Wolves heading to Italy
Nineteen players from the St. Catharines Club Roma Wolves are slated to embark Monday on a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The players, along with coaches Mark Bolton, Walter Camelino, Carmen Salerno, Bianca Salerno and Riley Bolton, are jetting to Italy to participate in an Italian Peace Tournament versus professional competition. The games will played in Assisi in the Umbria region about two hours from Rome and Florence.
Roma League1 men’s coach and Italy native Federico Turriziani helped broker the deal.
“I’m very proud to have our U17 HP selected girls team as part of this important tournament,” Turriziani said. “When the Italian federation asked me to find a Canadian team I saw a unique opportunity to for our female players and I’m so excited to see them competing again professional clubs.
“Even if my personal role is involved mostly as L1 men’s coach, the club is looking to create opportunities for young talented players (male and female) to go overseas and explore the European soccer landscape. Those exchanges programs with Italians coming to Canada and Canadians to Italy works perfectly in our mission to promote a cultural experiences for young minds.”
Roma created the team out of their high performance program, selecting 19 players from their U16, U17 and U18 teams from about 50 players who tried out.
“It is a good select team we put together,” Mark Bolton said.
The competition is expected to be stiff, but Mark Bolton is looking at the trip from more than just from a soccer perspective.
“I’ve always been of the opinion that life experience is probably one of the most important things you can do,” he said. “I think everything off the field is just as important as what’s going on on the field. For us to be able to provide this opportunity for these girls is incredible for me and incredible for them.
“It’s like nothing else.”
To top it off, the Italian Federation is pretty much taking care of the majority of the expenses for the week.
“We have to get there. We had flights and insurance and got them all new packages. We’re not Team Canada but we’re a team from Canada and they are putting us up for the week,” Mark Bolton said. “It’s an incredible experience for them.”
Abby Green, a 16-year-old, Grade 11 student at Saint Francis, can’t wait to go.
“It’s so exciting. We’re so pumped just to come together as a team,” she said. “We’re all really just excited to try and gelato and pasta in Italy! And everyone wants to get a tan!”
Green said the team is taking the soccer seriously.
“At practice we’re working on keeping our focus on working hard. If we practise hard as a team, we’re going to go in and play hard as a team.”
Olivia Honsinger, a 17-year-old, Grade 11 student at Sir Winston Churchill, is looking forward to doing some sight-seeing. The team is scheduled to explore Roma for a day.
“I’m so excited. This will be such a great experience,” she said.
Thalia Camelino, a Grade 10 student at Governor Simcoe, is eager to see what Italy has to offer.
“I don’t think any of us have been to Italy before so we’re really excited and not sure what to expect. I think the whole goal there is to go and learn because we’re going to be playing against high level teams and want to enjoy ourselves as a team,” she said. “Honestly, our main accomplishment is to have a good time and go there and have good competition, that’s the point of this and team bonding.”
Dear reader. If you liked this story or one of the 6,000 other stories found on our website, please consider hitting the Support Us button on the right-hand side of our home page and making a PayPal contribution to our website. Your support would be much appreciated. If you are a business owner, please consider advertising on our site. Our rates are reasonable and we provide plenty of exposure for your business. Contact bpotrecz@outlook.com for more information.
