24/03/2009
-How did you start volleyball?
While I was 15. In Cuba.
-Cuba has a very strong volleyball tradition. Cuba was already a great volleyball team when you started volleyball. The generation you were a part of won the Olympics, the World Championship, the World Cup and many other tournaments. Cuba was the leader of world of volleyball for almost 10 years. What do you think made Cuba that much successful which is only a dream for many other teams?
People see volleyball as a work to do, a daily errand to run, or even as an obligation in other countries or teams. But working everyday is already something routinely conducted in Cuba. It is very normal for us to work everyday. The situation is the same for any other sports in Cuba actually. Maybe this is the way it is because Cuba has such a tradition, because we have respect in what we do.
-What was Fidel Castro’s role in the success of that team?
I firstly want to point out something else. Money was never important for us in Cuba. We do everything for the country and for the citizens. Of course, every sportsman in Cuba is raised, since childhood, to eventually realize their full potential and display their whole capacity. We give a lot of importance to physical power. In this respect, I think volleyball is very suitable for the girls of Cuba. Jumping and power were always the main focus for us rather than technique. We were playing with two setters. Those players, having played in that system, are capable enough to play in every position.
As for Fidel Castro… I still talk to him and hear from him.
-You still keep you relations strong and uninterrupted with Cuba.
Of course. My family is still there. Yes, I am an Italian citizen now after I married but Cuba is still my country.
-But Cuba lost that power in the recent years. Regla Bell, Regla Torres, Ana Ibis Fernandez, Taismary Aguero, Yumilka Ruiz, you and many other stars who now take place in the best memories of volleyball mostly no longer play volleyball for the national team. Cuba of today may still be powerful today but those successes of your generation were never able to be claimed again. What do you think is the reason for that?
Actually this is pretty normal. Every team has bad and good times. Cuba won everything for approximately 10 years. But now a new generation is adapting to the team. There is a new coach.
-Do you think this generation can claim all those titles again and reach the level of the previous Cuban team?
This is not easy at all. Now Brazil is a very good team. China and Italy are also very good teams. Maybe Turkey can also have some title in the future. But the team is in a constant change right now. That’s why the old success cannot be reached right away. In that respect, we may be considered successful even now. But some other things may have been influential as well. Today players want to go out of Cuba and play somewhere else when they think that they are qualified a bit. But there was no such thing back then. The team constituted a huge totality. There was a different team spirit.
-You were later offered to play in the Italian National Team. Why didn’t you accept it?
Because it is not my country! I live in Italy but my country is Cuba. Italian National Team could mean new possibilities and excitement for me. However, Cuba and Cuban National team is very important for me. Cuba embodies very different feelings for me.
-If we return to your own volleyball career, how did you decide to play in Italy?
Firstly I played in the second division in Italy. I already had important achievements in Cuba. Then I started to play in Perugia. I played there for years. Later I married in Italy.
-You played in Perugia for a total of 10 years. What was the thing that connected you there? It must have been like a family there.
Of course. They were like my family. Besides, why would you leave a club if you constantly win everything? This was the source of my motivation to stay there.
-But, at the end of the last season, you, Simona Gioli, Antonella Del Core and many other good players left Perugia. What was the reason that led all the players who played there for years leave the club?
We all wanted to work with a good coach. Massimo Barbolini was in Perugia years ago. Then he started to train the national team and Emmanuelle Sbano came to Perugia. Then there was not much reason for me to stay there. Because a good player always wants a good team and a good coach.