A new category and a new conductor for Tinet Prata. For its first time in the Superleague, president Maurizio Vecchies’ club has decided to focus on an emerging coach, one who has already demonstrated his clear vision. So much so that he inflicted one of the most stinging pains of the season on the yellow-blues, winning the Coppa Italia at PalaPrata with his ABBA Pineto team and then repeating the success in the Supercup. This is Simone di Tommaso, a forty-four-year-old from Pescara who for the past two seasons has led the Teramo team, which fought Tinet for promotion to the Superleague until the very end. He has significant experience in beach volleyball, where he led Nicolai and Cottafava to the Paris Olympics, and has made over 100 appearances in Serie A as a player, as a setter with Matera, Siena, and Ravenna.
“My volleyball career as a player has been long and rewarding,” Di Tommaso explains. “The highlight was definitely winning the A2 championship in Ravenna and playing in the Superleague the following year. As a coach, I started in the youth sector and then moved to beach volleyball, where I coached Nicolai and Cottafava for three years, culminating in the European Championships and participation in the Paris Olympics. After the Olympics, I returned to indoor volleyball with the experience in Pineto, which was both beautiful and important.”
You’re still a young coach. What do you like most about the role, and what do you miss about life as a player?
I consider my playing experience a closed chapter with no regrets. I immediately embraced coaching because it was something I had clearly in mind even in the final years of my career, and I consider it my future because I’ve always wanted to do it, and now that I’m doing it, it brings me enormous personal and professional satisfaction. I’m a fairly young coach for this level, but that shouldn’t make me feel complacent. Growth must be a continuous process, and I must and want to seize every opportunity I’m given. This Prata opportunity is a very important one, and I intend to live it to the fullest, giving it all my energy.
