A National Champion at Bocconi

Wednesday 9 September Laura D'Amato turned in her final paper for the Bachelor in Economics and Social Sciences. That afternoon, she went back to her hometown of Piacenza to finish up her athletic training and on Sunday 13 September in Ravenna, she was named Italian rowing champion in the lightweight coxless pair category (for female athletes under 59 kilograms). Born in 1988 and now enrolled in the Master of Science in Economics and Social Sciences (DES), Laura started rowing at age 11 on the Po River with the Vittorino da Feltre team. "I went with a classmate, whose brother was a rower," she remembers, "and since then I haven't stopped." The recognition on 13 September was the second Italian title for Laura and her boatmate Benedetta Bisotti: in 2005 they won the lightweight quad scull category with two other female athletes, but the year after they missed the win for just one tenth of a second.

Laura (on the right) and Benedetta celebrate

The Italian title was somewhat unexpected, partly because it happened in the coxless pair category (where each athlete uses just one oar) and the two Piacenza champions had always preferred the double scull (two oars per person) since both study outside Piacenza and have to spread out their training. "During secondary school, the rowers who won first place in the Italian nationals trained every day," explained Laura. In addition to the title, both athletes were honored with the request to work at the Rowing Nationals in Piediluco. Apart from military crews, rowing is a prevalently amateur sport and training usually only takes place evenings in the gym during the week, while Saturday and Sunday are for training in the water to improve teamwork with boatmates. University commitments caused Laura to limit her gym workouts to two or three times per week, while she consistently dedicated her weekends to training on the Po. At the same time, the choice to study was an easy one for her. "Ever since secondary school," she says, "economics has fascinated me, and the program in Economics and Social Sciences seemed to best fit my aptitudes. My first impressions were confirmed, so I enrolled in the same subject for my Master of Science program, which is a natural continuation. Over the next two years I'll have to decide if my future is in research, like I had always imagined, or somewhere else." The key word to understanding Laura's sports experience is "team." "If I keep dedicating two or three evenings per week to training and accepting that I almost never have a free weekend, I do it most of all for the team: my teammates and coach. We have a reciprocal relationship of trust which is very hard to explain. Challenging moments are overcome and you get in the water even when you're tired because you know your teammate would do the same for you." Supporting the training efforts of athletes, even those at Laura's level, who don't earn money and who pay for transfers and memberships out of their own pockets, is a lot of passion. "In our case, both the motivation for a rematch after losing the 2006 Italian championships by a hair and a fire that hit the Vittorino da Feltre earlier in June, destroying €200,000 of equipment, were important. We were able to start training again right away thanks to financial contributions and support by the Rowing Federation and by other companies who were very supportive." Laura knows her sport is very educational, and that the experience has helped her out in her studies as well. "My evening training appointment always forces me to be extremely productive in the afternoon hours and to concentrate. Competitiveness also teaches you not to give up and to persevere, even in other fields." This is why she believes that Italian schools and universities should put an even stronger focus on sports.