San Marino Academy, Mr. Pini comments on a hard but happy season • newsrimini.it
Roberto Pini he is not a person who indulges in easy enthusiasm. On the contrary, his way of conceiving contrary futsal leads him to be always very critical, to be naturally by himself: not for a fact of pessimism, but for a constant search for improvement and growth. For a few days now, however, he has been more relaxed. The draw in the derby with Virtus Romagna, last Sunday, was worth the San Marino Academy there direct salvation in Serie A2avoiding the very dangerous quicksand of the play-out.
And so the coach was finally able to enjoy the result of a season together with his girls. “We have reached a great milestone – admits the former Futsal Cesena coach -. It was not open at all: things had not gone very well after the defeat with the Top Five: there we also lost something in terms of certainties. We played a couple of matches then, but then we did well to make the match against Cus Cagliari our own, which gave us breath. Now we can look back and say that we are happy with the progress made, in particular the positive results achieved between 2021 and 2022: those allowed us to reach the final rush in an overall good ranking position and to play the decisive fights in home, in our fort, where we got the vast majority of seasonal points. “
For the San Marino Academy – and for many girls in the squad – it was the very first adventure in Serie A2. For Mr. Pini, the first season at the helm of the blue-white team. The summer goal was to reach salvation, even if at some point – exactly between December 12 and February 20, the period of 9 consecutive useful results – it seemed that even something more could emerge. “We have been killed by injuries, some of them serious – remember Pines –, Lucia Cappelli, for example, had two in the series at the beginning of the season, the second of which made her miss practically the entire season. But I could give a thousand other examples. With a full staff, also considering the seasonal conduct of the other teams, I think we had the possibility to aim for a fifth place, and therefore for the play-offs. But many things have happened and that in the end we can be very happy to have hit the rescue, which was our objective belief at the starting line. If I have to be meticulous, I think I should have achieved a quiet salvation instead of a salvation on the last day. But all in all, that’s okay.
There are also results that go beyond the score on a scoreboard or a ranking: results that a technician takes into particular consideration: “I believe that the girls have made a path of growth and of this I am proud. I’m talking about overall growth. The second round was better than the first one. If anything happened to us, but this is perhaps the result of the lack of experience at these levels, it was the fact of playing all the races in the same way. Let me explain: sometimes some people face a more determined approach than others, while we tended to standardize all the approaches a bit. This also has positive sides, in the sense that the girls played openly also with the VIP Tombolo, knowing full well what strength this team has, which, not surprisingly, won the group with many days to spare. And then I am happy with the application that my players have shown many times: in the last trip to Sardinia, against Santu Predu, we played carefully and concentrated despite the few training sessions behind us, for example in reduced ranks. We lost due to carelessness, but I saw the girls focused on the requests I made of them. In the first leg it was a completely different race, even if we had won it. “
The Don Pippo camp was one of the key factors of salvation. Starting with the historic debut victory with the City of Thiene. “With my staff we have worked a lot on pressure – let the gentleman know -. The idea was to take advantage of the peculiarities of our home field not to let the opponents play. It was the winning move built: it is there that we have the most important results and it is there that we built our most solid certainties. Especially in the period of nine consecutive useful results, the team showed that they had perfectly assimilated our concepts and I was convinced that nothing would be wrong anymore. Then there was a few steps back that surprised me a little. Not so much in the game, as in the esteem that the girls had of themselves. It’s an important factor: sometimes they call me a pessimist, but the truth is that I have total confidence in my players and I really believe in the work we do. The mental aspect is fundamental and at that time of the season we were suffering in that aspect. But then we recovered and saved ourselves, thanks also to a game system that we never abandoned and which was perhaps our strong point, perhaps compared to opposing teams that focus more on individual qualities. “
In the concluding remarks of an entire season, it is impossible not to mention the staff, or the team behind the team. So Roberto Pini: “I thank the company for giving me freedom in choosing the staff. Angelo Novelli and Valentina Piscaglia have been exceptional in giving me all the tools and all the possibilities to build a winning team. Nicholas Moreno, Andrea Lani and Elisa Zavatta were already present, as well as Manuel Gabrielli, whom I have known for some time and whom I consider a very important figure. This year proved it even more. And then I want to mention Daniel Bondavalli and Davide Ghiotti: the latter wanted to help me but he had time problems. So I asked him to do match analysis and he did an amazing job. Tuesday’s videos provided us with a wealth of information and points to better prepare for the games and to study our opponents. There has been a great team effort behind the team itself, and I want to thank everyone, without exception, for the invaluable contribution made in recent months. “
San Marino Academy Press Office