In Sicily, on the Nebrodi Mountains, Nibali’s cycling training ground, the football team is at the top of the Second Category but has no pitch, which has been unusable for four years. Delfio, 49 years old, breeds the oldest horse breed in Italy and is the captain: he plays with his 17 year old son and they score together, like on Sunday. “The football school serves to help kids stay away from alcohol and drugs, and fight school dropouts”
We are in San Fratello, a municipality of 3500 inhabitants in the Nebrodi mountains at 675 meters above sea level, in the province of Messina. These were the training grounds of Vincenzo Nibali, the cycling champion. Here there is a football team called San Benedetto, founded by Delfio Calabrese, soul and captain. He is at the top of his second category group. But in addition to playing football, Delfio breeds the Sanfratellano horse with great passion. It is the oldest breed in Italy, appearing on the Nebrodi over 1000 years ago, and still lives wild here. It is from this horse that the DNA was transmitted to all Italian breeds and through the Sanfratellano and its crosses with other horses the history of our country can be written.
all together
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But there’s much more. The football team was created with the aim of using sport as a powerful social tool against school dropouts and helping the young people of San Fratello to believe in their future. The football field has been unusable for four years due to work, so Delfio and other adults from San Fratello take the kids in their cars on training days and take them to the Acquedolci field. Everyone waits for those two days a week to go to training, because we are together, there is discussion and the desire to build something beautiful. Training then turns into a party, because in the end we all eat together on the sidelines and always return home happy. Last Sunday, Delfio, who is 49, and his son Antonio, 17, played together in the team and both scored in the match won against Vivi Don Bosco in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto. But there is something more important.
the words
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Dad Delfio explains: “Football is often made up of numbers and rankings, but sometimes it becomes pure magic. Days like Sunday remind us why we fight. I’m proud that these kids grow up in an environment with the right teachings. We have a football school of 40 kids, completely free, we try to get them off the streets. I want to make the kids understand that everything in life can be achieved with sacrifices and training, and thus stay away from drugs and alcohol. I always tell them, “you have to believe in what you do, live peacefully, don’t drink, don’t smoke”. We also have difficult situations, but we help these kids. This is a golden country, with a beautiful history. I built the team and I named it after San Benedetto il Moro (religious and saint from the 1600s, ed.), which was actually from San Fratello. Unfortunately we haven’t had a football field for four years, we go to Acquedolci, we always train in the evening, and think about the sacrifices which even the kids do. We tax ourselves, they don’t pay anything. This team is serious and must last over time, because it has serious values.”
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