The new role of the coach in professional sport

The role of the head coach, especially at the professional level, is changing a lot. The case of Woodward who, after winning the world title with the English national rugby team is aspiring to the position of c.t. for the English national soccer team, is not far off being reality. According specifically to Anglo-Saxon philosophy, a head coach can be both a technical-tactical reference and a manager with high organizational skills. The assistant coach is becoming more and more the person working directly on the field. In theory, in a working week the first days might be when the assistant coaches take care of technical aspects, whilst for the remaining days closer to the match it?s the job of the coach to tend to the tactical planning.The latin school of thought perceives the team above all as a "group", in which all players must always work together, making up that which is known as "team spirit". The professional sport's matrix of the Anglo-Saxon team, geared more to the outcome, means that the players are seen as interchangeable elements which do not necessarily always have to work together. The work set up is different: the players are true professionals who look after their own individual training. For this reason, even in team sports, there is an increasing number of personal trainers, meanwhile in the teams the position of the athletic coach is more and more often being taken by a physiotherapist. This is because the athletic training carried out in the context of the team is more oriented towards maintaining the athlete?s fitness and health rather than actual training.Moreover players are changing ever more frequently during a season and for a coach it's difficult to manage a team according to traditional group standards. This is why the organizational aspect, which passes as a technical staff capable of looking after more matters simultaneously, is becoming all the more important . And so the figurehead coach is more like a manager who manages the resources at his disposal, delegates individual technical matters to his assistants and intervenes mostly in mentality and motivational issues.

Francesco Totti

That little boy from Porta Metronia, slender but quick, shy but self-confident, today is a nothing short of a champion. He's no longer known only in his home town of Rome, but now by football lovers all around the world. This is the story of Francesco Totti, of his first attempts at kicking a ball around on the fields of Rome, playing on teams such as Fortitudo, Smit Trastevere, Lodigiani, and then finally on the youth preparation team for his beloved Roma. On both sides of the Tiber River, news of the talent of this young player spread rapidly. Soon teams of fans were following him around to watch his matches every Sunday. Lazio fought it out with Roma to sign him when the moment finally came for him to decide his future, but his loyalty to Roma's yellow-red jersey was strong enough to resist any temptation.

On March 28, 1993 he had is first debut in the A-Series in the match against Brescia (Roma vs. Brescia 2-0): since that first game he has now played in 300 A-Series matches, and is ranked number six in terms of number of matches played by a footballer with Roma. With the goal that he made against Parma on December 19, 2004 he made his 107th goal, surpassing Pruzzo's record, and making him the all time number one bomber for Roma.

With Totti Roma won the Italian Championship at the end of the stellar 2000/2001 season, in which he played as the absolute protagonist. That same year they won another trophy, the Italian Super Cup. His first match with the Italian National team was on October 10, 1998, in the match between Italy and Switzerland (with a final score of 2-0). In all, Totti has played 44 matches with the National team, and has made a total of 9 goals. He played in the European Championships in Belgium and Holland (2000), leading Italy and making his historic high-flying penalty kick in the semi-finals against Holland. He also played in the World Cup in Korea and Japan (2002) and in the European Championships in Portugal (2004).

As of March 23, 2003, Francesco Totti is also a "Goodwill Ambassador" for UNICEF since March 23, 2003, on behalf of Italy in defending the rights of children whose rights have been violated around the world. This is a recognition of his sensitivity and represents a responsibility which has brought him to participate in several worthy initiatives. For example, the profits earned from the sales of his book, "Le Barzellette di Totti" ("Totti's Jokes") were divided equally between a relief project for abandoned children in Kinshasa, in the Republic of Congo, and the telephone social assistance and help lines promoted by the City of Rome.

Pierluigi Collina

Authoritative without being authoritarian, precise in even the finest detail and yet humble enough to admit his own mistakes. All this and much more has enabled Pierluigi Collina to repeatedly win the coveted title of "World's Best Referee". Such unanimous and rare acknowledgement is the just reward for a long and intense career with the greatest dedication for the most difficult job on the football field: the referee.
Born in Bologna in 1960, Pierluigi Collina began working as a referee at the advice of a friend in 1977. A few years later, he reached the highest regional levels while continuing his studies with success at the same time, graduating from the University of Bologna in Business Economics with the highest honours in 1984. He began travelling the length and width of Italy as a referee at higher and higher levels of competition the same year.
Collina rose through the ranks rapidly. After another 3 years of superb performance in Series C play, he was ready for the most important calling: the first training meeting for Series A and B referees in 1991. In the meantime, he moved to Viareggio on the Tyrrhenian Coast where he settled down with his wife Gianna and practised his business consultant profession brilliantly. His career as a referee continued with escalating success.
During his first year in Series A, Collina worked as the referee in eight matches - a record still unbroken today. In 1995 he was qualified to referee international play, after only 43 directed in the Serie A. In 1996, he was appointed to referee the final championship match between Nigeria and Argentina in the Olympic Games. In 1999, he blew the whistle to kick off the final Champions League match between Manchester United and Bayern Monaco. Designated for both the 1998 France World Cup and the 2000 European Cup, he was also given the honour of directing the final match in the 2002 World Cup played in Japan and Korea.
The countless awards he has received over his incomparable career include five consecutive "World's Best Referee" titles awarded by the International Football History and Statistics Federation in 1998, 1999, and 2000, 2001 and 2002 in addition to being elected the best referee in Italy by the Player's Association as many as five times in testimony of the excellent relationship he has established with the athletes over the years.
The President of Italian Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi conferred on him the title of "Commendatoredell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica" for sports merits. The University of Hull (UK) conferred on him the honorary degree in Science.

Presentation d.lux world

The d.lux project with its five Diadora worlds – football, tennis, running, cycling and d.lux - was presented to the press in the Milan showroom.
Four rooms dedicated to the four sports worlds displaying shoes used by Diadora’s most important testimonials, both historical ( Weah, Borg, Moses, Bugno, etc.) and those of today, all buried in the sounds of every day sports life, the cheering of a football stadium or the ball during a tennis match.
The d.lux section was in a gold, completely soundproofed room presenting the Diadora concept of wellness, a relaxing oasis in metropolitan chaos. Here on show, suspended on a parallelepiped, the d.lux collection’s key model, Shark Poule.
Pierluigi Collina and Guido Bagatta were present along with the collection designer Max Verre who illustrated the d.lux collection targets to the press.