© Full Account 2024
“This journey began in October 2022: it began slowly, then in a constant manner, always following our ideas and thoughts to relaunch our beloved movement. Almost everyone has tried to contact us. Let’s make an agreement, let’s do this, they proposed to us. Others have approached us. From the beginning we chose to walk our own path, regardless of who wanted to join or hinder us. Our priority is to give people who wish to listen to us and engage with us the opportunity to know who they are dealing with. There are no backroom deals or electoral agreements. What you see is what we wanted to show you, because we deeply believe in our coherence. Consistency, especially in politics, may seem like a rare quality. Yet, we often see sudden changes of direction, people who, close to the elections, change their position for the good of the movement. We, however, are convinced that we are following a different path, which we are proud of and which we are pursuing with determination. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of you who supported us and contributed to our journey. Thank you with all my heart!”
With this speech Marco Mazzieri concluded the electoral campaign for his candidacy as the new FIBS President on the occasion of the party held on Friday evening at the Teatro del Cerchio in Parma. With Mazzieri also the candidates in the Federal Council of the “Conto Pieno 2024” group who support him for the presidency: Pierluigi Bissa, Sergio Piccinini, Federica Morri, Elio Dal Pozzo, Stefano Sbardolini, Ettore Finetti (candidate in technical quota), Andrea Sgnaolin and Emanuela Giovinazzo (both candidates in the athlete quota).
During the evening, which was attended by a good audience both in the audience and via streaming on Facebook, Mazzieri illustrated his electoral programme, already presented in recent months to all Italian companies, focusing on various points in particular . Among these is the cultural revolution that the Federation must undertake, becoming a true partner for sports clubs after years of clear separation between the central authorities and local realities. It is no coincidence that the former player and manager of the Italian national baseball team proposed the creation of “FIBS Lab”, an innovative initiative that aims to improve the 360° training of managers and technicians as well as supporting companies in marketing and in communication by a group of trained professionals.
Mazzieri also focused on the importance of using Baseball 5 on the numerous occasions represented by events, fairs, demonstrations in the square in order to make our sports known to as many people as possible. At youth level, however, the organization of the calendars and the management of the National Finals need to be completely revised. According to him, it is in fact important to propose a more systematic approach to event planning to avoid overlaps and to guarantee young athletes the opportunity to play as many matches as possible, also thanks to the help of summer tournaments, which must be encouraged by the Federation. For the growth of the new generations, the use of the LTADP (Long Term Athlete Development Plan) system will be important, developed especially in Northern Europe, which presupposes basing the training, competition and recovery system on respecting the stages of physical development, cognitive and affective, rather than on the division by age.
There was also no shortage of proposals on the future structure of the championships, on the need to redefine the definition of the AFI athlete and on the intention to analyze the cost and efficiency of all the Federal Academies created after the closure of the Tirrenia Academy and which they have not always worked, thus impeding the athlete’s development and growth.
Finally, regarding the topic of the national teams, Marco Mazzieri was clear: “I believe that softball has worked well, especially with the senior national team, and must be helped and put in the conditions to be able to continue to perform at a high level, while for the baseball requires deep reflection that affects all categories, starting from the First Team. If in recent years, in addition to the placings of the Under 12s led by Stefano Burato and Simona Conti, the most important result was the first place of the Under 18s this year, achieved thanks to the excellent performance of boys such as the shortstop Cornelli – who has been studying and training for three years in Germany at the Regensburg Academy – or the starting catcher Staurenghi – who came from two years of training in the Dominican Republic, it means that something has gone wrong and it is necessary to intervene. A few things will also need to be revised for the Senior National Team: the fact of changing the pitching coach at least six times in the last 7 years demonstrates the impossibility of not being able to plan a long-term job when every time the project changes and starts again from zero. Not to mention some confusing situations where you didn’t really know who the team manager was. There will be a lot of things to review and motivate an environment that seems a bit dull in recent years.”
