When Gennaro Velardo, coach of New Team Poggiomarino, saw Simone kick a ball for the first time, he immediately thought: «He is a small champion, a talent». It was 2019 and Simone Oliviero he was just 5 years old. Now that he is almost 8 (he will make them in March), mister Gennaro cannot yet be sure that his prophecy will come true, but he can well say that the path he has taken is the right one: the child, in fact, is among the few selected for the Barça Academy World Cup, the only international youth tournament organized by Barcelona Football Club to be held during Easter Holy Week, from 11 to 14 April.
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Simone will represent the Italy team together with twenty other guys from our country, but his age will be only three and he is the only Neapolitan. In total, 2000 will be participating in the competitions in Barcelona from around 200 nations around the world: a great opportunity to show off, but above all a great satisfaction for a child who, according to those who saw him play, he is predestined.
Simone Oliviero lives in Poggiomarino, attends the primary school in the Via Roma complex. He has two little sisters, one younger and one older and a mom and dad who are super proud of him. After all, theirs is a humble and very united family: father Gaetano is a bricklayer, mother Teresa Tufano is a housewife, the sacrifices are many but they are used to make the children study and to cultivate the dream of little Simone, to become a football player. For his part, Simone does nothing but train and try to improve: even in these days of bitter cold every afternoon after homework he reaches Mr. Gennaro and prepares for the appointment of the Barça Academy World Cup with tenacity.
April is not far away and there is always a lot to do even if, as the coach reiterates, “We are talking about a boy with extraordinary technique and great athletic strength, above the average of those of his age”. And then there is the passion, the stubbornness: it was Simone who signaled to the family and the football school that the selections for the Catalan tournament were underway in Naples, with a camp organized by Barcelona at the «Micri» center. For a week he trained twice a day, in the morning and in the afternoon, in front of Spanish and Italian trainers, who wrote everything down and observed in silence.
Then the email with the news of admission to the Italy team: “What have I felt? A great joy, but now I have to think about training and becoming even stronger », Simone says as he runs on the pitch of Poggiomarino. At eight years still to go, it is too early to say in which role he plays, but he is certainly capable of varying on the whole front of attack. He is quick in his gestures and thoughts, he kicks both right and left: a baby phenomenon, in short, who knows very well the sense of belonging to a team.
“Yes, it’s true, I like playing for my teammates, not just scoring,” he admits himself. Nobody knows what will happen in Barcelona, for now dad Gaetano and mum Teresa hope above all that he will have fun: “We are thrilled to know that our son is already considered a very strong player at his age, but what interests us most is that he is happy when he kicks a ball. And then he has to study, obviously ». Meanwhile, at New Team they pamper him: «To make a child happy, a ball and a teacher who remembers being a child are enough», this is our motto and with Simone we hope to fully implement it. In Poggiomarino, on the other hand, those who have heard of Simone’s tale are already hoping that he will become the new Messi and, underneath, Simone will also think about it a little: moving from the dusty pitches of a town in the province of Naples to the international limelight. Dreaming is permissible. Especially when you have your whole life ahead of you.
