For the Juventus midfielder, a new meeting to talk about betting in Condove: “I knew I was risking my career, but the fear was overcome by the adrenaline of the bet. A year ago the most difficult moment”
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“I’m not saying I’m already out of it yet, it was certainly a very difficult period and the journey doesn’t end in five months. But I’m definitely making sure I get out of it for good. What drew me to the game? I think the main reason was boredom.” Nicolò Fagioli told himself this way to the students of Condove, in Piedmont, in the second public meeting of the ten in which he will have to undergo to eliminate the part of alternative measures to disqualification. As in the first meeting held on January 17 at the Piedmont Order of Psychologists, the Juventus midfielder was accompanied by Dr. Paolo Jarre, the specialist in issues related to pathological gambling who follows him.
THE MEETING
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The Municipality of Condove is the leader of the gambling prevention project “For an aware, seriously playful community”, financed by the Piedmont Region and carried out by Asl To3 and the Terra Mia cooperative. “I’m fine, I’m happy to be here: I tell young people not to even start betting and to cultivate their dreams – said Nicolò -. A year ago was the most difficult period because I had problems caused by gambling. In those cases it becomes complex to manage everything alone and at that point I realized that I had to ask for help. What drove me to put so much money into the game? Maybe I had a lot of free time, boredom led me to play. I think this was the main cause: it started like this, but after time it became an illness.”
RISKS
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Nicolò said he started betting for fun with friends (“his first betting slip at 16, only once a week”), but then it became a problem to manage the adrenaline that pushed him to bet more and more: ” As you lose money, you want to hide things from your parents and so it has become a problem – he admitted -. At first I didn’t think I would face any consequences. When it became an illness I understood that I could risk a lot in my career, but the fear was overcome by the adrenaline of playing. Is it difficult to relive the adrenaline? Yes, but now I spend more free time with family and friends, I play tennis and padel.”
DISQUALIFICATION
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The footballer can’t wait to get back on the pitch, but he also wants to thank his teammates with whom he continues to train every day. “They helped me a lot in the hardest period of my life. Who am I closest to? To Vlahovic, Gatti and Chiesa. The disqualification ends on May 19th, on May 26th with Monza I hope to play again – he said -. Was gambling negatively affecting my work? I think so because I wasn’t training 100%, and therefore in the match I wasn’t giving everything that I will be able to give later after my return.” Nicolò Fagioli also told how he managed the moment of maximum media exposure: “For a few days I closed social media, then I only read the positive messages – he revealed -. I knew there could be a risk of losing Juve, but everyone in the club was close to me from day one.”
JARRE
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Doctor Paolo Jarre highlighted once again how the affair has nothing to do with the old football betting scandals: “Here we are dealing with young people who have found themselves in the problem of gambling, beyond their profession ”. In this specific case, “Nicolò began his career as a child and gradually occupied an ever-increasing part of his life with football. The problem is that there was nothing that allowed him to cultivate something different, pleasant, in his free time – he explained -. Are there any signs that could highlight a possible similar problem? Prolonged use of the telephone, which is also something quite widespread among young people. There is no need to demonize video games, if used in the right measure. But the inclusion of elements that resemble gambling is increasing, through the blind purchase of unknown powers. In this case the supply should decrease”.
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