Volleyball, Valeria Magri is the only coach in Serie A

“We are like this, sweetly complicated”, Fiorella Mannoia sang. Which, translated into sporting terms, could mean a greater need for dialogue. “This is why I consider myself lucky: perhaps it is a little easier for women to understand this need”. Valeria Magri, from Brescia who has been stationed for a lifetime in Cremona (San Giovanni in Croce, to be precise) is the white fly of a “macho” world, at least on the bench, even in pink volleyball. The only female coach in the entire Italian Serie A (men’s and women’s) is her, who leads Esperia to A2 after winning the B1 playoffs. “I asked myself at the beginning of the season if I was up to this leap: but I decided to fight, to hold on to what I had earned on the pitch. Almost at the end of the first leg, with the other newly promoted behind us and a good classification, I think I can say that there is also a place in A2 for me”.

Obstacles

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Why is a woman a white fly at these levels? “I think the theme is above all a family one. After that there is perhaps less desire, or more fear, to take risks. I was very lucky, geographically: I was able to train at good levels in Volta Mantovana, Ostiano and now in Cremona, all places half an hour’s drive from my home. This has allowed me to be a coach and also a mother, almost full-time. If I had had to move, it would have been much more complex. For example, a coach that I respect a lot and who coached me, from the Casalasca area like me: Giorgio Nibbio, who after coaching in the province of Cremona, made the leap to Urbino a few years ago. He has a son who is the same age as mine : maybe it’s a little easier for a dad. However, I’m not used to feeling sorry for myself and neither does our category. I’m not too passionate about the subject of female quotas, but it seems strange to me that throughout Italy this opportunity to coach close to home, and therefore to reconcile sport and f family, has only happened to me in recent years. Maybe we women too should be more daring. I remember last year, in B1, when I met the only other female coach in the group: we said goodbye like old friends, almost with satisfaction. It was new for both of us, almost unexpected: we are a bit too used to being the exception”.

With colleagues

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How is the relationship with male colleagues? “Highly esteemed. On board Taraflex we rejoice, sometimes we protest, we try to charge the environment, everyone is done in their own way, some perhaps a little more rude than others. But there are also those, and I I’m referring to the coaches of Sassuolo and Lecco with whom we met in A2 after having battled downstairs, he recognized the merits of the work done, without any hesitation and without any envy. I appreciated it very much. I think I’m very motivated in interpreting this profession, but at the same time humble: I always try to compare myself with others, to learn as much as I can.With Vbc Casalmaggiore in the A1 series for ten championships, I have often asked for and received the opportunity to follow training: even from “Current Coach Pistola I received exquisite availability. But I do the same with colleagues of the same category, perhaps at the end of the match, asking how they behave in certain situations. In short, I think talking to each other helps everyone. And what jealousies and secrets are not the right way to grow”. And in the management of the locker room instead? “I consider myself lucky: we women often need to talk, to dialogue, to be listened to. And a woman understands this better. It’s really a matter of character. However, I set some limits: I give a thumbs up, but never the hand; and if I shake hands, I never offer my arm. My athlete can be helped, but she has to get to the result herself. It’s the same reason why I try to avoid going outside the gym and not having friends with my athletes outside the sports arena: it’s my way of understanding professionalism and avoiding problems of all sorts. I’ll specify one point: when I speak of women who want to be listened to, I don’t mean weak. Indeed, in the new generations, it seems to me that they are more fragile men”. A vote in the Esperia championship? “Definitely positive. I trained for many years to try and win championships and catapulting into the fight for salvation wasn’t easy, because we’re about to lose 2-3 in a row but, if you’re not used to it, you struggle to re-emerge. Instead, it’s going everything is fine, we understood that in A2 we can stay there, and well too”.