If you search the Italian Constitution for the terms “sport” or “movement,” you will find no match. It is useless to search deeper, perhaps among synonyms: there is no trace of it.
Sport, in other words, does not exist as a founding value of civil coexistence and Italian culture.
The reason is quickly explained: when it went into effect in 1948, the memory of fascism was still too vivid, especially in its applications. Indeed, sports had always been a tool skillfully used by the regime to aggregate, educate and mold young people. The Constituent Fathers, understandably, pushed the idea away as far as possible.
Seventy-three years have passed since that 1948 (the Constitution carries January 1, 1948 as its birth date). Almost four generations and three and a half times the duration of Fascism. Perhaps it is time to talk again about the importance of sports, elevating it to the role of a pillar of our culture.
The culture of movement
It is said that culture is everything you remember when you have forgotten everything else. Culture is a kind of genetic code, an imprint that forms the spirit of people and citizens.
Sport in Italy is as far removed from culture as one can imagine. Just think of what comes to mind when one thinks of it: soccer or some “minor” discipline (how annoying that expression is) and little else. Hardly a part of culture and life is thought of but rather passions and pastimes. If in Italy you call sport “culture”-in the sense of an integral part of people and society-you are seen as a Martian.
Culture is a set of very boring things that boring people like.
Or at least that is how it is understood in Italy.
While it is understandable that sports were not considered a foundational value 73 years ago, it is no longer justifiable today.
If we continue to treat it as an individually cultivated or economically relevant passion only and always when talking about soccer (and practically never in other cases) we can never hope that it will be recognized as Mauro Berruto, former coach of the National Volleyball Team, likes to call it: Movement Culture.
Come to think of it, in fact, defining it as a part of culture gives it the status of an indispensable component of the individual: when we forget everything, we do not forget the spirit of sportsmanship, the sense of competition, the striving for continuous individual improvement, the healthy belonging to the group, the respect for the opponent, and the overcoming of individual selfishness for the good of the community. These are all very outdated values, just as it is generally outdated to talk about values now.
Uncurrent? Really?
Let’s go back to the lockdown for a moment: from the very beginning he was prevented from playing sports, even from playing the soccer championship (unheard of in Italy). Gyms, swimming pools were closed, even running alone in the streets was prevented. While many of these measures were justified by the emergency, it is also clear that among the aspects of civic life, sports and culture were the first to be considered expendable (in addition to schooling, which curiously includes both culture and sports). That which is first sacrificed is also that which is most easily deprived. All sports other than soccer are not economically interesting and therefore expendable, period.
It does not matter now, in retrospect, whether it was the right choice or not. More interestingly, there were few qualms about banning people from playing sports, even when caution was perhaps exaggerated, and exposing those who dared to run even in the backyard or around their block to verbal lynching and social condemnation.
We, as RunLovers, decided not to run, and so it went.
What cards we hold
Why is it so important for sports to be a foundational value of civilized living? Because it teaches how to have a healthy relationship with oneself and others. Because it allows for individual and public balance.
Really: before victory, results, timing, and economic value (justified and welcome, we would miss it), sport is a way to live in harmony with oneself and the community to which one belongs. It is a beautiful thing in a practical and purely abstract sense and is above all a cultural value to which any civilized society should aspire and on which to build. It is no accident that the Constitutions of the most advanced countries speak of sports in exactly these terms.
Not in Italy, unfortunately.
And if we think it’s a nice value but not that fundamental, let’s think again. Sports means healthier people with fewer physical and mental illnesses: less obesity, less cardiovascular disease, less depression, and more physical and psychological strength to cope with life’s difficulties. In other words: healthier citizens who do not burden the National Health System, if we are to consider the ubiquitous economic aspect.
How many times have you thought, “Today was a really bad day: luckily I’m going for a run now.” Well: sports helped you find your balance point and overcome a challenging time. You thought of it naturally and automatically did: because culture is a code of behavior, it is part of your way of being, it is the thing you remember when you have forgotten everything else.
Let’s not call it sports anymore: let’s call it “Movement Culture.”
Time.