UNDER THE BEACH UMBRELLA: 100 STORIES OF ATHLETES FOR BIG AND YOUNG CHAMPIONS

‘Under the beach umbrella’ everybody reads, both big and young people: our weekly event devoted to books is right for the youngest! Today we’re going to talk about a fresh, dazzling work that conquered our attention immediately. It’s titled 100 stories of athletes for big and young champions and it was published two years ago, born by the fantasy of Giorgio Cabello. Inspired by Italian bestseller Goodnight fairytales for rebel girls, the novelist has written a collection of tales about sport – a hundred ones – that, with continuous jumps from past to present, describe multifaceted, edifying universe, in which athletic disciplines are just a way to speak about far-reaching values. Cabello’s words dialogue with illustrations by ten international artists. 


As you an easily imagine, FILA and the champions that shaped its tradition cannot be missing. Babe Ruth, muse of Pierluigi Rolando’s Borg polo shirt, is featured and defined by the author ‘the legend of American baseball’. And who is ‘the best winner of all times’? Michael Schumacher! The life of the German pilot, testimonial of the FILA-Ferrari collaboration in the early 2000s, is described since its early childhood, when he drove on the streets of the village of Kerpen on a small car realized with waste pieces from a lawnmower. His destiny is myth: in 1994, on his Ferrari car, he became the first German man in history to take over a world rally. ‘Schumi’, whose humility also led him to become an amazing test driver, has always interpreted FILA’s system of values in the best way, and the brand honored him with a model of shoes designed starting from the anatomic shape of his own feet. 


It’s also worth recalling the story of the Klitschko brothers, drawn by Italian illustrator Chiara Luzi as close, smiling, covered with trophies. Actually, if there’s a real ‘Golden Couple’ in the international boxe scene, it’s certainly that composed by Wladimir and Vitali, born in Ukraine in the early Seventies. The two of them aimed to become fighters since their childhood: their mother supported them, and also told them ‘ok, but promise me you will never fight one against the other’. Thanks to his hooks and with more 200 matches, Vitali, the eldest one, became famous as Dr Ironfist, the five-languages speaking boxer who also achieved a PhD. Wladimir, the younger brother, became Dr Steelhammer instead, who achieved victories on victories in the heavyweight category. Did they keep the promise they made to their mother? Yes, they did: the Klitschko brothers only fight when it’s about playing chess.