Sister Giovanna Saporiti, president of Novara volleyball, Julia Ituma’s club: “We didn’t understand” – Corriere.it

«When I founded Agil Volley almost forty years ago, I did it to offer an opportunity to girls in difficulty, so that through the positive values ​​of sport they could find or recover serenity and stability. Today we all feel helpless and defeated, for not having been able to intercept Julia’s discomfort and for not having had the opportunity to intervene in time”.

The words, released in a note, are by Sister Giovanna Saporiti, president of Igor Gorgonzola Novara, the volleyball team in which Julia Ituma played, the young girl who died after the away game in Istanbul. “We are heartbroken – continues Sister Giovanna Saporiti – for the loss of an exceptional girl, we are close to the family and her loved ones and in the same way I ask everyone to be close to us, because in turn we are deeply affected”.

«The girls and the staff – she explains – are still in shock from what happened and today our thoughts go to them too. As a company, we immediately took action to offer them professional psychological support. We’ll do everything we can to ensure they don’t miss any kind of help they need, just like we don’t let any of our girls miss it, whether they’re from the first team or from our youth sector. We will speak to all of them soon, inviting them to open up and share with us, so that we can face and resolve them together, any type of discomfort or discomfort. Julia didn’t open up to us and for us there will always be the regret of obviously not being able to permeate that barrier that she evidently had raised, hiding her fragility behind the appearance of a strong, polite, cheerful, determined girl. She is a girl who everyone loved and who we miss and will miss every day.’

(article being updated)