{"id":28716,"date":"2024-05-08T09:30:10","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T09:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themeravigliamagazine.com\/sport-da-maschi-o-cose-da-femmine\/"},"modified":"2024-06-06T09:25:26","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T09:25:26","slug":"boys-sports-or-girls-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themeravigliamagazine.com\/en\/boys-sports-or-girls-things\/","title":{"rendered":"BOYS’ SPORTS OR GIRLS’ THINGS"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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BOYS' SPORTS OR GIRLS' THINGS<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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What if it's just a matter of passion? Of how Giorgio Minisini tries to overturn stereotypes by doing what he does best: artistic swimming\n<\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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MAY 2024 - TALKS <\/a><\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Giorgio Minisini & Mariangela Perrupato - Credit: Enrico Calderoni\/AFLO SPORT\/Alamy Live News<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\"Ok, I tried, I couldn't change the world, let's move on to the next challenge. But at the last minute, this opportunity came along.\"\n
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Giorgio Minisini<\/h6><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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When the theme of this magazine was still a glimmer of an idea, I came across the story of Giorgio Minisini. A linear story, that of an athlete who excels in his discipline. Which one? Here’s the interesting thing: artistic swimming, once known as synchronized swimming and, according to stereotypes, has always been associated with the female world. Giorgio found himself, therefore, living a potential “Billy Elliott” situation, and being someone who in life is used to working to get what he wants, he transformed his experience into an emblematic story of (right) pride, and into an opportunity for growth for everyone.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tI believe that in a world where everyone can express themselves at their best, then everyone is happierI believe that in a world where everyone can express themselves at their best, then everyone is happier\nI believe that in a world where everyone can express themselves at their best, then everyone is happierI believe that in a world where everyone can express themselves at their best, then everyone is happier\n<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tI believe that in a world where everyone can express themselves at their best, then everyone is happierI believe that in a world where everyone can express themselves at their best, then everyone is happier\nI believe that in a world where everyone can express themselves at their best, then everyone is happierI believe that in a world where everyone can express themselves at their best, then everyone is happier\n<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tI believe that in a world where everyone can express themselves at their best, then everyone is happierI believe that in a world where everyone can express themselves at their best, then everyone is happier\nI believe that in a world where everyone can express themselves at their best, then everyone is happierI believe that in a world where everyone can express themselves at their best, then everyone is happier\n<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tI believe that in a world where everyone can express themselves at their best, then everyone is happierI believe that in a world where everyone can express themselves at their best, then everyone is happier\nI believe that in a world where everyone can express themselves at their best, then everyone is happierI believe that in a world where everyone can express themselves at their best, then everyone is happier\n<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u00abIo sono cresciuto \u201cimmerso\u201d nello sport: sia mia madre sia mio padre sono nel nuoto artistico, ma hanno sempre spinto mio fratello e me a provare anche altre discipline. Ho fatto taekwondo, calcio, pallanuoto. C\u2019era un clima che favoriva un approccio curioso a ogni disciplina sportiva, e che mi ha consentito di affrontare con spensieratezza l\u2019avventura del nuoto artistico, in un mondo che non era ancora pronto ad accogliere noi maschi<\/strong>. <\/span>Quando, nell\u2019estate del 2014, ha iniziato a serpeggiare la notizia che la disciplina si sarebbe aperta anche agli uomini e che avrebbero potuto iniziare a gareggiare a livello internazionale, abbiamo capito che si stava muovendo qualcosa, ma fino alla fine non ci abbiamo creduto. Poi mi chiam\u00f2 la mia allenatrice dell\u2019epoca dicendomi \u201c\u00c8 fatta, hanno aperto\u201d e, nel giro di una settimana, mi sono ritrovato a spostarmi da Roma a Savona per creare le coreografie e gli esercizi che avremmo dovuto portare ai campionati del mondo, di l\u00ec a meno di un anno. Io stavo lavorando a questo scopo da tantissimo tempo. Da quando avevo sei anni la mia mira era arrivare a questo, ma a 18 anni avevo quasi accettato il fatto di non poterlo fare. Mi dicevo \u201cok, ci ho provato, non sono riuscito a cambiare il mondo, avanti la prossima sfida\u201d e invece all\u2019ultimo \u00e8 arrivata questa opportunit\u00e0.\u00bb<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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“I grew up “ipped” in sport: both my mother and my father are in artistic swimming, but they have always pushed my brother and me to try other disciplines as well. I did taekwondo, football, water polo. There was an atmosphere that favored a curious approach to every sporting discipline, and that allowed me to face the adventure of artistic swimming with lightheartedness, in a world that was not yet ready to welcome us males. When, in the summer of 2014, the news began to spread that the discipline would also open up to men and that they would be able to start competing internationally, we understood that something was moving, but until the end we did not believe it. Then my coach at the time called me and said, “It’s done, they’ve opened” and, within a week, I found myself moving from Rome to Savona to create the choreographies and exercises that we were supposed to bring to the world championships, in less than a year. I had been working on this for a very long time. Since I was six years old, my goal was to achieve this, but by the time I was 18, I had almost accepted the fact that I couldn’t do it. I said to myself ‘ok, I tried, I couldn’t change the world, let’s move on to the next challenge’ and instead at the last minute this opportunity arrived.”<\/span><\/p>

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This year the Paris Olympics will be the first in which men will be able to compete in artistic swimming, and even if Minisini will not be present, the hope is quite clear: “For us, as an Italian team, these Olympics could have been historic. It would have been important to be there at the premiere. However, it was decided to focus on a more traditional exercise structure, so my role was not there. While the United States will compete with Bill May, a pioneer of the movement for the recognition of the male component in artistic swimming. Here, they are building exercises that can enhance the mixed component. We hope that this work will pave the way for the next of us who will want to follow in its wake in the future. I hope that May, who has been waiting for the recognition of her role for much longer than I have, will bring home a worldwide success, with which to pave the way for others. Even if gender equality, in our sport, is still a long way off: the opening in Paris is good, fundamental, but there is still a lack of opportunities to perform. In general, in the world of sport, there is a lot of focus on equality of numbers, therefore on having equal groups in all disciplines, but then there is no equality in opportunities for male and female athletes. We need to change our perspective.”<\/span><\/p>

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And has Minisini ever been accused of being yet another man who takes away space from women? “Yes, many times. And it was one of the most difficult things: when I was a child everyone was enthusiastic about the novelty, then after a certain age, when I became good, starting to get to the final, many raised the problem that it was not right for a boy to take away space from the athletes. Until 2015 Italy had won only one medal in this discipline, now we are at 17: and many remark this to raise a fuss. <\/span><\/p>

What we are trying to do, however, is to restore protagonism to the discipline: if mixed doubles has more spectators, if men’s singles have more space on TV, it is all the extra attention that is poured into artistic swimming. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Ph: Gottardo<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Ph: Gottardo<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Our sport is one of the sports in which there is more contrast between the effort that is made and what it appears. So the goal should be to try to show as much as possible how much work goes into it: what it means to be a national athlete, how many hours we spend in the water, and what conditions we spend our days in when we’re out of the water. It is important to put the communicative emphasis on these values, on dedication.<\/strong> This is a common goal, a collective responsibility. So from this point of view, I think we can work much better, so that journalists talk about both the athletes and the discipline.”<\/span><\/p>

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Giorgio often listened to the girls’ speeches during training, but this did not help him to understand them more, nor did it help him to get some tips to spend with his girlfriend.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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The reason is unexpectedly wise (since he is a man!): “This is something I did when I was a kid, and I discovered that it is not a strategy that works, because in certain contexts we speak in a way that is a little distant from reality. So let’s just say the best thing I learned was not to slavishly apply what you say to a group of girls about boys.” And when asked if there is something she really can’t stand about men, which she manages to grasp thanks to a refined sensitivity, Minisini replies: “Let’s say that I tend to move away from particularly toxic contexts. I really like being with people who feel free to be themselves and I feel sorry when I see that someone hasn’t had the opportunity to overcome all those expectations and those cultural constructs that you grow up with, so you have to be a man “in a certain way”. I believe that in a world where everyone can express themselves at their best, then everyone is happier.”\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>

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In the end, summing up, here are our two cents: Giorgio Minisini is the perfect personification of the countryside to which he lends his face, <\/span>#non\u00e8damaschio<\/span><\/a>. Because, quoting the assumption proposed in the opening editorial of this issue, “There are no longer the males of the past.” And thank goodness.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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by<\/span> Enrica Murru<\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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