runs, makes friends with Lorenzo and when a ball arrives near him, he can’t help but launch into a tackle, harmless but true. Bebe, proud and wild in directing games, is having a blast with her new friend. “It’s wonderful to show him how our world is growing – attacks the Paralympic champion -. The aim of the Academy is to create a kind of utopian world where children all play together, regardless of disability. The fact that Nicolò has come to try Paralympic sports is splendid. And then it seems to me that he is having fun ”.

Like when you were little

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Here’s if he’s having fun. “Come on, let’s do it quick, I have to get back to my basketball team,” she smiles. Nicolò plays with the greens, on the other side there is Martin Castrogiovanni – the former rugby player went to see his friend Bebe – who is more familiar with pushes and passes from the wheelchair. However, the Inter player isn’t doing badly at all. “It’s a wonderful experience, I can only congratulate you for such a project – he explains -. Often we don’t realize what this world is, made up of people who give you so much. Even just a basketball game with them is an emotionally beautiful thing. I thank Bebe for the evening, I will take her inside. Sport is a way to leave life’s problems out. Whether it’s 10 minutes, 50 or 90, you forget everything. And then sport opens you up to inclusion. There’s no difference on the pitch, as kids we formed teams for five-a-side football and basketball, the important thing was just to have fun, like here”.

Overwhelming

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Bebe has so much enthusiasm that even her speaking is overwhelming. “The dream would be to bring this experience to other cities in Italy. Here we welcome thirty people but we would like to increase to forty. We try to give an approach to sport: five different disciplines, two workouts a week for a total of four hours and in the end they decide which sport they like best and we direct them to the right structures. Children and young people between 6 and 18 years to entertain and to introduce the Paralympic sport, so that disability becomes normal, enters their culture and when they grow up they don’t ask themselves “Oh mum, what’s wrong with that?””.

The promise

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Stretcher exults when he sees that his teammates in wheelchair basketball have finally won. Will he come back? “If Bebe doesn’t let me try fencing today, I won’t be able to do otherwise – she jokes -. I know there’s a seven-year-old boy who plays football and does bicycle kicks (his name is Jonel, ed), but he’s not here today and I promised I’d come and meet him. In my life I’ve practiced more basketball than football, it’s my great passion, I was pleased to try this variant. Here we experience something different, something we are not used to experiencing. I will try to pass it on to my daughters”.