Stefano Santini Interview … Viareggio Beach Soccer Club
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FBSC : Stefano, it is a great pleasure to see Viareggio Beach Soccer attending the 1st Madjer Cup. What do you expect from this participation?
S : we work with youth players, from 10 years, and we wait a lot of time to have the occasion to understand the level of our youth players with other teams in the world. This is a big occasion to understand and complete the work of Viareggio with youth players.
FBSC : Tell us a little, about the team and the youth beach soccer approach you are undertaking in your club.
S: 14 years ago a my big friend, MATTEO Valenti, died after a serious accident at work.
I was a professional football player and after an injury to my knee my career is over very soon. So I thought to organize something special for my friend, and I did the first official beach soccer tournament in Viareggio, in his name. After one Year we built the first MATTEO Valenti beach Stadium and over the local tournament I organized a stage of the Italian serie A beach soccer.
For the first time I saw the champions of beach soccer playing, but one of them made me fall in love with this sport. He did amazing things with the ball on the beach, his name was Madjer, and watching him play made me want to create and train a team, the team of Viareggio beach soccer born in 2010…. from there in a few years this team won the Serie A and the Italian Cup twice and in 2016 won its first Euro Winners Cup becoming European champion. So I owe Madjer the love for this sport.
In 2012 viareggio beach soccer created his first youth tournament and his first beach soccer academy. The best players of this tournament will form the first Viareggio beach soccer under 18 for this occasion
Our presence at this tournament has the double meaning of evaluating the level of our boys and especially of paying homage to a champion like Madjer, who made me fall in love with this sport to the point of building a team and a youth sector in my town of Viareggio.
FBSC : How do you see the impact of this tournament on the future of Youth Beach Soccer worldwide?
S : Thanks to this initiative, the various countries will be able to start evaluating their work on a global level, it will only be the beginning of what will be the future basis of beach soccer in the World, and it is also a recognition for those few clubs that have worked the young people in four years and in Itslia we can say that we are few.
FBSC : Have you ever heard about Figueira? What do you know about the place where the event will take place?
S : I’ve never been to Figueira, but I know it’s a beautiful Portuguese seaside town that every year hosts many sporting events and cultural events, in short, a modern city that makes sport and tourism its faith.
FBSC : Final words to all the teams attending the event…
S : I thank the organizers of this tournament and I invite all the teams to play with the true spirit and values of beach soccer. Values represented in the world in all these years by that great champion that gives the name to this tournament and that for me is also a friend, Madjer Saraiva.
Good luck to all the participating teams
Know about this fantastic event on its official Facebook Event Page or Website
