Sports and health: seven Olympic champions meet with young people from the suburbs

Naples – Seven Olympic medals, seven different stories, one goal: bringing sport to the suburbs of Naples.

This is the challenge launched by Sport e Salute, which, in collaboration with the Italian Sailing Federation, Federvela Campania, and Mascalzone Latino, has brought some of Italy's greatest sports champions to the sea to meet young people from the suburbs and introduce them to the sport.

Taking to the field—and into the water—were Francesca Lollobrigida, Pino Maddaloni, Valerio Vermiglio, Tania Di Mario, Giacomo Galanda, Angelika Savrajuk, and Marco Di Costanzo: seven leading figures in Italian sport, Olympic medalists in various disciplines, united by the desire to transform their experience into an opportunity for the new generations.

From judo to water polo, from volleyball to rowing to speed skating, their stories become a bridge between great sport and the kids who live in the suburbs.

But that bridge in Naples has also become a physical space. After their experience at sea, the students reached the Sport e Salute pontoon, which has become one of the iconic locations for the America's Cup preliminary regattas. A new space overlooking the race course, it brings the public closer to the competition and offers a different and privileged vantage point on the America's Cup.

A place that in recent days has also become a real magnet for the city: people stop, take photos, selfies, admire the boats, and look out over the sea to experience the spectacle of the Cup from a new perspective.

For the kids from the suburbs, however, that pontoon means, above all, being there. Being part of the action, not just spectators. After meeting the champions and trying the sport at sea, they were able to experience firsthand the major international event currently sweeping Naples.

The initiative was born with the goal of using the sea as a new space for inclusion and participation, introducing young people to sailing and other sports through direct encounters with those who have experienced firsthand the value of passion, hard work, teamwork, and the pursuit of a dream.

Seven champions, seven stories, one simple message: sport shouldn't wait for kids to arrive. Sport should go looking for them.

And in Naples, this vision also takes shape through the pontoon: an island in the sea that during the America's Cup becomes a meeting point between sport, the city, and the public, allowing those who normally watch from afar to get closer, enter the scene, and discover a new way to experience sport.