Alessandro Campagna, known as Sandro (Palermo, June 26, 1963) is a former Italian water polo player and water polo coach, currently he is the Technical Captain of the men's water polo team, the so-called “Settebello”.
He made his debut in Serie A1 in 1980 in the Ortigia ranks, before moving to Racing Roma in 1990 with which he won the Cup Winners' Cup and the Len Cup.
He was Olympic champion in the 1992 Barcelona edition with Settebello.
From 1998 to 2000 he coached the junior national team, winning the gold medal at the World Cup, silver and bronze at the European Championships and silver at the Universiade.
In 2012, at the ceremony of the Collari d'Oro for Sporting Merit, Campagna received the award of the Palme d'Or for technical merit for his career.
On the occasion of the European water polo championships, Sandro Campagna was in Malta together with his team including Roberto Brancaccio second coach, Mino Di Cecca coach, Daniele Cianfriglia video analyst.
We met him, by the pool, he welcomed us with a smile and kindness, impossible not to notice his personality and experience; we asked him a few questions.
You have had a successful career that has given you a lot of satisfaction, but do you prefer to be a player or a manager?
But look, they are two completely different things where I was lucky enough to do the two things at a very high level by touching the sky with a finger, winning things that you dreamed of as a kid like the 92nd Olympics; as a coach, alas, I arrived second once and third at the Olympics but we won a world championship, several silver medals as a European championship, so they are two different things but all very very beautiful because with my passion, with the my knowledge, with my skills I have contributed together with others, with my teammates when I played, with my staff collaborators when I coach, to bring Italian water polo towards world excellence and this is a great thing for our country.
Given your experience, what do you think is the state of health of water polo?
The state of health of water polo in general is not in excellent condition, if by state of health we mean the organizational and economic aspects above all. Waterpolo, more than any other sport, has suffered from the global crisis that there has been, the lack of possibility of finding sponsors, however, it is also true that it is a bit of our fault because we basked on certain things that then did not correspond to the true ... I mean in the periods of fat cows you had to invest a lot in terms of communications, in terms of marketing to try, in the moments when the fat cows are decreasing, to always remain at high levels.
We have missed this train and therefore we are struggling a bit. Now there are only two good leagues in Europe, one is the Hungarian one which is the best ever, then ours does not have the appeal it once did. Many clubs are struggling and therefore from this point of view we are suffering, not the Italian waterpolo but the whole world waterpolo. From a technical point of view, however, in my opinion both the federation and the companies, that is our entire movement is organized, has great passion, great will, there are guidelines on how to set up the methodological work from above and many companies they follow and we are always producing good players, so much so that some new young players always arrive in the national team who give hope not only for the present but also for the future.
How do you work in the youth sectors, which should be the future of this sport?
First of all, it is necessary to have very organized companies, companies that have adequate water spaces, by now the water spaces in Italian swimming pools become increasingly difficult to have them because we look much more at the commercial aspect than the competitive aspect and therefore it is a battle within. of each swimming pool find adequate spaces to do a youth activity.
After you have obtained the spaces clearly comes an organization with a head coach and many coaches, each for each category ranging from propaganda, then from the eight, nine ten years that can do the habawaba tournament, the one that takes place in Lignano Sabbiadoro every year. which is a world-class tournament. After the age of 11 you begin to compete starting from the rookies with the junior pupils and all this means having 4, 5 teams, it means having 7, 8 coaches in the youth teams, managers, passion, desire and creating a positive atmosphere at the inside of this microcosm that is a swimming pool, so that the boy has the pleasure of going there and after school and after the family can't wait to be educated also through the water polo school;
to excel in a tough sport you don't have to be just talented or physically gifted, you have to have a high-level constancy of mind and self-discipline, because through continuous improvement day by day you can reach certain levels and whoever reaches high levels does not he is necessarily the best but the strongest.
PTo play water polo you need a lot of qualities, but which one is essential for your player? The essential one?
It is the head. In my opinion, the head gives a lot, even to a discreet player, while if you don't have the head, even a potential champion may not be effective.
Thanks to Sandro Campagna for this interview.
Thanks to Mino DiCecca and Roberto Brancaccio e Daniel Cianfriglia for the kindness and friendliness
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