Mediobanca Group, Milan City Council and CUS Milano Rugby "INSIEME" (together) to promote sport

Together/Insieme, a project devised by the Mediobanca Group to promote sport as a factor of social cohesion and an opportunity for young people forming part of the weakest areas of society at risk of exclusion, will start from the Milanese suburb of Quarto Oggiaro. The project, presented at Mediobanca’s head office today by the Chief Executive Officer of Mediobanca Alberto Nagel, the mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala, and the Chairman of CUS Milano Rugby Sergio Vicinanza, will run for three years and will target pupils attending primary and secondary schools located in certain peripheral areas of Milan.

After Quarto Oggiaro, in the following years the project will run in the Baggio and Via Padova areas. The activities will involve up to 1,500 children and young people, boys and girls, aged from 8 to 14 years (the last three years of primary school and all three years of middle school under the Italian system).

The activities, arranged and managed by CUS Milano Rugby through a team of educators and qualified technical staff under the co-ordination of Diego Dominguez, will involve the classes of at least three of the area’s schools trying their hands at rugby, volleyball and athletics, with afternoon classes running the whole school year at a local sports centre. The sporting activity will be assisted by the presence of a sports psychologist and doctor to certify that the children are able to take part in the sports. Participants will be given all materials need to take part free of charge.

The Chief Executive Officer of Mediobanca Alberto Nagel emphasized that “the Mediobanca Group is keen to play an active role in the cities where it operates by pursuing sustainable growth projects. The Group has always expressed its with the city of Milan solidarity in particular through numerous initiatives ranging from research to art and sport, in accordance with the principle of geographical proximity. Through projects which promote social inclusion and the development of the new generations, we aim to contribute to the building of our city’s future”.

“We are grateful and are keen to express our gratitude to the private individuals and entities which are investing in the suburban areas of our city”, said the mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala. “Milan needs this kind of collaboration if it is to continue to grow, and the ‘Together/ Insieme’ project developed with Mediobanca is a concrete example of the good that can be done by joining forces. Focusing on young people and schools is to focus on the city’s future. And sport is a vehicle which can bring great benefit to Quarto Oggiaro, Baggio and Via Padova, all areas which require much attention”.

Sergio Vicinanza, Chairman of CUS Milano Rugby, said: “This initiative is the culmination of the training project we’ve been involved in for many years now. Much of our commitment will continue to focus on the club itself, because inclusion only works if the objective is shared by all our members, and success will be complete if, in the same way that we’ve managed to bring together players, male and female, from the various Milanese sports centres where we operate (Lampugnano, Bicocca, Città Studi and Segrate), we manage to involve the young people and boys and girls we come into contact with in the areas of Quarto Oggiaro, Baggio and Via Padova, in the course of our ‘normal’ activity”.

The Together/Insieme project confirms the Mediobanca Group’s commitment to sport as a way of promoting values such as respect for the rules and the opponent and healthy and fair competition. This commitment has been expressed in a number of ways over the years, including the Mediobanca Sport Camp, which ran for the third year in 2017, bringing sport and healthy competition to the “Cesare Beccaria” Institute for young offenders in Milan for a week. The Mediobanca Group has also been a partner of the Italian Paralympic Committee since 2016.
 

Milan, 3 October 2017