With Club Italia LA28 official sponsor San Francisco Italian Athletic Club Foundation’s Paul Giusto and FIBS Ambassador to Canada Flavio Volpe in attendance, Team Italy manager Mike Piazza eloquently conveyed a call to action for Club Italia LA28 Olympic prospects.
Everything we do has a purpose. We like to treat you guys like Big Leaguers because we believe you should treat people the same way you want people to treat you. By feeding you well, we hope you will also perform well. So, you're here for a reason. One of the most important things that I believe for Italian baseball is collaborative partnerships. Friendships, building bridges, not only within the United States, which obviously is a very, very important area, but working with other countries as well is paramount. So we love to do these trips and we hope that you guys will enjoy it too. We think it's not just going to make you a better baseball player, but it's going to make you a better citizen and a better member of society when you travel and you learn and are exposed to new things. But on the baseball side by surpassing expectations in the World Baseball Classic a few years ago, we embarked on the journey called Mission Classic. And the reason why we called it the mission is because there's a purpose for doing this.
I hope you all know why we're here. And why you, in particular, are here is because we have a couple of big events in the next few years that we think are extremely important to Italian baseball. Obviously, the 2026 World Baseball Classic, which for us will be in Houston. Texas. We're playing the United States on national TV in our bracket as well as Great Britain and Mexico, who we know are hungry to beat us. So it's going to be difficult and then after that is the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. So that's what this Club Italia LA28 project is all about. To put a team together, a group of guys that we feel not only will contribute to the World Baseball Classic team, but also the Olympic team, which we have to first qualify for so it's not going to be easy. So we want you to keep this in mind, okay?
This isn't just a kind of holiday. We're here to get better. We're here to come together as a team. Now, we hope all of you will be with us at the World Baseball Classic. We know that's probably not possible and we hope all of you will be with us for the Olympics and we know it's not possible. We know it's going be a lot of hard work. I want to thank the staff. The staff has been incredible. Gianmarco Faraone and everyone else on our dedicated staff. They understand what we're trying to do. They understand the enormity of what we're trying to do. It'll be difficult. So we're trying to keep all of us focused. And again, you want you to have a good time, but we also want you to take care of yourself. I don't want to hear about guys going out and getting in trouble. You know, we want you to enjoy the trip, but keep in mind why you're here. So have a good time and when you leave from here too, we want you to remember what we learned. I never stopped learning till the day I retired. And the reason why I was a good player is because I wrote things down, I realized what I had to work on. As I got older, I could do some things better and there were some things I couldn't do better.
So, know yourself as a baseball player, okay? Know what you can do and what you can't do and keep your strengths, but work on your weaknesses and that's what the coaches are here for. Every day you get better at something. There's no perfect players in this room. If you are a pitcher then work on building your pitching repertoire. If you're a hitter, work on hitting the ball the other way, okay? If you're an outfielder, you can work on getting better jumps. You can work on playing the ball off of the wall better. So, take advantage of these trips and these opportunities, to make yourself better, and figure out what you need to work on because we can't do everything. We're here to help you, but we can't do it for you. Help yourself. You have to help yourself.
Immediately following dinner, emcee Robert Pennino hosted panel discussions featuring Team Italy manager Mike Piazza, Team Italy 2023 World Baseball Classic pitcher Matt Festa, MLB favorite and University of Tampa Hall of Famer Tino Martinez, University of Tampa head coach Joe Urso, University of Tampa assistant coach Sam Militello, Jefferson High School head coach Pop Cuesta, King High School head coach Jim Macaluso and the "King of Baseball" Tony Saladino.
Team Italy competes in the College Series against Division II national champion University of Tampa on Friday, October 18, 2024 at 5 pm (ET) and again on Saturday, October 19, 2024 at 6 pm (ET). University of Tampa head coach Joe Urso was impressed with the Club Italia LA28 players at practices prior to the friendly competition and said, "It's going to be a really tough battle for us this weekend."
Catch all the action on the LIVESTREAM direct from the University of Tampa,
Forza #Italia!
by Roberto Angotti
