Bocconi Challenges Harvard

AN EXCITING WATER POLO MATCH, THURSDAY 12 JANUARY, BETWEEN THE MILANESE TEAM AND THAT OF THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, WHICH TESTIFIES TO THE GROWTH OF WATER SPORTS AMONG BOCCONI SPORT ACTIVITIES

It is a special match, apart from the game itself, because for any university to challenge Harvard means going up against excellence, even outside the classroom. On this occasion, the challenge will take place in the pool of the Bocconi Sport Center, and will see the men's water polo team of the Milanese university versus that of the prestigious university from Boston who are in Italy for a traditional pre-season retreat. The game, it must be said, starts with a clear favorite given that the American team, which plays in the university league, "is on the level of our A2 or Serie B, while we will play next season in Serie D, even if we have well-founded aspirations of moving up," explains Riccardo Santolamazza, director of sport operations of Bocconi Sport.
But what is really important is the symbolic significance of the event, with one of the world's leading universities arriving in Milan to challenge the team of an Italian university. And it is also the testimony of the growth of water sports within Bocconi Sport, as a logical and direct consequence of the investments made to build, in the new campus, a state-of-the-art swimming pool with few equals in Italy. "A facility that has hosted some Pro Recco Champions League matches and that is showing great appeal among students, with an increasing number of requests to take part in our activities, both competitive and amateur." The team, as mentioned, will take part in the Serie D league, with ambitions to move up to the next category. But the event on the 12th is another story, one of those occasions that in the sporting life of a student-athlete may only happen once, if you’re lucky.
“The Bocconi Sport swimming section was inaugurated with the opening of the Bocconi Sport Center, a truly world-class water sports center, equipped with a 50-meter Olympic swimming pool and a 25-meter heated pool," says Carlo Altomonte, Associate Professor at the Department of Social and Political Sciences and head of the Water Sports section of Bocconi Sport. At the moment two Bocconi competitive teams have been created: a swimming team, with 30 members, which participates in competitions at different levels around the country; and a water polo team with a reserve team, which plays in the national Serie D league.
In addition to these 'official' activities, there are also several hundred Bocconi students who regularly practice free swimming, or who participate in the courses and activities offered by our partner Aquamore, which manages the facility," continues Altomonte. "Activities ranging from clinics with swimming champions (such as Filippo Magnini), to freediving courses, or Intramural tournaments between our students' teams. The international event with Harvard represents a first step in the program to expand Bocconi water sports activities, planned in the coming months in two directions. On the one hand, the organization and participation in swimming or water polo tournaments between teams from other European and international universities. On the other hand, the integration of the practice of water sports with other teaching and research activities of the university, at the crossroads between business management and cognitive sciences."

by Davide Ripamonti
Translated by Richard Greenslade