Great success for the 9th Conference of the Mapei Sport Research Centerentitled Training and performance: Team sports and individual sports, different strategies. This morning over 350 people including students, technicians and enthusiasts have listened with interest to the interventions of trainers, doctors and athletes active in the world of high-level sports from all over the world, gathered at the Malpensa Fiere Congress Center in Busto Arsizio (Varese, Italy).
The marketing and communication director of Mapei Spa Adriana Spazzoli made her debut by greeting the packed hall, also on behalf of the group director Giorgio Squinzi: «I am happy to see so many young people, for them the sport should not only represent the search for the result at all costs but a life work method».
The director of the Mapei Sport Research Center of Olgiate Olona (Va) Claudio Pecci recalled the motto that drives his “team” daily: «We work together for a winning, healthy and educational sport. Research is one of our priorities».
The president of the Chamber of Commerce of Varese Fabio Lunghi reiterated how Mapei Sport is a source of pride for the Varese area and beyond.
The rich program then started with The relationship between the training load and the performance of the high level player during the preparatory period by Antonio Gualtieri, one of the athletic trainers belonging to the Sport Science department of Juventus Football Club.
From Australia the well-known researcher Aaron Coutts, active in the Faculty of Health of the University of Technology in Sidney, has brought his interesting contribution Man vs. Machine: assessing the efficacy of coach and computer-led athlete monitoring systems for making training decision while the Swedish Trek Segafredo coach Mattias Reck, explained How to prepare for the Hell in the North: the Paris-Roubaix.
Following the 8th Aldo Sassi research grant was announced by Mapei Spa in collaboration with Varese Sport Commission, which this year will be dedicated to the relationship between workloads and physical performance of cyclists. The graduate in Sports Science Marco Martin, winner of the last edition, illustrated the results of his work carried out in the Mapei Sport laboratories and on the soccer fields in the past 12 months.
During the round table dedicated to field experiences, the U.S. Sassuolo mister Roberto De Zerbi and cycling champion Ivan Basso, now head of the Kometa Cycling Team, were confronted by Ermanno Rampinini, head of the Human Performance Lab (HPL) of Mapei Sport and consultant for team sports such as football, basketball and the Alpine skiing national team, and Andrea Morelli, head of the movement analysis laboratory and referent for the cycling sector, answering the questions of sport journalist Pier Augusto Stagi. The key message that emerged from the debate, whether it be individual sports or team sports, is that science and passion must go hand in hand with rigor and attention to the human aspect.