The GPoint gym in the morning; the Pampaloni sports center, in Fighille di Citerna, in the afternoon. This will be the menu of the first week for ErmGroup Volley Altotevere, which on Monday 26 August – with the weather still markedly summery – began the first efforts of the third consecutive season in the Serie A3 Credem Banca championship. On the afternoon of Sunday 25th, a pleasant internal gathering between athletes, coaches and corporate teams at the ErmGroup headquarters in San Giustino with a greeting from the CEO Claudio Bigi and the presentation of the new team, which however confirmed nine of the 14 players of the last year. The pleasant convivial moment concluded the holiday period more generally. Still missing, for obvious reasons, are Gabriel Galiano and Daniele Carpita: the former is not back among the 14 of the Under 20 national team and will arrive in a few days, while the latter is part of the Italian expedition and also played a portion of the match debut of the European Championships in the category, which saw Italy defeated 0-3 by Israel. “We are leaving very excited – coach Marco Bartolini immediately began – because initially there was talk of starting on August 7th, then on the 16th and finally on the 26th, so we were anxiously awaiting this day: in short, we no longer wanted to wait. The boys worked well during the summer, carrying out the assigned work and now awaiting the arrival of Galiano and Carpita, as far as I can guarantee that their initial absence will absolutely not affect our work program. Let’s start with the usual low profile, that is, work hard to be ready for the championship and to try to win as much as possible.” This year the young people took a big gamble, with the average age of the group having dropped. “Yes, the club has made the precise choice to focus on kids who are “hungry”, placing more experienced players alongside them. We’ll see if it will be a good year.” And the return to the White group? “It being understood that here too we will find well-equipped opponents, it is an advantage from a logistical point of view, with easier travel and therefore also greater margins for recovery. The 18 days of the championship have allowed us to launch a broader calendar, without midweek challenges and furthermore the break during the end of year holidays will help us to work in a targeted manner, with also reminders of preparation”, commented Bartolini.
