Water polo: Settebello towards the World Cup, Campagna turns 60

Last fireworks before the World Cup. Tomorrow the Settebello will fly to Los Angeles, the last big test for the Fukuoka event will be the World Cup Final Eight, the event that has inherited the legacy of the World League and was conquered for the first time by the Azzurri one year ago in Strasbourg. “We’re not brilliant yet, but between now and mid-July we’ll only be able to improve” confides Sandro Campagna after the 8-7 draw in the friendly against European champions Croatia, played as part of the Settecolli Trophy in Rome in a packed pool . “It was great to see so many people in the stands. We need this, not changes of rules” the words of the coach who today crosses a special milestone. Sixty years, mostly lived in blue hues.

YESTERDAY AND TODAY

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The occasion for inevitable balance sheets, with an eye to the future in any case. Campagna can be proud of himself and of the national team that he returned to lead at the end of 2008 (he took over from Ratko Rudic at the end of 2000, winning silver at the 2001 European Championships). With few exceptions, consistently placing it at the top. “I made my debut in 1982 and, apart from the six years spent in Greece, I can say that Settebello and Fin are my home. I am grateful to those who have given me the opportunity to fulfill a dream: first as a player, then as an assistant and finally as a coach, linking my name to such a glorious team is a source of pride”. Palermo the city of birth, Syracuse that of adoption (there the father worked at the agricultural development body), the beach of Mondello for the summer holidays. With an illustrious umbrella neighbor: Cestmir Vycpalek, Juventus coach. Sometimes his nephew Zdenek Zeman also showed up. Little Sandro’s relationship with sport blossomed thanks to a pediatrician: the swimming pool would have helped him to widen his chest. Since then, a lot of water has passed, in every sense. Sixteen A championships between Ortigia and Rome, then the Azzurri’s successes on the pitch (Olympic, European and world gold between 1992 and 1994) and on the bench. Until arriving at Hall of Fame of Fort Lauderdale: he received the news on Christmas Eve 2018, telling the Gazzetta that “the secret is not to live on memories. Contentment is the worst enemy”. And underlining the importance of his great teachers: “Romolo Parodi made me fall in love with water polo, Gianni Lonzi had the courage to call me up for the national team at 18, Fritz Dennerlein was an extraordinary innovator. And Rudic made me understand the importance of working on the head as well: that is the first element to train”.

OPEN DOORS

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If Campagna has entered the history of our water polo, the same can be said in Greece: with him we achieved the first world medal, the bronze medal in Montreal 2005. Even in that precious interlude in his career, without ever closing the doors definitively to a player and sometimes launching it by surprise even at a mature age. An example of the Settebello: Amaurys Perez world champion at 35, Shanghai 2011. At the Gwangju 2019 World Championships – another gold – an intuition was the recovery of Stefano Luongo, whose blue experience was considered by many to have faded. A similar story also for Niccolo Figari. Now the great return is that of Alessandro Velotto, back from a great season with Pro Recco vincitutto: he too is part of the group that will fly to Los Angeles. Even in a winning team, says Campagna, some additions are always good: “It’s like injecting young blood”.

UPDATE

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The important thing is to adapt to the change in sport: water polo – fortunately – today no longer seems like an exaggerated physical struggle, but speed and dynamism count. Updating, the fixed rule of Campagna. That in 2016, together with the medical director Giovanni Melchiorri, he edited the manual “The physical training of the water polo player”. Explaining: “In 2009, what is our current way of working was born, based on a scientific approach to preparation. It is no longer “swimming and playing” as in the past, but a decomposition and recomposition of all the elements of the game itself”. Among the other medals won, in addition to those mentioned, a European silver and bronze in 2010 and 2014, silver at the Games in 2012 and bronze in 2016. He says today: “Sixty years is a good goal, but I still the enthusiasm of a little boy. Being a coach allows me to always be in contact with young people and therefore keeps me young”. The World Cup is the next mission – on Friday we will challenge Romania in the quarter-finals – and the World Cup is the next step where we will present ourselves as vice-champions (“So two opposite time zones to dispose of” warns the coach). And then the profile of Paris 2024 already stands out. “The five-circle flag must always be imprinted in our minds, but we must live the present well. Because if we are an excellent team now, we must aim to become superlatives”. In relation to the past, however, “the best I have coached are Georgios Afroudakis in Greece and Carlo Silipo in Italy”. That is the current Setterosa coach who closed his World Cup in sixth place in Long Beach, beaten 10-9 by Greece. The title went to the United States, 12-11 against the Netherlands. Third place went to Spain, 18-15 over Hungary.