“Uncle Rom” does not give up: hockey is an ageless passion – a sport

Trent. It takes great passion to get together twice a week after 10 pm and often until midnight, to train at the Trento ice rink, and to play hockey at the amateur level. On the ice field in the provincial capital, built in 1994 under the stars, or in the open air, and then completed in 2002/3 thanks to a suitable roof, we metPresident of the “Amateur Hockey Hockey Trento ASD” Lorenzo Martinelli nickname “Uncle RomBorn in 1958 and has headed this very active group of athletes since 1996.

players Without any age limit: from 18-year-old Gabrielle Devant to the 64-year-old president and many other athletes attending the sports facility run by Assis, coming from different cities in Trentino. The participation of off-site college students is also good, including some girls, who have the opportunity to play on the frozen boards, even if they are busy in different city colleges.

But what is most seen in this group is a stop in the dressing room, where a very friendly atmosphere reigns between the boys and girls and their chief, who we ‘spot’ is perhaps the greatest hockey player at county level. , who constantly practices this discipline. Their ancient origins are depicted in the 1565 oil-on-wood panel Hunters in the Snow by the Flemish painter Pieter Brueghel the Elder, in which some men intend to play in a frozen lake with a bent stick.

“Since then, obviously, many things have changed and there are many fans of this eventful sport that in some ways can seem violent,” Uncle Rom confirms. It rose to the level of Canada’s national sport along with the other, more prestigious, discipline of lacrosse. But at the city skating rink the most extreme competitive spirit takes a back seat, to let yourself be carried away just by wanting to play together, enjoy beers and pizzas in the company at the end of training sessions but above all have plenty of laughs and post-excitement. the match.

“After all, the same company logo depicting an eagle’s head bears the motto” Team of Those Who Don’t Skate “to emphasize the purely non-competitive spirit of our partnership.” And it is this last aspect that president Lorenzo Martinelli is keen to stress, at the helm of the group for 26 years and always playing the primary role of goalkeeper on the pitch.

Complete with a yellow and blue protective heavy jacket number 69, ready to defend the goal from opposition attacks and from a black game puck that can reach speeds of more than 170 km / h. By the way, the official and authorized record is held by the former Czech athlete Jiri Maruschak, who threw the disc in November 2003 at a speed of 244 hm / h.

“Uncle Rom” is an athlete who, however, does not disdain to play other sports, between long summer bike outings and in winter he wears cross-country skis, with no less than 39 consecutive participations in the Marcialonga in his legs, or when the “Feste Vigilane” is celebrated To fill the role of raft leader, since 1989, marking the “Palio dell’Oca” along the course of the Adige River, to the colors of the San Giuseppe city district. And at the end of our interview, a big thank you goes to the person responsible for preparing the ice surface, who has been working at the City Stadium for many years and with indisputable professionalism Pierluigi “Gigi” Jarullo.

Thanks to it, thousands of amateur ski enthusiasts and enthusiasts always find a perfectly smooth run 10 months a year, plus helpful technical advice and empathy that never hurts in any professional and sporty field.