The big match

The most awaited match and the one with the most initiatives: "Cuore d'Atleta" (Athlete's Heart) is back to help autistic children. The opinions of staff and players two days before the match.

It will not be just a normal match. Conegliano-Pesaro, on schedule for Sunday 6th February at 18:00 (live on Blu Radio Veneto) is going to give great emotions for many reasons. It is the clash between the leaders of the league table, Spes in first place, Scavolini in second, the team that won the last three national titles. In the interval between second and third set the Dama castellana organization will have a little show. However, the event as a complex will be for the autistic children and the Oltre il Labirinto organization, which follows those kids and got them to cheer for Spes.

“After 8 years and a lot of work we come to play against the Italian champions in a moment in which we lead on the table - says Spes' president Giovanni Lucchetta - Our situation on the table makes us worthy of this clash. We have to underline two things, the great crowd (we could have probably fill fully a twice bigger gym) and the social initiatives. It makes us very proud to bring these positive messages."

Federico Cais spoke in name of the organization which presented the second edition of the "Cuore d'Atleta" (Athlete's Heart): "On our stand we will propose the hearts autographed by the athletes. It will be an occasion to talk to everyone about our projects. We work with autistic children and try to help their families. The money from the hearts will be given to these families. We already tried bringing some kids to the matches. At the beginning they made it through a few points, then through a set, then through a whole match and then some families started subscribing to the matches. Spes helped us and followed us in some of our projects and also gave us space in their communication activities and for that we are thankful. All of these events help us to make the problems that these families have of public knowledge. All aspects of social gathering are very complicated for autistic children, but they get on step by step. It is possible to gradually bring them to an acceptable level of autonomy and social participation. Those are results that you achieve by working with them every day. Slowly the kids got used to having lots of people around them and to being able to be in a gym during a match. For some of them the match itself has become so important that they can't wait for it."

The Cuoredarena testimonial is Rachele Sangiuliano who feels fine in this role: "I agree with their values and I hope that fans of other teams can take this as an example and do something like this on their own. I think it is very nice that each one of us can give a heart and I also like the idea that these autistic children can come to see this match and share this moment of joy with all of us." As for the mach she is certain it will be a great event: "I have never seen more expectation for a match. It is partly because of the hard work that the whole club has done and partly because of our fantastic fans, who fell in love with the team and never let it down, even in the most difficult moments. They really deserve these results and successes."

For the young Dobriana Rabadzhieva this was the chance to take a look at her adventure in Italy until this moment: "I am surely learning a lot. It is becoming harder and harder to play because the opponents are starting to study the way I play, while at the beginning they maybe didn't know me so well. As for the team I shall repeat what I said prior to the season. We are material for the semifinal of the playoffs. But, now I see how difficult it will be. The opponents are very strong and it will be very though. As for the match against Pesaro I think that the crowd can help us a lot to play well."

“It is difficult to foresee what will be decisive in this match - says coach Dragan Nesic - It is clear that the crowd will give its contribution, but it is hard to say whether it will be crucial. What I can say for sure is that the Champions League match that Pesaro played this week will not give them any problems. They are fully prepared for playing in both competitions. As for us, we are almost safe, but I still don't want to say what position we could end up at the end of the season. It will be easier to know that after the next three matches, because they are very important and difficult and we may end up losing all three of them. After all, we will be playing the three teams that in my opinion are the favourites for the title. We have a crowd like probably no other team in Italy has. We don't want to disappoint them and we know that they will not let us down even if we lose. We can tell them that we will die on court in the next three matches and even if we don't win we want them to be proud of us. Anyway, I must say that I am very happy that despite the positive moment people find negative things in our results, like the fact that we never won in straight sets. It is a good thing because it helps finding motives and helps to stay focused."

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