The CONI School of Sport has presented this morning, in the Hall of Honour, the Training Plan for 2014, in the presence of the President of the Italian National Olympic Committee, Giovanni Malagò; the General Secretary, Roberto Fabbricini; the President of Coni Servizi s.p.a., Franco Chimenti; the Chief Executive Officer, Alberto Miglietta and of the General Director, Michele Uva. The meeting was also attended by the President of the FIPE (Italian Weightlifting Federation), Antonio Urso, also Relations and activities Coordinator at the School of Sport and the Institute of Sports Medicine and Science; Marcello Marchioni, National Coordinator of the Regional School of Sport; and Rossana Ciuffetti, Director of the School of Sport.

The President Malagò recalled how, in the context of the new organisation, the School is called upon to play an increasingly important role as a centre of national excellence in training, refresher courses and specialisation in sports and management, emphasising its importance as a major vehicle of opening towards an effective interaction with the market and with the international reality, able to deploy resources and potential. “A few decades ago we were alone or nearly so, but today there is competition and the School of Sport must have the courage to reach out and enter into the market, because it is not enough to get behind the brand CONI. Since 1965, when the actual President, Giulio Onesti, founded it with the aim of training future sports coaches and managers, the School of Sport is the only entity merged with a National Olympic Committee and, for this reason, it has important responsibilities and there are several ways, all valid, to try to make it an added value. The income statement needs to be improved with investments and revenues. It should also find sponsors and after Sochi, I am committed to doing so, by, of course, presenting a project. The next two years for the School of Sport should be used to rationalise, because if in 2013 we have obtained some benefits in expenses, much more can and must be done. The team is important, it knows our world well. There will be difficult times but I have great expectations". The training provided by the school has increased by 30% and has three big areas of interest: high-level sport, sports management and -this is a new feature- sports facilities design training. Many of the athletes participating, including Olympic athletes Alessandra Sensini and Stefano Baldini (in addition to Carlo Molfetta and Giulia Quintavalle), later described their experience.

The President of Coni Servizi, Franco Chimenti, and the Chief Executive Officer, Alberto Miglietta, recalled the strategic role of the School of Sport, point of reference for the federal technical management and related research centres, stressing the centrality of the initiatives to improve the specialised heritage of the Italian sport.

Antonio Urso, as Relations and activities coordinator at the School of Sport and the Institute of Sports Medicine and Science, explained how the new proposals, innovative in nature, will be designed to satisfy both the training team and the young graduates as even managers, professionals of public and private companies are looking out for updated and successful models.

The new model of connection with the activities of the Regional Schools, as a structure of service for the Federations and the Associated Sport Disciplines, was presented by Marcello Marchioni before the final intervention of the Director Rossana Ciuffetti, who pointed out the goals and strategies of the School in an exhaustive way. She explained it was a strength and a characteristic element of the CONI, a unique model among Olympic Committees, and reiterated the importance of the training of the new managers through a path aimed to emphasise the importance of the internal resources of the system whilst being able to understand the demands and the opportunities offered by the market. The new course wants to engage the University and the Federations through specific collaborations designed to exponentially increase the contents of the offer.

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