From one end of Italy to the other: after three seasons in Sicily, Enrico Guarienti Zappoli says goodbye to the Southern Sea to embrace the Dolomite mountains. And Belluno Volleyball. The twenty-nine year old spiker of Brazilian origins, in fact, is the bang with which the entry market of the company chaired by Sandro Da Rold closes.
GREMIO – Connected from Livorno, Zappoli presented himself via videoconference: «The proposal that came from Belluno turned out to be very interesting, it didn’t take me too long to accept it. Leader? No, with my experience I would like above all to be a mentor and help the younger ones.” Outside the gym, he alternates his passion for football, and cheering for Gremio, with studying: «I love culture and history in particular». Enrico has been in Italy since 2014. And he follows in the footsteps of his father Joao Alberto, who played in Jesi from 1988 to 1992: «The push came from him and my mother. I’ve been here for ten years now and I have no doubts: it was the right choice.”
LINEAR – A strong band, he has just completed a year in the SuperLega in Catania: «I believe I am a “linear” and balanced athlete. I’m pretty quiet, but when things take shape, and in times of need, I transform.” The bar cannot fail to be set high: «To obtain a better result than last season, we have to work hard. In Catania, I have already experienced an A3 season, with a first-place regular season and playoffs: the taste I felt when the last and decisive ball fell, I want to savor again in Belluno. We will work for this. And to be able to say, at the finish line, “we did it”. The twenty-nine year old from Porto Alegre has shared the parquet and locker room with several champions (“the strongest? The French setter, Toniutti”) and has met numerous champions (“Michieletto is very tough”), but he doesn’t consider his return to the third series a step backwards : “In reverse. When the call comes from a club that aims high, it is always gratifying.”
DIAMOND POINT – President Sandro Da Rold is particularly satisfied: «Zappoli’s qualities are indisputable, he is a high-performance player. And, even in this case, credit must be given to sporting director Alessandro Carniel, whose practical sense and speed we appreciate more and more.” The sporting director himself welcomes the spiker who arrived from South America: «We needed an important figure in place 4, a spearhead capable of making a difference at a high level. Enrico is complete and reliable: someone who, on 24 all, is not afraid.”
