Soccer Promozione: interview with the manager Giovanni Bulgarella

LUISS football, Sunday the big match of the championship. The interview with the manager Bulgarella: “Skills, talent and sense of belonging are the distinctive elements of our group”.

On Sunday, December 16, the team will face an important away match at Sezze, the fifth strength of the promozione championship. On the eve of this match we met Giovanni Bulgarella, manager of the football team for 10 years, to capture the emotions and learn about the new sports project of the University.

What are the peculiarities of the LUISS Sport model, also in reference to American colleges, and how has it grown in recent years?

LUISS Sport today represents a unique element in the Italian university system and undoubtedly aims to become a reference point for the sports world, as happens in American colleges, but already with precise distinctive elements. In these years a lot of progress has been made and certainly we still have a lot to do. The attention and determination of the top management of the University for the project is for us a continuous stimulus and projects us, day after day, towards increasingly challenging goals.

What does it mean for a student, now a LUISS graduate like you, the sports association?

I joined AS LUISS, now a company, 10 years ago. I was welcomed into a real family that helped me to grow both in my personal and professional life. The complementarity of these two important dimensions of life, within the football team, takes different forms and is transformed into solid friendships, matches fought to the end, nights to plan together. This I believe is the essence of the project.

In addition to the many good students are now also top athletes, recognized nationally and internationally. What virtuous mechanism has the Academy unleashed within this extended community of LUISS sportsmen and women?

The inclusion of professionals from the sports sector, who study and pursue their dual careers, has triggered a mechanism of contamination and very important inspiration. On the one hand, in fact, students-athletes, studying at a university like LUISS, can bring high-level managerial skills into the world of sport. On the other hand, students who practise sport or are part of one of the teams have the opportunity to get in touch, play side by side, compete with great champions.

But let’s talk about football: the LUISS team is first in the standings and the players don’t give up an inch, game after game. What is the secret of this position?

This year, with the support of the University and the sports club, we wanted to raise the bar by making available, with greater decision, the professional experience gained over the years. The talent in the field and a solid structure have allowed this group of friends and players to build a team that carries on with pride the values and the name of our University. This mix of passion, skills and team spirit has allowed us to bring the team to its current position in the standings and to play an important battle at the top in the next game.

What aspects should we work on in the next games? What do you ask the Mr Rambaudi team?

In every area there is always room for improvement and this allows us to keep alive the flame that helps individuals and groups to grow. Mr Rambaudi – who knows football and what it means to be a professional in the world of sport – is a continuous stimulus for the players and allows the team to find the right motivation to continue in this direction. The players are doing their best right now and you can breathe an atmosphere of serenity and awareness. There is a desire to do and do well knowing that every game must be faced with determination and that in our league there are many quality teams that make the season competitive.

How does the arrival of the Serie A player Guglielmo Stendardo in the group as a new student and athlete of the Academy fit in?

Willy’s arrival is the real sign of the growth of this project. Having a champion on the field who has played at the highest levels, who today is at stake and available to the growth of a group of very young students, is an example for all professional athletes. Guglielmo is an extraordinary person who, by graduating, has shown how it is possible to reconcile sport with study. Today he is a lawyer who has decided to attend a master’s degree at LUISS and continue to cultivate a passion for football.

What is the hope for this 2019?

The championship is still long and we face each challenge as if it were a final. In May we’ll see what the result will be, and in the meantime we, the staff, the players on the pitch and our supporters, will get back the most important goal: the chance to feel part of a group.