Super League, Randazzo in his Catania

Sometimes you become a prophet in your homeland after a long journey around the world. On Sunday Luigi Randazzo, 29 years old, spiker for Farmitalia Catania will play his first match at home, in his homeland after a 15-year career, an adolescence spent away from home to cultivate his volleyball dream, a long career in the youth national teams (European Under 20 and World Under 21 bronze) and several senior call-ups with which he achieved a third place in the World League and a second in the Grand Champions Cup: “The emotion will be there, but it must last just a few minutes: the entrance into warm-up pitch – says the player who played among others in Vibo, Verona, Cisterna, Padua and Taranto – the greeting to relatives and friends who will arrive in large numbers enough to clog the box office. Then we will only focus on the match against Cisterna.”

The warmth of home

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Randazzo, in Perugia, debut for the club of owner Pulvirenti who took over the title from Vibo, was among the best beyond the 12 points scored: “We start again from the last set played on equal terms against a contender for the championship. The spirit will be the same, then we expect a lot of people at PalaCatania. There is excitement and this already gratifies us.” Randazzo accepted Catania, after a move to Egypt, to Al-Ahly, out of a sense of belonging and not only: “The prospect of playing for the team from my homeland and the project convinced me.” After all, Gigi was born in Catenanuova, in the Enna area: “There I started with youth tournaments, I did an interprovincial in Leonforte, a few km from Enna. Then at 14 I was already away from home thanks to the trust that Lube immediately gave me.” There is a precedent from Catania, experienced with the national team preparing for the World League, a test against Australia played in the sports hall which is now his “home”: “It was a strange sensation, a great emotion. There were many friends and the fans looked at me who was Sicilian in blue. I saw heat, what I hope to find in these championship races.”

Pride

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Away from Sicily, however, as a boy, Randazzo often frequented the stadium: “I used to travel to see Catania coached by Hugo Conte at work in the A2. In that team – and I also told him this some time ago – Orduna, my current teammate, was in the direction. Fate, sometimes… As a child I obviously thought about having fun, not about becoming a professional player. I have fulfilled the dream of many of my countrymen. Today I can represent them with an immense pride that I must also transform into determination in order to help my team save itself quickly.”