Teen gets soccer shot i in Italy

« Jan-Christian Sorensen
Sports Reporter jsorensen@nsnews.com

LYNN Valley’s Andrea Bellisomo is a little early
to be toasting la vita. bella.

Bue. when you're 16 years old and living in Italy, what else
can you 'do?
. Bellisomo is playing for the SS Alcione. soccer squad in
-Cassina de’ pecchi, a small. town on the outskirts of Milan.
“He was visiting relatives there after a soccer tour of Holland
back in August when he landed a tryout for the team.
‘Things went well.
O° After three weeks-of intense practice, the centre defender
’ played his first game Sunday in a matchup against Ciniselic.
“Ir’s a dream come true, coming over here,” said Bellisomo
fh a telephone interview from’ :
his ‘new Italian home fast
week. . ;
He attended: Argyle. last.
and >. Saint. Thomas -
» Aquinas previous to that, and
aw: action... with the’North
Shore Selects'U-16 side...
‘His goal: to keep improv-
‘ing to'the point where one of :
he big league scouts may take
otice and give hima promo- ;
n fo the big show. |. :
SS--Alcione ‘trains. beside
: the stadium: that houses Serie .
“A’soccer league powerhouses
AC Milan and Inter Milan.
Talk of the two hometown |
teams: pervades everybody’s
ife over there, he said:
‘Here you can’t not follow
vs™ around. you’ 24
* hours a day.” °° By
‘Bellisomo’s family —t
rothers; Luca’ and Carlo, 13; older brother. Robert and mom
ill and dad: Massimo — ‘are following his Progress from their
: North Van hom

“LYNN Valley’s Andrea
:Bellisomo is playing for
‘an italian: soccer squad.

While he doesn’t speak Italian, he’s “currently taking, lessons

S part of his Grade H- ~equivatent schooling at the International
aol of Milan.
“Everyone | speaks. ‘English there; which. is lucky ‘for me.
st people here know enough English to get by, but Eve had
"few problems.”

He's found that the fashion, food and cuscoms ‘take a little ‘

ting used ‘to::

For example, the lure of the large Tralian family and i its love>

ffair. with food...
“The, meals are really’ big. hey have nwo- or three- COURSE
nals all the time and it’s amazing. The food is 50 good.”

Tin trying to watch my weight,” he lughed. “In Canada I .

orried about it but here I"m starting to get. worried.”

And the.women?

‘Oh ‘my. gosh,” he said, a “litte flustered even over the
‘phone. “Don’t get me start:

The SS Alcione squad practises three times a week and plays
egular, Sunday matches.” The teat was 2-0-1 heading into
veckend action ;

‘Capilano College’s men's soccer head’ coach Bob Birarda
aid Bellisomo is well-deserving of the opportunity. «

“He’s a first class kid? He’s got all the tools — great balance

nd technique and an incredible commitment to competing.”
He’s capable of defending oae versus one against the best
players in the world. He’s got such a competitive spirit about
him.”

v= Birarda .— who is the coaching director of Total Soccer .
Systems where Bellisomo has trained for the last two years —.

escorted, Bellisomo and 15. other North Shore players on the

Aligust training tour:to: Holland, where they sparred against .

heavyweights such as Amsterdam’s Ajax and Arnhem’s Vitesse.
He said. Beliisomo has long been deserving of a national,
teani spot to showcase his soccer prowess.

-“[ have had a bit of frustratiog because he’s probably one of -

the ‘most: underrated players in this arza. He has not cracked the

ational team lineup and of all the'players that have been select: °
d inhis age group in B.C. he certainly is the next and most :

deservirig player. -He’s a very, very talented kid.” .
=" Bellisome is planning ‘a return tip this Christmas to visit
® friends and relatives before returning to Milan to resume lay i in
January.
Rellisomo . said . ‘the weather has been one comforting
inder‘of home
“When it rains “here it, rains really hard, and there’ 's ‘lots: oF
win :

~ will sport a nwo-maa,

DOUGLAS College rowers take to the water fast Saturday i in preparation for the PricewaterhouseCoopers B.C.
Undergrad Rowing Classic to > be held this weekend in Deep Cove. oa.

From page $1

In 1993 Yates first compet-
ed for longtime B.C.’ rowing

‘stalwart Stelly’s High School

before moving on, over the

next five years, to capture sil-”

vers and bronzes: in’ light-
weight women’s competition
for both the B.C. and,
Albertan provincia! sides.

She also has captured gold

cin. the” lightweight women’s

pair with: teammate Heather

~ Breez at the prestigious annu- |
cal Henley Regatta. in St.
Catherine's, Ont.”

She had no ides how pop:
ular the team would prove to
be when she first put out a call

for rowers in September —_

she now has a dozen Douglas
College reps signed on, which
is almost.tog niuch to muster.

“One of the boats will host
four women’ while the other
tWvo-
woman split |

Yates and. her two boats

will be one of many teams thar

will compete in’ the
Pricewaterhouse Coopers

British Columbia Undergrad”

Rowing Classic. Last year's
inaugural event attracted more
than 400 rowers from schools

* across: the’ Lower Mainland,

Vancouver - Island cand:

the
Interi rior. ‘

1/2 Price

The format is simple: par---

‘ticipating teams .row in a
school undergrad program at -
feast. two nights a week for...

The. rowers

then put their training to the |

about a month.

test at the regatta.
~The compressed training

‘time daesn’s mean her team of

mostly first-timers won't be
ready, however.’
“Unfortunately we haven't

chad a Jot of ime together bur

they’re doing extremely’ well
together and” really picking it
up,” said’ Yates, who also

-coaches “North Shore. high

school rowing squads at_ the
Deep Cove club, :

The Douglas ream begs the
obvious question, though:
how: can Yates _ effectively
coach “a deaf team while
yelling at them from her

‘accompanying coach boat?

s“L just’ bring. the coach

“boat a little closer that 1 nor-

mally would if 1 was- just
speaking to my rowers,” she
said.

” Besides goiny over the race
and what she expects of her’
charges before they hit. the
water, Yates-also does a pre-

and: post-sprint sum-1p,. giv--

ing the team an indication of
what she'd like’ to see during

_the next go-round. : :
“After a thousand- -merre

Rowing teams wel

piece °U say ‘OK this is what ! r

‘noticed and this is what's ‘real-

ly great’.
“En-boat communication is

another’ roadblock that‘ the”:
rowers are working to ‘get;
over. Options have included *

banging on the boat or blow-
ing on the the back of the”
rower ahead to signal changes.-

However, communication
between the rowers shouldn’t
be a problem, wrote team

member and Deep Cove resi- :.

dent Heidi Scenstra in an e-
mail last week. :

“From what I see, it does
“not make any” big difference’
othan tf f was rowing with hear:

ing people.. They, signal each:

other by tapping on the side of ©
the boat ... or Sapping. on the
shoulder.” = on

The i8- “year-old, psych and
criminology student’ also’ has
coaching” experience
rowed on the Seycove team. in

her last year at the school.

She said she > became
hooked on! the spart.'soon
after hitting the water for the .
firsttime, |

“It is such a great “mind

setting Sport. to. Just gct up.
_early in the morning and (go)
out on the -unrufiled water
‘and move. smoothly... £ basi-

cally . gots addicted. Once 1.

“started L. just didn’ t. want? to

Wed Oct 11 = Sat Oct 14

e on Raybestos Disc Pads and Brake Shoes”

“aiid

~ Park & “Tilford

1315 Cotton Dr
980-8517

“Lions Gate
“1350 Marine.

984-4296

: “Friends: of the Famity Car’
29 LOCATIONS THROUGHOUT B. c.

lt ‘hasn't t been a ‘challenge ;
fo Yéach the n ophyte rowers *.
the tricks of the trade, said :
Yates. In fact, she’s had an eas-
ier time: than. she’s had with
rowers that could hear. ;

'“It’s: been better ® thats?
(caching) hearing’ people:::
‘They're very visual. You sho
them something. once. and
they'll usually gee it.”

““If.T had the same amount
of time with a1 ‘average hea
ing group of the same kind of.
size and abilicy.. don’ t. ‘think
‘they'd be Teady to race.”

While : the. rowing’ teams

i competing at the regatta ‘will

disband after the event, Yates
-will keep her team seulling and

“stroking: until early December.

She’s planning ‘on starting
a). program: exclusively
geared toward ‘deaf rowers thi
spring in‘ Deep Cov
This “year. the’ -Dou:
College side will be‘joing
teams Gy :

», Action begins this Satuirday
at‘l9 a.m. and wraps up at
_P.m.. A’ post: i
‘slated for the. Blue Ridge Bai
and Grill in North Vancouve: