One of the most important figures of Roman and national volleyball has died of cardiac arrest
He would have turned 75 on April 21, Rome’s Christmas Day. And in Rome she had spent most of her more than fifty-year career dedicated to volleyball: from youth to A1, a fundamental figure for years of the women’s top movement in the capital. During the night, Simonetta Avalle, a historic coach who brought Rome to the top flight of the women’s championship, also winning a CEV Cup, passed away due to cardiac arrest.
volleyball passion
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Graduated in Literature and Philosophy, she began her adventure in volleyball as a coach almost by chance, together with her brother Gianni (also a coach and then manager in Italian volleyball) with whom she then carried on the Tor Sapienza club, the neighborhood where she grew up . From the fields of the open-air oratory he made a long climb up to the top flight. The Cev Cup arrived in 1993, won in the final in Türkiye against Eczacibasi. Then in his career he also coached Arzano, Florence and Reggio Calabria. She has worked with many champions, starting with Manuela Leggeri, captain of the World Champion national team, which she launched in Rome.
with young people
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But Simonetta’s commitment to volleyball has never only concerned top-level volleyball (where she was, however, the only Italian coach to work in the top series after Liliana Pizzo in Catania). With the required helmet and always ready smile, even after quitting the A1 series in 2006 she dedicated herself to projects in youth sectors such as VolleyRò, VolleyFriends and for years was Lazio’s selector for the Regions Trophy. An absolute love that led her to commit herself to volleyball until the end
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