02/04/2016 14:23
Smart guy who wears no shoes at work hopes to win at Kronplatz
2016 CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour
Kronplatz / Plan de Corones, Italy, April 2, 2016. He comes from an academic family and has two university degrees himself, but he wears no shoes at his regular job. Now he is playing at the Kronplatz / Plan de Corones stop of the 2016 CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour and is hoping to win it. This is 34-year-old Daniele Gambarelli, who is partnering with Antonio Maccarelli to compose the highest-seated Italian duo on the men’s main draw.
Gambarelli’s father is a university professor of mathematics. His mother is a medical doctor, but also has a math degree. His sister has a Master’s degree in economics. So when he started playing indoor Volleyball as a kid they insisted that he also keep up with his studies. And he did just that. Although he was playing Volleyball professionally, at the age of 25 he earned his first university degree - in informatics. When he was defending his university thesis, he surprised the professors’ panel by starting off his presentation with a Volleyball video. As it turned out, the topic of his work was about voice recognition in Data Volley scouting software.
But at that age he was not ready to start “a real job” yet and opted to continue his education, almost as an excuse to continue playing Volleyball in the meantime. So, five years later, Daniele finished the next level and graduated with a degree in economics with a maximum grade point average and top academic honours. He tried working in the energy sector for a year, but still he was not ready to settle down with a “suit-and-tie” kind of a job, especially after he got into Beach Volleyball as well. Gambarelli decided not only to play Beach Volleyball, but also to teach the sport. Now he is managing a Beach Volleyball school with about 100 students in Rimini and this is his job.
“So now my father, the professor, my mother, the doctor, and my sister, the economist, are joking that I have two academic degrees, but I work without shoes in sand,” says the Italian athlete. “But joking aside, running my Beach Volleyball school is a complex business and the knowledge and skills that came with my degrees are really helping me do my job well. So I am really happy with what I do.”
Daniele Gambarelli enjoys teaching, but he also likes to be on the learning side, especially when it comes down to new things. This is why, at one point in his sporting career, he switched from Volleyball to Beach Volleyball, and this is why now he is into Snow Volleyball as well.
“Four years ago, my friend Antonio Maccarelli found out about this new discipline and told me about it. We saw it on the internet and were quite excited to participate. He made all the arrangements, but it turned out he messed up the dates, so we did not arrive in time for the tournament. The next year I took charge of the registration and the hotel reservation, so we finally made it to the snow courts in Kronplatz,” Daniele tells the story laughing.
Maccarelli and Gambarelli have been playing on the Tour every year ever since. “In 2013 we did not pass the qualifications, in 2014 we finished fifth and in 2015 we won two bronze medals – in Switzerland and Italy. Of course, this year we will win,” Daniele says showing confidence.
“I think it is great that this year the CEV have placed the tour under their umbrella, but I just hope that the regulations they introduce in the future are not too restrictive to limit the number of stops on the Tour,” the Italian player comments. “I hope next year the number of tournaments will increase again. Snow Volleyball is a sport for free thinkers and happy people and it should stay this way.”
For further information visit also the official website www.snowvolleyball.com and the Instagram account @snowvolleyball
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