EDWARDSVILLE – It's been said that sport can be a universal language, something that can overcome barriers and bring people together.
Edwardsville's tennis program provides such an example of the way sport – in this case, tennis – can be a way to give people of different cultures and nations a chance to learn from each other.
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Tiger coach Dave Lipe welcomed a contingent of players and a coach from Italy in a welcoming ceremony at the EHS tennis center Tuesday morning as five young players, their coach and two others from near Bologna, in northern Italy, as part of an ongoing sporting and cultural exchange program that got started in 2011, thanks to the Edwardsville Futures tennis tournament.
The group who are visiting Edwardsville includes five young players, Guilio Campagnoli (who's 9), Gustavo Campagnoli (12), Ludovica Trano (12), Gabriele Montanari (15) and Frederico Roversi (13); their coach, Donato Campagnoli; and Maura Gvaitoli and Luciana Bulgarelli.
Donato Campagnoli first came to Edwardsville to play in the Edwardsville Futures tennis tournament in 2011. “I was in Illinois to play in a few tournaments,” Campagnoli said; “the first one in Alton, the second one in Decatur and the third one here. It was the final leg (of Campagnoli's tour) here and I was staying here with my family, my wife and my two kids. The first guy we met here was Dave, who was the director of the tournament.
“We kept in touch and Gustavo was, at that time, seven, wanted to play tennis the next day. Dave offered Gustavo (a chance) to play in his camp and it was a wonderful offer. Gustavo played tennis the next day and we exchanged e-mails and the player I coached played in the tournament. We kept in touch and in 2014, I sent Gustavo over for his first experience alone – he was 10 – and it was great. We did the same thing last year, and this year, we decided to come over with a delegation “
Gustavo Campagnoli isn't the only one who has traveled to visit Edwardsville; Lipe's son Seth, himself a part of the Tiger tennis program, has also traveled to Italy to visit the Campagnolis and Montanari. “He's an unbelievable guy,” Donato Campagnoli said. “He stayed for three weeks in Italy, two weeks at Gabriele's house and the final week with me. We had the opportunity to play tennis together and he's a great kid. He enjoyed Italy; we're going to try and set up an exchange for next year. You never know; we can have many kids from Edwardsville going over (to Italy) and kids from Italy coming over here, which is the goal of the whole experience.”
Montanari himself is making this third visit to Edwardsville, having been here previously in 2014 and 2015; his previous trips to the area have made a positive impression on him. “I love this place,” Montanari said. “I love the people; the people here have treated me very well.”
Montanari began playing tennis at age 6 and enjoys the competition the game provides. “I love to compete,” Montanari said. “I would like to be a pro (tennis player) in the future and I would like to come to America to play tennis at a university.”
“It's been fun,” Lipe said. “To make friends, forge friendships that can last a lifetime has been a very meaningful experience for the kids and for the adults too: Donato and I are great friends; Edwardsville has made a lot of friends through that (Futures) tournament and we've all made great friendships through the tournament. I'm not the only person that has made friendships that have lasted for half a decade now.
“I know a lot of other people in town have made close friendships with players and their families that have come through, so it's been a terrific thing for our kids in our academy and the kids on our team and our community and obviously, this is the largest of the ventures that we have had.”
Having the Italians in Edwardsville has exposed Lipe to different approaches to the game and how to coach. “I’ve learned to appreciate our game even more,” Lipe said. “I’ve learned other ways of thinking about and teaching our game, learned other ways of motivating kids and learned about friendship and about the strengths of our program and ways we can improve it, which I think is a big part of it.”
Even though there may be some differences, sport can be a universal language to bring many different cultures together. “Sports is a universal language,” Lipe said. “If you take soccer players from Argentina and put them on the pitch in England, they’re going to be able to play together. The same thing with tennis here; the kids from Italy, I have a much easier time communicating with them about tennis. I can communicate with them about their serve and they can instantly see what I’m talking about.
“Sometimes, talking about other things is not so easy, but our game is great; it’s international and it’s fantastic.”
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