Italian ice skaters train at UD

Valeria Leoni

3:29 p.m., Aug. 3, 2004--Since July 19, a dozen Italian skaters and their coaches have been training at the University of Delaware’s Ice Skating Science Development Center.

Training under Jeff DiGregorio, coach of national, international and world-class skaters, the group includes 12 skaters from the Milan area who are at UD for a three-week training period. Ranging in age from 9 to 21 years, the skaters are pursuing their individual dreams of participating in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.

The group, Ice Dream, includes the GGR Como, SESTO Ice Skate and P.A. Torino skating clubs and coaches Franca Bianconi, Rosanna Murante and Lorenzo Magri, as well as Ice Dream president Anna Grandolfi.

Bianconi, a Milan resident and head coach of SESTO, recalled meeting DiGregorio in the late 1970s while training for the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, N.Y.

“We became friends, and then lost track of each other until we met again in the fall of 2003 at the Junior Grand Prix competitions in Ostrawa, in the Czech Republic,” Bianconi said.

Bianconi, who competed in the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid and has coached national- and international-level skaters since the early 1980s, said that her enthusiasm for the sport began at an early age and has grown along with its popularity in her native country.

Italian skaters training at UD include (front, from left) Marcella De Trovato, Francesca Rio, Victoria Manni, Jennifer Cucinella, Camilla Curci, Sofia Curci, and (back, from left) Laura Magitteri, Sara Delfinetti, Francesca Cattaneo, Giovanni Rinaldi, Erika Burkia and Valeria Leoni.

“I got involved with ice skating when my mom took me skating as a youngster,” Bianconi said. “I loved it, and I like it today as a coach, because I enjoy being with the kids.”

Coaching colleague Murante, who was one of Bianconi’s first students, said that she has seen a noticeable improvement in the performance of her students since their arrival at UD.

“We are all doing very well here,” Murante said. “It is very interesting, and the level of skill and competition is very high. The people here really put a lot of effort in what they do.”

Magri, who has been a singles and pairs coach for nine years, said that he also is impressed by level of energy and competitiveness among the skaters and coaches at UD.

“It is very different here in America, and the coaches, including Jeff DiGregorio and Ron Ludington, are great,” Magri said. “This is like a dream for us.” Ludington, four-time national pairs champion and world and Olympic bronze medalist, is director of UD’s Ice Skating Science Development Center.

UD coach Jeff DiGregorio (left) with Italian coaches Franca Bianconi, Rosanna Murante and Lorenzo Magri.

Magri, who also serves as the group’s physical trainer, said that besides putting in three practice sessions each day, skaters also participate in a variety of off-ice strengthening activities including weight training.

Working with the Italian coaches and skaters also has proven to be enjoyable, DiGregorio, who has been a coach at UD since 1987, said.

Among DiGregorio’s best-known former students are Tara Lipinski, 1998 Olympic gold medalist, and Kitty and Peter Carruthers, four-time United States pairs champions and members of the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame.

“We have been sharing information and trying to learn some of their language, ” DiGregorio said. “This has been a very rewarding experience for all of us at UD.”

Article by Jerry Rhodes
Photos by Kathy Atkinson

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