Mediobanca Group Sport Camp on the pitch for social inclusion
The multi-sport camp run by the Mediobanca Group at the “Cesare Beccaria” young offenders’ institute in Milan reaches its second year
The Mediobanca Group Sport Camp is an initiative developed in conjunction with the Milan City Council to promote social inclusion and to facilitate the process of reintegration for inmates held at the “Cesare Beccaria” young offenders’ institute in Milan.
The initiative, which is now in its second year, confirms the Group’s commitment to supporting individuals at risk of social exclusion. Launched in 2017 in co-operation with the former captain of the Italian rugby team Diego Dominguez and his staff, this year the Camp will run from 25-29 June at the “Cesare Beccaria” young offenders’ institute in Milan, involving around forty young offenders aged 16 to 21, who in the course of the week will try their hands at four different team sports: rugby, football, swimming, and ultimate.
This year the Mediobanca Group has taken its commitment one step further through the direct involvement of some of its own staff. A delegation of eleven Group representatives will be present, taking part in turns in the competitions and working together with the Camp staff in the course of the week. For each individual sport some champion sportsmen will also be taking part, to help guide the young sportsmen and women in their training. Federico Morlacchi (four gold medals at the 2016 Rio Paralympics) will be in the pool for the swimming contests, while Daniele Massaro and Filippo Galli will be taking the football training and will take part in the matches themselves.
Two teams from outside the institution will also be participating on an exceptional basis: on 28 June the AC Milan Primavera squad will be present, and on 29 June the CUS Milano rugby team. Their involvement is meant to help further develop the young athletes’ social skills in a setting which promotes fair and healthy competition.
To help translate the Camp’s objective into practice, various sessions will also be devoted to sharing the values and spirit of rugby in particular and all sport in general: loyalty, discipline, solidarity, responsibility and teamwork. Further emphasis will be placed, with the help of the sportsmen and coaches present, on the importance of a proper diet and a healthy lifestyle.
“Following on from the success of the first year of the Mediobanca Group Sport Camp”, said Giovanna Giusti del Giardino, Mediobanca’s Group Sustainability Manager, “we have chosen to renew our commitment to the young offenders at the “Cesare Beccaria” institution, as further testimony to our ongoing attention to the issue of social inclusion. In March of this year we brought the “The Prisoners Ask Why” initiative to the institution, to give the inmates an opportunity for personal growth and reflection, with the help and involvement of some of the most important voices in Italian narrative literature. With the Sport Camp we are continuing our commitment to promoting their social inclusion, through sport, which we see as an outstanding way of bringing young people together and educating them.”
“I should like to thank Mediobanca for its commitment expressed in this wonderful initiative”, said Roberta Guaineri, Milan City Councillor for Tourism, Sport and Quality of Life. “The Sport Camp forms part of the broader project being carried on by Mediobanca in conjunction with the City Council and with sportsmen and women of the calibre of Diego Dominguez to promote rugby and its values, which are educational and promote social inclusion, in the schools and outlying areas of Milan”.
Milan, 25 June 2018
