ASD VF Pesaro – an acronym for Viri Fortes (from the Latin for brave men) – is a new football club in the province of Pesaro Urbino that this year competed in the Third Category championship. Founded a year ago from the winning idea of entrepreneur Sergio Presicce, former president of Duesse Infortunistica, and his deputy Andi Bregu, the new club has very ambitious goals not only from a footballing point of view (to try to play in the next championship as a protagonist) but also and above all from a purely educational and social point of view.
by Roberta Imbimbo
Dr Presicce, what was the purpose of ASD VF Pesaro? Former President of Duesse Infortunistica, how did you decide to found a football club?
ASD VF Pesaro was born first as an amateur football team, then shifted its focus to young people, also thanks to the meeting with Marcello Del Canto (coach), with the priority objective of becoming an important and central point of reference in the lives of young people in the province of Pesaro Urbino, offering them the chance to cultivate their passion for football with a completely innovative approach, which goes beyond the logic of the big professional clubs. In our club, in fact, the emphasis is on offering a unique sporting, emotional and educational experience, making football a certain and not illusory opportunity for all boys, regardless of their tactical qualities. Firmly convinced that with adequate football practice every youngster has a real chance to grow both sportingly and humanly, we have been committed from the outset to offering everyone (without any selection) the chance to approach the game of football, with the certainty that everyone (no one excluded) can make a valuable contribution to the team. But we have worked even harder to relate to our youngsters (to date, around 140) in a consistently positive and constructive manner, teaching them that every success represents a new starting point, and that important life lessons can be learned from every failure. As a father of two sons who love the sport, I had been observing the training methods adopted by other clubs in the area for years and, in my heart, I wanted to offer young people something profoundly different. Hence the idea of creating not only a football team but also, and above all, a School that would become first and foremost a model of excellence, of healthy and profitable management, a unique reference point for those youngsters who wish to play football in an extremely positive, serene and stimulating environment.
Can sport therefore become a purely educational tool, a tool for social inclusion and for enhancing the territory?
Absolutely yes! The football school must teach football and produce talent; it is no coincidence that our technical supervisor in the youth sector is Flavio Lazzari, a former Serie A footballer with over 20 years of football experience behind him and now owner of the FL Academy, who is entrusted with the delicate task of bringing our youngsters up to sporting level (and getting them to play in the first team). But not only that. He must above all teach young people to listen, to observe the rules, to respect their teammates, to socialise, to feel an active part of a group, to fight together and united to achieve important goals. Football is not and must not be just competition! Rather, it is and must be an important moment of communion and aggregation that is independent of the result, an opportunity for personal growth, commitment and perseverance, a valuable tool for overcoming one’s limits and realising one’s dreams. Today, many young people are experiencing an identity crisis – capable of triggering feelings of insecurity, vulnerability and fragility – and therefore need safe guidance. And this is precisely why sport, as an educational vehicle, takes on a central role, as it helps people to grow as such, even before they grow as athletes. Nelson Mandela stated that ‘football has the power to change the world. It has the power to arouse emotions. It has the power to bring people together like few other things. It has the power to awaken hope where before there was only despair’. So, in line with this high-profile philosophy, our mission is precisely to entertain young people, to get them off the streets, to give them the chance to attend a healthy environment where they can fully express themselves, focusing on their own abilities. Underlying this new entrepreneurial project is also the desire to relaunch the territory, establishing valuable partnerships with other important local realities. One of these is certainly ASD USAV Pisaurum, a historic club in the Pesaro football scene that this year came close to direct promotion to the first category, finishing second in its group. Together with President Roberto Ricci, we are in fact evaluating the possibility of forming a consortium with the aim of further developing the game of football in a province where, unfortunately, the sport is still only played at amateur level (Vis Pesaro, the city’s first team, plays in Lega Pro).
