Luiss University: when sport is on the front line

According to the latest Istat report, in Italy it is increasingly difficult to train both body and mind at the same time.
In fact, many young athletes find themselves having to choose between their studies or competitive activities and 80% of them often decide to abandon their sporting activities due to an unsustainable school/university workload.
“The Commission is committed to ensuring that young high-level athletes have the skills and knowledge they need so that they can easily leave the sporting world when the time comes,” reads the 2008 Commission Statement.
In this sense, Luiss has always believed in the importance for young people to reconcile the world of sport, even at high levels, with that of study, which allows them to shape their personalities and bring out their potential. It was therefore necessary to activate Dual Career programs, thanks to which young athletes can follow both paths of training, sports and university, in a sustainable way.
“I was a young soccer fan and in the 90s I was a student at Luiss and formed the first soccer team of this university, we participated in an international tournament in France. Some time later a project started that in 1999 took shape in the Luiss Sports Association, then the Sport Academy program for a dual career path for athletes and non-athletes, so that there is due attention for those who are committed to sports and double their efforts,” says Francesco Di Ciommo, Pro-Rector with Delegation to Sport.
The Luiss Dual Career programs have made possible the presence of: 18 teams, 389 student-athletes, 48 Top Athletes of national and Olympic/paralympic caliber, 1900 young people involved in the LuissSportperTutti project, which offers students of the University, a wide range of sports activities.
The program aims to offer each student-athlete the opportunity to attend a high-profile university course of study, also with the support of scholarships, and continue to practice sports; to ensure a tutor at the University to assist in the definition of study programs and contacts with teachers; to support athletes in successfully completing their chosen course of study.
“The idea, twenty-three years ago, with the push of Luigi Abate, was to offer a global educational proposal. Now we count 18 teams from soccer to golf, volleyball to horseback riding and in 2015 Luiss Sport Academy was born to meet the needs of a university that wants to have an international scope to attract foreign students,” adds Paolo Del Bene, Sports Director of the Luiss Sports Association, affiliated with CONI.