Our lives at stake

Publish date 12-03-2022

by Roberto Lerda

In the presence of the President of the Republic, the stories of some young people who found a home in the projects of the Arsenale della Piazza and now the PalaSermig were told. A difficult past, anger and difficulties in school are often the common denominator.
But also the passion for sport.

This is the case of Walid who, despite no one believed in him (not even his professors), found people willing to help him with his homework and above all the opportunity to make up for it on a football field.

Among others, Willy, a two meters tall boy, of Ivorian origins, then took the field (with an excellent basket); he too has found an outlet in sport: as an agitated and angry child he is becoming more and more a boy full of passion for basketball and for life.
Stories of hope and real life, possible because dreams come true not by magic but because we want to.
With all my heart.

Selma and the others too
girls and little girls
of the Arsenale della Piazza
they found in the new
PalaSermig the place where
to be able to practice sport
favorite, volleyball.

 

Marco and Camilla,
coaches for over ten
years: «Now that we are
in the window we have to
continue not to betray the
trust of these guys ".



 


My name is Willy, I am almost 18 years old and I come from the Ivory Coast; I came here at the age of eight and a half with my brother.
I immediately arrived at the Arsenale della Piazza, where I found 3 friends: Farouk, Wilson and Marco.
We were the most noisy! Even as a child I realize now that I was a very, very agitated child; I couldn't sit still, contain myself, or channel my anger and energy into one activity.
At the Arsenale della Piazza I played three sports: football, rugby and now basketball. I really like sport. I think it's thanks to Sermig that I'm succeeding in basketball now. I think that if I hadn't known Sermig, I would have lost myself in frivolities, in banal and banal things, as do all my friends whom I “lost” over the years. In fact, if you are angry and you do not find right all that you have had to endure, you do not know how to manage anger and you lose yourself. I have found the sport and everything is going well. I always want to do more in anything.
Sometimes I can't, but this is my goal and I always try to give my best, because that's what they taught me here. For me, the Arsenale della Piazza is a family, it's a place where I feel good, but I also mean SpongeBob.
SpongeBob is a puppet that Wilson gave me, one of my closest friends from childhood: I did not know him, I had never talked to him, I was here, I was new and he approached me giving me this SpongeBob puppet.
Every time we talked I said that there were no white, black or yellow people, because SpongeBob was yellow.
In the future, I would like to be a basketball player. I'm 100% committed; I have stopped doing anything that will prevent me from being able to improve. It is not just a dream, it is a goal, a promise that I made myself. Now I am calm, here at Sermig I have found peace, stability, a family, people I trust, who have helped me and I hope they will always continue to do so.


My name is Walid, I am 20 years old, I was born in Turin but I have Moroccan origins; now I study law. I grew up in one of the ugliest areas of Turin where it is easier to commit a crime than to look for the right path.
I arrived at Sermig at the age of 8 and started with after school.
The Arsenale della Piazza then took me from the street, I was very bad at school and there the educators taught me to do my homework. Some professors didn't believe in me, and now it's good to see they've changed their minds.
The Arsenale della Piazza is a family for me. When you go out on the street you see the ugliness, but when you enter there it seems a very strange thing because it is a clean, beautiful, fragrant place, which is located in one of the ugliest places in Turin; it shows you that even in the ugliest places there is always a more beautiful part. I will never stop thanking Sermig for the values ​​he taught me. One was the restitution. I didn't know what he meant: I laughed, I was a braggart, then growing up I understood. The most beautiful thing was being able to grow up in Sermig and get to play in the first a5 football team in Serie C. Unfortunately I had abandoned at the age of 16-17, because I had received different proposals, but inside I saw that I 'was that lack.
I decided to return and was welcomed again as before. In 2015-2016, we entered a regional championship and managed to win it; I was awarded as top scorer with 47 goals, and I left the cup at Sermig. Now I am in charge of the youth football sector. I train the boys under 17 and I see myself in them, so I try to be more than a coach, a friend, a brother.

 

Roberto Lerda
Focus
NP December 2022

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