ROMA – The five ‘new’ sports included in the program of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games are very popular in the American continent, especially in the United States and Canada. But what do we know in Italy about baseball and softball, and above all about flag football, squash and lacrosse? Between tearing flags, diamonds, canvas sticks and rackets, in our country the disciplines close to five circles are not completely unknown nor little practiced.
BASEBALL E SOFTBALL
Everyone has seen, at least on television, a ‘diamond’, the name given to baseball and softball fields, due to their rhomboidal shape, designed by the four bases. There are many points in common, with softball which derives directly from its older ‘brother’ but differs in various aspects, such as the different dimensions of the field, the shorter duration of the game, the different weight of balls and bats. A ‘soft’ version, in fact.
The ‘tricolor’ origins of the two disciplines date back to the last years of the nineteenth centurywith the first meetings between groups of US military personnel documented by Gazzetta Livornese. The role of the pioneer was then attributed to Mario Ottino – known by the pseudonym of Max Ott – an Italian who emigrated to the United States with his family towards the beginning of the twentieth century: it was thanks to him that the definitive consecration in Italy came when, during the During the Second World War, numerous matches were organized between Nettuno and Anzio, played by the US military. The first match with only Italians on the pitch was played on 27 June 1948 in Milan. Nowadays, Fibs has established an Academy in Rome to promote, support and stimulate the technical, educational and cultural development of young talents in order to enrich the Italian athletic heritage.
SQUASH
Squash is also part of the national sports federations recognized by CONI. It could be considered an ancestor of the most recent padel, with the difference that in the first two players face each other side by side and throw the ball against a wall, while in the second you play two against two, on a mini tennis court with a net, but always delimited by walls or glass. In Italy squash made its organized debut in 1976, with the opening of ‘Bologna Squash Center’ and the first school of the discipline, while the first Italian championship was in December 1977, with the participation of sports clubs from Milan, Bologna and Bergamo. Curiosity: the choice of squash ball depends on the level of skill in the game, for example more experienced players use slower balls (marked with a double yellow dot), but the choice is also influenced by the temperature of the playing environment.
CRICKET
It is part of the associated disciplines of CONI. He first appeared in the Paris 1900 Olympic programme, has more than 2.5 billion fans worldwide and is practiced mainly in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, but in general in all Commonwealth countries, being a sport born in England. The particularity? Matches can even last several days. In Italy the Federation was founded in 1980 in a notary’s office in Rome, at the behest of Simone Gambino. Los Angeles 2028 will be played in the T20 version, which is faster, but still lasts around 3 and a half hours of play.
It is very similar to American football, which is why it is very popular in the USA especially among the little ones, because in the development of the game there is no physical contact: to take possession of the oval ball it is necessary to steal a flag tied to the belt of the ‘opponent. The discipline, in fact, focuses entirely on the mix of speed, explosiveness and cunning. In the world the pool of practitioners reaches 100 million in 100 countries, in Italy there is the Italian Flag Football League which has been organizing national championships for 25 years, while the discipline is included in Fidaf, the Italian American Football Federation. The level of our men’s national team is very high, since last year at the World Games the Azzurri won silver just behind the United States.
LACROSSE
The sport was ‘invented’ by the indigenous people of North America (in Canada it is a national sport together with ice hockey) and began to spread internationally in the 19th century, initially in Great Britain and Australia, making two appearances at the Olympic Games: St Louis 1904 and London 1908. It is practiced on an outdoor field and the two teams, 10 against 10, must try to score goals, using poles with a net at the end which is used to catch the ball or make passes and shots.
The history of lacrosse in Italy begins in 2003 when Fabio Antonelli returned from a trip to the United States and founded the first team with the Italian-American Robert Corna: the ‘Roma Lacrosse Club’. The first training sessions took place inside the Circus Maximus and subsequently the team moved to the former Cinodromo in the capital (San Paolo area).
In Italy there is still no professional league, but only an amateur one. The Italian Lacrosse Game Federation (FIGL) was founded in 2007and is the body officially recognized at an international level by the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) and the European Lacrosse Federation (ELF).
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2023-10-16 14:37:52
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