Training, recovery and injuries: the trilogy of sporting performance
7th Mapei Sport Research Centre conference and 6th “Aldo Sassi” research grant.
Hotel Le Robinie in Solbiate Olona (Varese) hosted the 7th Mapei Sport Conference on “Training, recovery and injuries: the trilogy of sporting performance”, an important annual event for the world of scientific research specialising in sport.
The conference was organised by the Mapei Sports Research Centre, the beating heart of Mapei’s interest in sport that has always been closely tied to various sports with the flower in its buttonhole currently being U.S. Sassuolo Calcio, the top-flight football club owned by Giorgio Squinzi. It was Mr. Squinzi who devised the idea for Mapei Sport back in 1996 in a ‘coming together of minds’ with Prof Aldo Sassi (the co-founder, who passed away prematurely in December 2010). The Research Centre immediately stood out for its distinctive approach based on ethical principles and scientific rationality at the service of the Mapei Professional Cycling Team.
After dominating the world cycling scene for a decade, the facility widened its horizons to embrace other sports, such as football, basketball, athletics, golf, Alpine skiing and motorsports.
In memory of the person and scientific work of Professor Aldo Sassi - and for the purposes of financing new research projects connected with the “Sciences of Sport” - Mapei decided to sponsor a research award called the “Aldo Sassi” grant, which has now reached its sixth edition and is awarded every year to a young graduate in the Motor Sciences. This research grant worth €10,000 is awarded based on a public tender promoted through communication channels set up between the Mapei Sport Research Centre and the Giuseppina Mai Foundation. This latter foundation works in close partnership with the Italian Industrial Federation and is backed by businesses involved in promoting research and innovation in the fields of medicine, health and quality of life in particular, encouraging joint-ventures between universities, public research bodies and the business world.
Both Mapei and the Mai Foundation firmly believe that the business world and academia need to work together in our country to help young people express their talent. When universities and businesses work together, social mobility improves and young people really get involved in developing the country. Emerging generations are taught how to complete and rely on merit. The nation’s intelligentsia is encouraged to emerge from their ivory towers and interact with the manufacturing world.
These are the reasons why over 250 people - mainly young university students, specialists, trainees or simply people with a passion for sport - decided to take part in the 7th Mapei Sports Research Centre Conference resulting in a record number of people in attendance. All these students and trainers were joined by sports stars like the Italian Gianni Bugno, retired professional road racing cyclist, who listened to a series of interesting talks on the subject in question.
RESEARCH IN POLE POSITION
After the official welcome by the Managing Director and Health Director, Claudio Pecci, who pointed out that Mapei is celebrating 80 years in business this year and has been supporting the Sports Research Centre in Olgiate Olona for over 20 years, and Ms. Gaela Bernini, who spoke on behalf of Diana Bracco, the President of the Italian Industrial Federation’s Mai Foundation, the conference proceedings were divided into three sessions.
The first session, chaired by Ermanno Rampinini, presented the research work carried out by Luca Mondazzi, head of sports nutrition and the dietary service for Mapei Sport’s wellness program (“Molecular biology and dietology in sport: is this the beginning of a new era?”), Damiano Scolari from the Italian Winter Sports Federation (“Alpine skiing: muscular strength in women skiers”), Maurizio Fanchini from US Sassuolo Calcio (“Training load and injuries in football: are they related by cause and effect?”) and Davide Ferioli from Milan University (“Physiological determinants in basketball performance”).
Three papers that really hit the mark, casting fresh light on a realm like sport in which scientific research plays a key role in optimising an athlete’s performances.
Then it was time to present the 6th “Aldo Sassi” research grant for graduates in the Motor Sciences, with talks by professors Amilcare Collina and Paola Vago from Milan’s Catholic University, the wife of the unforgettable Aldo Sassi, Marina, and Andrea Bosio from the Mapei Sport Research Centre, who outlined a research project on the “Acute effect of training resulting in a restriction of the peripheral hematic flow in football and cycling”, which the competition winner will be working on.
The second stage of proceedings, presented by Andrei Morelli, drew to a close with a talk given by Federico Donghi, winner of the 5th “Aldo Sassi” research grant, entitled: «Delayed potentiation, its effect in different sports: football and cycling».
ROUNDTABLE
The final session was devoted to a roundtable chaired by the sports journalist Federica Lodi and involving Giorgio Squinzi, Eusebio Di Francesco (head coach of US Sassuolo Calcio until the end of the 2016/2017 season), Sofia Goggia (bronze medal winner in the giant slalom at the World Championships and national record holder for the number of podiums and points won in one single World Cup season), Giacomo Nizzolo (Italian road race cycling champion), Massimo Rinaldi (head coach of the Italian Alpine skiing team), Luca Guercilena (team manager of the Trek Segafredo cycling team) and Emanuele Tibiletti (trainer of Pallecanstro Reggiana basketball team), who discussed the two sides of training, i.e. training load and tapering.
Giorgio Squinzi began by emphasising the importance of training and teamwork, further emphasised by Guercilena, Rinaldi and Tibiletti, who are all used to working with different athletes sharing a common goal.
According to Mr Squinzi “great results can never be achieved unless an athlete’s talent combines a determination excel in any situation with the ability to recognise the importance of being part of a team”.
The world of sport is awash with stories of talented athletes, who have seen their dreams shattered by injuries or physical problems of various kinds. But among these athletes, some still manage to overcome their misfortunes and rightly take their place in the history of their sport.
This is the case of the 25-year-old skier from Bergamo in Northern Italy, Sofia Goccia, who, along with the rest of the members of the Italian men’s and women’s ski team for the forthcoming World Cup, has just stated undergoing athletic assessment tests at the Mapei Sports centre.
“My sport requires plenty of commitment and keeps me away from home for long periods. I have a very busy life and travel around the world for eight months a year. I am currently focusing on my physical fitness in training, building up my strength for when I need it, ready for the big events that lie ahead in Olympic year. I have been surprised by my sudden popularity, but I have not lost sight of my priorities”, so the Italian skier told us.
“Due to an injury, I could not train properly during the winter, but getting to the starting line of the tour of Italy wearing the Italian national champion’s jersey was a great achievement; and I am feeling very confident about the rest of the season and I’m sure I’ll get some excellent results”, so the cyclist Giacomo Nizzolo went on to say.
Just before the last game of the Italian Serie A football season and his last official match in charge of Sassuolo, Mr Di Francesco expressed his firm belief that the work carried out by the Mapei Sports Research Centre was a key factor in his professional development and in the progress made by the team as a whole.
“Alongside technical skill and physical fitness, the scientific results of tests carried out on our players out on the pitch have been vitally important. The Mapei Sports method and our own abilities have helped us improve and we have achieved some important goals”, so Mr Di Francesco concluded.
Next year’s Mapei Sport Research Centre Conference will be hoping to attract the attention of an even greater number of dedicated professionals and young sports scientists, in accordance with the underlying spirit of Mapei Sport’s mission, which is to “always work with scientific rigour and absolute respect for ethical-sporting values, contributing in this way to promoting a proper sporting culture in every realm of society”.
