How are things going with Team Italy at Haarlem Baseball Week?
We all get along very well together because they are all the guys that have known each other for years, and I have managed many of these guys on the youth national teams. So it is a path that continues and we work towards a common goal. It is important for the national team to meet during the season to maintain relationships and improve. Then participate in such an important tournament as Haarlem Baseball Week. We need the team to improve its standard of play. The Italian championships provide good games, but here I think we are at a higher level and competing with those who are better than you always leads to results and improvements. I hope that these guys, given that we have half the team that was born after 2000, can return home with more experience and with an idea of working and improving themselves.
As Club Italia LA28 player development director, how important is this initiative to qualify for the Los Angeles Olympics?
Club Italia LA28 is fundamental because we need to recreate a group of new players who are now 18-22 years old to look to the future. Then whether it will be for the Olympics or not, we don't know, we know that today we have to work to improve through comparison with those who are better than us. Club Italia LA 28 gives the younger kids an opportunity to improve and play so they will eventually make the national team. In any case we will prepare some of the best players of importance for the Olympic qualification. The time for us is here and now.
What can we do to improve the quality of Italian baseball?
There are so many exceptional players that are willing or able to help. Italy is well loved by all. We certainly have to take two paths. We need to improve Italian athletes and we need Italian American players of high quality who can serve as an example and a guide for our national team so that we can reach the heights of Mount Vesuvius once again and remain there for years to come. I always think that we need to look to the future. Many of us are a little nostalgic because we always think of the 80s and 90s as the peak of Italian baseball. But the world has changed and we have to think about what we can do for the future. The kids are there. The U18 Team Italy squad just won the European Baseball Championship. We have some quality kids.
Are coaches doing enough to help grow the game in Italy?
I'm just trying to work harder to have specific and standard programs that continue over the years to provide growth opportunities. What is done in Italy today is not enough. We work and we do it but we have to broaden our baseball and broaden the quality of our means and knowledge to the players. I started thinking that I wanted to be a coach many years before finishing my playing career because I liked it. Then over the years I was lucky enough to get involved with the national teams. I chose to be a coach because I felt lucky to play baseball and have this opportunity to play all over the world to compare myself with many exceptional athletes. It inspires me to give back. I want to convey to the players what I have learned in all these years and give back to baseball what was given to me. To be a coach for me means always doing it for the players and never for yourself. We need to work and implement programs that are permanent and do not have to be changed every year. That's what's important.”
How did you keep a balance between coach and father at home?
I have always had an excellent relationship with my son, Sebastiano. I never tried to fit into his world of baseball between stints with the national and the club teams. We were always good at maintaining the correct relationship. At home we never talked about baseball. Because if we had brought baseball home with us 24/7, we would have lost sight of the things that are important in our family life. It is not a marriage. Baseball needs to be played in a certain part of the day.
Forza #Italia!
by Roberto Angotti
(Photo of Gianguido Poma at Haarlem Baseball Week on July 15, 2024 by RL-Mate)
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