There wouldn’t be any Meeting without sport events in it. It has been like that for 35 years, ever since the pavilions of the Rimini old fairground hosted the first edition of the event, in 1980. “Sport is first and foremost education; it teaches how to know ourselves, how to deal with our own limits and, most of all, to learn how to be with others, accept and respect them for their value – said Silvano Fonti, organizer of the activities of this sector. For a week, we give all the participants the chance to be together and have fun, while discovering unknown sports. We also take our initiatives outside the fairground, in order to get Rimini and its whole territory involved”.
To this extent, the Meeting preview inevitably involved sports. Before its official opening Mass, occurred at 10.45 a.m. and celebrated by Francesco Lambiasi, this morning at 7 the departure of “MTB Ground and Mud Tour” took place. The race, with a 38-km track for 101 adults and a 10-km track for 50 children and families, developed along the Valmarecchia cycling lane. At 7 a.m. also took place the “Cycling at the Meeting 2014”, an uncompetitive road bike tour through the lands of Malatesta. Both these competitions have been organized with the collaboration of “Amici del Pedale” and “La Pedivella” associations.
At 2 p.m. in “The game of the lot – Sport Village” pavilion, you can find the encounter with a funny sport but still little known: the dodgeball, a team sport born from the evolution of the sport for children ‘palla prigioniera’. You play in 6 players against 6, with three or more balls contemporary.
All the races, by tradition, have always been organized in collaboration with the Centro Sportivo Italiano (CSI-Italian Sport Center) and provide the chance to try out 19 different kinds of sports: beach volley, beach tennis, judo, football in 5, basketball, volleyball, ping pong, lacrosse, gymnastic, rugby, street games, checkers and chess, dodgeball, Subbuteo, athletic and tennis. Among the new entries, this year there will be a climbing wall provided by the Italian Navy Corps; the exhibit titled “Centro Sportivo Italiano – 70 anni di storia-CSI: 70 years of history” where you can see the CSI activity from 1944 to now. Do not miss the book presentation, on Monday 25th, titled “Bellezza, gratuità, cameratismo. Professionisti e dilettanti: la vocazione iniziale nel fare sport/Beauty, Gratuitousness, Camaraderie: Pros and Amateurs. The Initial Vocation in doing sport.” by Nicola Lovecchio and Giancarlo Ronchi.
On Monday 25th, the “20th Youth Basketball Tournament Meeting” will take place in “The game of the lot – Sport Village” area from 2.30 p.m. on, followed, in the evening (at 8 p.m.), by the 3rd edition of “Bridge Tournament”; a “Mitchell” competition open to all the players, and a parallel competition just for the junior athlete category, organized by Civibridge, Rimini Bridge Association.
(C.B.)