Cantagalli starts again from women: “I asked Velasco for advice. Luca Porro what a phenomenon”

A group of friends, former middle school classmates, convinced him. Because the call of Cavriago, of what is his home, is too strong. Luca Cantagalli starts with a new adventure and dives into women’s volleyball for the first time after a life as a protagonist in men’s volleyball, as a player of the Generation of Phenomena and as a coach (experiences in Reggio Emilia and as assistant in Modena and in the youth national teams). Next season she will sit on the bench of Polisportiva ICaRe, a team that will take part in the women’s Serie B2 championship. “My childhood friends – explains the popular “Bazooka” – together with Roberto Mora, an entrepreneur from Reggio Emilia, involved me in an emotional conversation and I decided to accept their proposal. For me it is a new world that I face with great curiosity, it is another challenge to add to the many I have faced in my career. I also see it as a further sense of belonging to Cavriago, I am 300 meters from the sports hall and one kilometer from where I work, here there’s a good part of my life.”

Do you already have in mind the type of team to prepare?

“The project is interesting and we want to do things seriously; the first objective is the leap into Serie A3, when we manage to achieve it we will see what to do. The certain thing is that we are creating a very professional group, with trained technical and medical staff and managers.”

You have never coached in the women’s field, what will be the biggest difficulty you think you will face?

“The lack of knowledge of volleyball in the squad. To reduce the problem I am relying on advisors who have been working in this reality for years; everyone knows the top level players, when it comes to Serie B2 it becomes a little more complicated and I find it right to turn to more knowledgeable people. Then technically volleyball doesn’t change much, even if some differences exist and I’m already trying to analyze them in detail.”

Have you heard from Julio Velasco, your coach at the time of the men’s national team and now in charge of the women’s team?

“I spoke to him more than once, we even met during a refresher course and he gave me a lot of advice which I will obviously take advantage of. I know well that I can call him if I have any doubts.”

She begins a new adventure in the women’s team just as the Italian men’s team is leaving for their debut in VNL. How do you think De Giorgi’s team left some “senators” to rest in the first phase?

“I see a very high level group; when you start again you always have to face difficulties of various kinds but Fefé can count on a squad of absolute value, with many young people to work with. I think he will have a problem when he has to decide who to exclude from the group, because there are so many talented spikers.”

In the year of the European Championships the aim is usually to evaluate some innovations, as for example Velasco is doing with Antropova as spiker, but with the continental event to be played in Italy the objective must always be to finish in front of everyone.

“Experimenting doesn’t mean giving up on winning, but working for the future without losing competitiveness. Our two national teams always aim to leave everyone behind, whatever the competition, because at the moment Italy is the number one team in the world. All possible changes are designed to make the group even better.”

You said that there are many strong players, what if you had to choose an emerging player that you particularly like?

“It’s very tough, but if you ask for a name then I’ll say Luca Porro, capable of playing a great championship in Modena. Only time will tell where he can get to, but this year his level has been very high.”