The sports journalist Heywood Broun, also famous for social issues and for his defence of the underdog, wrote in a famous article that “sport does not form character, it reveals it”. This quote sums up Salvatore‘s first year in basketball, together with Virtus Casalgrande and the support of the Fondazione Milan‘s Sport for All programme and All Inclusive Sport.

Salvo arrived last autumn in the youth sector of GS Virtus Casalgrande with a heavy load of shyness, some difficulties in expressing himself and many fears in doing things alone: he needed to be supported, accompanied, guided by a dedicated tutor. But everyone, from the coaches to his teammates, immediately sensed, behind his first shy smiles, his irresistible friendliness and his sporting talent.

It took no time at all to grow fond of him: the rest was teamwork.

In less than a year, Salvo has become more aware of himself and his abilities as an athlete, has learned all the fundamentals of basketball, has discovered that he has talent and has gained new self-esteem.

This experience has been a great lesson in autonomy for him: today his tutor is thinning out her presence at training sessions and everyone thinks Salvo’s future will be on his own, in his team, with his excellent coaches and his loyal teammates.

To Salvo, sport has revealed a character that perhaps he didn’t know he had: and it has been a great gift, because to close with another quote: “In the end it doesn’t matter how much you score. What counts is to leave the court happy” (Kobe Bryant).

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