S.tella della volleyball, Neapolitan, 28 years old, Cristina Chirichella has the story of the predestined. Becomes captain of the national team at 23and as captain she won silver at the World Championships in 2018 and, last year, gold at the European Championships.
At 15 she had left her family to move to Rome, to study as a champion. Today he lives in Novara and plays for Agil Volley.
Cristina Chirichella, star of volleyball
Very young to leave home, family, peers, right? But Club Italia, the training course of the Federation with which the promises of volleyball are intercepted, wanted it.
Yes, I was actually small. And at first I suffered a little. But I had the company of the girls of the Club: in the morning we went to school, in the afternoon we trained, in the evening we all studied. In particular, I lived with Martina Recine, who, moreover, no longer plays, is now a lawyer, but has remained one of the closest friends. I made my fifth grade in Milan, because then Club Italia moved there. And there I played a Serie B championshipso I was always on the pitch at the weekend.
It means that he hasn’t had time for nostalgia for anything.
Indeed. At 15 I was already thinking with my head, I was referring to me for everything. Great school!
At what age did you realize that volleyball was becoming your life?
When I entered Serie A, after Club Italia, at nineteen. Moreover, when I joined A1, in Pesaro, I immediately played as a starter, even if it was not a foreseeable option. They trusted me: there I realized I had my own space in front of me.
Cristina Chirichella at EuroVolley 2021 in Croatia
Play for the team
What are the most beautiful victories for you?
Those in which the team wins, in which each plays for the partner.
What do you do to relax for a very important meeting?
Study. There is nothing that takes me away from stress like putting all of myself on studying. Before the Tokyo Olympics I took five exams, one between the Olympics and the Europeans. In February I took my Bachelor’s Degree, Motor Sciences at the Cattolica in Milan. On 18 July I will know if I have been admitted to the Master’s. Moreover, at the Tokyo Olympics, you collapsed to the quarters: shortly after you go and get yourself an amazing gold medal at the European Championships.
How can a bankruptcy be remedied in a short time?
With the strong desire to make it, putting himself to work a lot. I believe that serenity is achieved when the things that are done are good. At the Olympics we disunited. The harmony of a team is always a precarious balance to be regained.
What breaks the balance?
For example, indifference to a problem, pretending it doesn’t exist, failing to find solutions.
A hard job
What is heavier than your job?
I was lucky enough to be in teams that always aim high: I have to and I want to win. Today the Championship is very demanding and sometimes the body is really tired.
What does defeat represent for you?
There are those who suffer from it, I accept it: defeats give me the awareness of what I lack in order to win.
Wouldn’t you like a little lightness in your life?
No, my life is all lightness. I have made what I love a profession.
The unique relationship with the brother
They call her the princess. Does she find herself?
That term was associated with me in an interview during the 2014 World Cup in Italy: they wrote that I moved in an elegant way, like a princess, in fact. Certainly I am my dad’s princess, who called me that as a little girl, but the word makes me think of a precise woman linked to appearance, my opposite.
Speaking of family, is it true that he wears the G of Gaetano, his brother, tattooed on his arm?
Very true, I am strongly attached to him. The tattoo is actually the symbol of infinity: at one end there is an anchor and the G of Gaetano; on the other the C of Cristina and the birds. I’m always the one ready to fly away. He the one planted on the ground: for me he is a reference.
What does your brother do?
The architect, in the Netherlands. For some months you have been the social brand ambassador of Sector No Limits. Why do you think you are chosen by a brand? For the player that I am and because I like to give a clear, univocal image, and also because I love to feel good, always. I never give up on makeup, jewelry, accessories, what sets me apart.
Cristina Chirichella and social media
Have social media changed the life of you athletes?
Oh yes they changed it. They have given visibility to us athletes and to our minor sports, minor in reference to football. In the field, it reaches 3 meters and 20. Remarkable. Well, in short, I have to thank my height, there are girls who jump much higher. My specialty is the speed of the movements, yes, and then my flexibility: in my role I manage to play the central attack at 2 and the central attack at 3, while there are players who are specialized in certain balls. Out of the technicalities, let’s say that I can play more balls. You keep talking to me about heights.
She is 1.95m tall, how does it feel in the world at that height?
I’m fine now. But as a child it was my cross: in middle school I was even taller than boys, and even by a lot. Sport is fantastic because it has enhanced my particular physical equipment.
Vacation?
First in Puglia with the ex-girls of Club Italia. Then on the Sorrento coast, where I took a home for me and my puppy, Chichi, a pit bull. We have a long history my dog and I and in this moment it is my world. She and I get along very well because we are similar; sociable, without rancor, but able to distinguish who deserves to have an important part in our life and who does not. They both like to go trekking and be in the water.
Do you play beach volleyball on vacation?
I love the beach, but there are not always fields to play with friends. Playing beach volleyball with her “among friends” must be mortifying. But no, don’t believe it, playing on the sand changes everything. The beach is all technique, all head, you have to obsessively try to anticipate the opponent’s move. Even an indoor champion can have nasty surprises.
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