Guido Soldi born in 1942, hall of fame since January 28, 2021, president and lead man of Bollate softball, a family and company that are a unique presence in Italian sport. In this interview he tells us about the season that has just ended, where no trophies have arrived in the senior category, but with the treble of the youth categories (Under 13, Under 15 and Under 18) continues to fill the golden register of the company.
President, do you have two renewed formations born from the youth sector, MKF Bollate at the top of the Italian and European softball and Lacomes Bollate in SerieA2 which even this season has touched the promotion, do you consider it a positive year even without trophies?
“” It was a very positive year because we had the opportunity to enhance our young women. With MKF we had a nice generational change: the team lost four weight holders compared to last year, including the starting pitcher, our Greta who pursued the dream of playing professionally in Japan and the USA. We have built a young team, starting from a core reconfirmed from last season, led by Elisa Cecchetti, who was a real leader for the group. We have witnessed the growth of our Bollatesi Bigatton, Costa, Torre, Fumagalli, Chiodaroli, Camisasca, with the grafts of Elisa Princic (who has shown great value) and the foreign athletes Peckova and Moreland. From the youth teams and from our second team we then included Rampoldi, Binetti and Polini, who were a positive surprise both for their performance and for how they entered the team. Surely in a year with such radical changes, the goal was to reach the playoffs: having reached the final is something that went beyond our initial expectations. Of course, then when you play a final, you want to win. Seeing the games, we were certainly very competitive and played a series on par with an experienced and complete team like Saronno.
As for the A2 series, it has been an overall positive year: the team’s goal is to provide the younger girls with an important gym to be ready to take the big leap towards Serie A1.
It is not easy for us to maintain two senior teams at an economic and organizational level, but it is a job we do to try to give as many opportunities as possible to the athletes of our nursery. “”
You are at the top of youth softball, also this season triple in the final four of Bollate, what is your secret?
“” There is no secret: the key to everything is the great work that is done 365 days a year. The finals are just a small part of everything that is done during the season, the victories are the crowning glory of all this. Surely the difference is made by the people, by our technicians who are committed to maintaining high standards and trying to train our athletes in the best possible way. On the part of the company we try to give our staff the best organization to be able to work with peace of mind and with the necessary means, they put their expertise, their time and their passion into it. Another fundamental element is certainly the environment that is created around the company: we have always tried to involve athletes, technicians and their families and make them feel at home and part of a common project. I am fortunate to come from a large family and to have built a large family myself together with my wife, with five children and eight grandchildren. I really think that managing a company is like managing a big family, where not everyone can always agree, but with affection, mutual respect and commitment you can live the best and the least beautiful moments together. Here, I think that when someone comes to the camp to us, he breathes this. This is what we have always tried to bring to Bollate Softball for the past 53 years. Returning to the main question then, I can confirm that there is no secret, other than to create a healthy and constructive environment that is the basis of a winning reality. This year with the three youth championships our palmares reached 81 Italian titles (13 seniores and 68 youths): surely this is not the result of chance. “”
Your company has been in the breach of the wave for many years, always present on the field, so many volunteers to help, how many Bollate does our sport need / would need?
“” It is not a question of needing many Bollate, it is a question of needing people who want to work and seriously commit to creating companies that have a solid base and the base is represented first of all by a serious organization, made by people who have the desire and the skills to put themselves at the service of our sport. Honestly at the executive level, our sport has shortcomings that are structural and that represent a huge brake on the development of baseball and softball. Then surely you have to start creating the real base, which is represented by the youth teams: without the smaller teams you can’t go anywhere. In recent decades we have witnessed the rapid and sad rise and fall of some teams that were “cathedrals in the desert”, who created with the money they had very strong senior teams and then, after a while, they ran out of money and even ceased to exist. This modus operandi is the shortest road to the death of a sport.
Before becoming President, I am and will always remain a coach, which is the most difficult task, but the most beautiful of all. To be good coaches it is not enough to go to the field for two hours three times a week: you need to train and update yourself continuously, but in a serious way and above all having the opportunity to deal with people who have really left their mark with their activity. It is necessary to have the patience and the desire to spend hours and hours on clay and above all to convey to those in front of you, especially when dealing with the little ones, the passion, joy and wonder that our sports can give us. .
I think this is exactly what our sport needs to be reborn: to rediscover passion, joy and wonder. I grew up in years when baseball stadiums were full, it was another time. What I am sure of is that if we want to see full stadiums in our future, we must rebuild from below, create enthusiasm among the little ones, represent healthy realities in which families want to raise their children. Only in this way will we be able to survive.
Regarding the survival of our movement, I would like to take advantage of this interview to highlight a problem that risks affecting everyone starting from January 1, 2023. At the end of September, the Council of Ministers implemented the Sport Reform, which provides for a legislation on sports work that does not differentiate between one sport and another, does not take into consideration the fact that sports such as baseball and softball have business volumes and economic capacities that are very limited compared to other realities. With this reform we risk disappearing. We hope that a time can be found to review and make the Reform more sustainable. “”
Guido Soldi image taken from reportage by www.bollateoggi.it A family, a sport (bollateoggi.it)
Team Pictures – Facebook Bollate Softball 1969 ASD https://www.facebook.com/bollatesoftball1969
The SerieA team awarded as the second in the championship and the other concerns the three youth champions of Italy
