“Mediobanca Group Sport Camp” at the Cesare Beccaria Institute for Young Offenders a week of social inclusion through sport

Milan, 3 September 2020 – The Mediobanca Group Sport Camp is being held at the “Cesare Beccaria” young offenders’ institution in Milan this week. Now in its fourth year, the sports camp run for the benefit of the young people detained at the Milanese institution was set up to promote social inclusion and to facilitate the participants’ reintegration into society after prison through sport.

 

The Camp, which is promoted by Mediobanca in conjunction with CUS Milano Rugby, involves 26 young people aged between 16 and 21 spending the week to 4 September playing various different sports, including rugby, football, swimming, basketball and athletics. The aim is to offer them an experience in terms of group sports that will communicate positive values to them such as respect for each other and for the rules, the ability to work as a team, and to encourage the personal growth of each of them.

 

This year too, Italian rugby star Diego Dominguez and his staff are at the forefront, motivating and involving the inmates of the institute, ably assisted by a group of volunteers from the Mediobanca Group itself, who take part in the competitions and are working with the staff throughout the week.

 

“The Mediobanca Group Sport Camp is very popular with the inmates of the institute, and it’s consistent with our Group’s commitment to promoting social inclusion in the communities in which we operate”, said Giovanna Giusti del Giardino, Head of Sustainability at the Mediobanca Group. “The compassion which Diego Dominguez and the other coaches involved show is the most effective vehicle for communicating the values of sport to these young people. It’s a unique experience, and once which we’ve been keen to share with our staff, who play an active role in the project”.

 

Special guest at the camp in its fourth year been the swimmer Federico Morlacchi, who won four gold medals at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. He said: “Sport has a very important educational role in today’s society, inside and outside prison. For these young people in particular, collaboration, playing by the rules and mutual respect are values on which they can make a fresh start”.