A coach of success: Massimo Passoni
The recent Italian Individual Championships of U16 revealed that the region of Tuscany placed three athletes in the top five, with two other young athletes coached by Fabrizio Pezzuto.
Marcia dal Mondo ask to Massimo Passoni, former athlete of the nineties to tell us the reasons for this success which puts him, along with Tommaso Gentile, among the great sowers in the youth sector in Italy.
Here is the interview
1.- When did you start to coach
I started coaching a decade ago in U12.
2.- Why did you choose to become coach and may not have chosen to become judge?
I felt the need to pass on my passion, my experience as I always say I wanted to make them sick infecting athletics.
3. How did you arrive in youth activity to the success of Sulmona ?
I do not consider a success that of Sulmona but a good result, a base from which to continue to grow.
Davide Finocchietti in U12 had a knack for race walk, but until September of last year has continued to take a multilateral working with the instructors of our youth, training with the walking group once or twice a week and increasing the number of training sessions when we approached competitions. I tried to cure maniacally his technique, because for me it is the decisive factor at a young age before he can build a future.
From November of 2014 he trains 4 times per week; he is lucky to have Gianluca Picchiottino as a reference point that often trains with him, considering him as an older brother always ready to give advice and some slap when necessary.
An important feature of Davide, not easy to find in the boys of his age, is the ability to listen, and to put into practice what is proposed.
I can only thank those before I worked with Davide because he tried to make it a “motor fund” that clearly will be useful for his future.
4. Tell us something about your training young athletes
In the categories U14 boys and girls athletes of the Club I work with, they work in a multi-purpose, approaching race walk once every two weeks with special training also in the form of the game by including more advanced athletes, and at least once a week using walking with various mobility exercises and technique as warm up. In the category U16 possible walkers are part of the group, alternating in this category workouts (running and walking) especially during the winter away from competition.
5. What future do you see for Gianluca Picchiottino?
Gianluca is an athlete yet to be discovered, the volume of work we did this year are not very high compared to his same age. Than in previous years, we have increased the intensity of work, especially in training considered regenerating, from September were introduced two sessions of two-day a week which will be used for the next season. We will move forward step by step trying to grow slowly. Gianluca succeeds in most of the competitions to distribute the effort in a uniform way and this is, in my humble opinion, a key feature for a good walker. I would like to next year after the first twenty championship in Italy to see him compete abroad over the same distance.
6. What do you think of the rule of the Pit Lane? Last year had been applied only to U16, this year in U18 and next year it will be also for juniors. What do you think of this cultural journey?
The disqualification is never easy to be accepted for a walker evolved, let alone for an athlete in a promotional category approaching race walk. Unfortunately, the rule of the Pit Lane is not easy to use in all competitions, especially those of a regional nature and I think this is one of the biggest limits.
Personally I think the right use of the Pit Lane could be up to U16 Category; I do not agree on its use in the higher categories, a U18 this year was judged with the rule of the Pit Lane when he raced in its category, and normally, when he raced with junior and senior.
An athlete who practices race walk, knows that he must submit to the judgment of a jury, when three judges are thinking he is broking the rule with reasonable continuity, the athlete a benefit from that, it seems correct that there is a direct disqualification. I always tried to teach my children that judges are not our opponents, but only people who regulate the conduct of the race sanctioning people incorrect, and that if unfortunately we were to experience a disqualification three people have estimated that our march was not within the rules and therefore will need to work for better.
7. How do you see male and female race walk in Italy, both at youth level and seniors?
I could see in the last years of the criterium races of U16 youth. I have to say that this year I saw a better walk both from a stylistic point of view that from the point of view of technical approach, the past few years we have often seen guys that exasperated gesture to the search for performance incurring blunders rightly punished more often. A senior level male probably lacked in recent years a generational change and the guys that are slowly growing have not yet reached full maturity; also since decreased inputs in military sports groups some of the best junior athletes and U23 after the end of secondary school have abandoned. In the 90s and early 2000s, in addition to sports groups military elite athletes were present young athletes who could gradually emerge also internationally. Today, fewer and fewer athletes have the opportunity to secure a job with the athletic and often are forced to leave. It is not easy to reconcile the study, much less work with the gear at high levels, in my humble opinion, if we fail to broaden the basis of a hypothetical pyramid, the summit will never be high.
A-level female instead we had a greater generational change and were more competitive internationally.
8. Your thoughts on the judgment of race walk in Italy and abroad?
In 2015 I had the opportunity to see some international competitions and even within the same I have noticed a difference in judgment above all the youth categories (U18 and juniors) to senior categories.
Among seniors, males and females have seen a greater degree of tolerance of “no contact” than vice versa in the other two categories. Clearly this is only my opinion. While a few years ago saw the gestures to limit speeds of around 4:00/km (time 1:20:00-1:21:00) today are seen gestures not beautiful even at speeds slower 4:10-4:15 (1:23: 00-1:25:00).
In Italy I did not see that much difference between the judgement in promotional categories and senior in the national championships. Instead, I have noticed a non-uniformity of opinion among regional competitions and national competitions.
In my region, Tuscany, in recent years we have always sought a greater exchange of views between judges and technicians to create the shadow juries by coaches and compare if our judgement correspond to those of the real jury.
Massimo Passoni and Gianluca Picchiottino