For the first time in Piazza Castello, the fourth Turin edition of ‘Tennis & Friends – Salute e Sport‘, official charity of the Nitto ATP Finals. Promoted by the non-profit organization Friend for Health, the project was born in 2011 with the aim of promoting the culture of prevention through correct lifestyle habits, from regular physical activity to periodic specialist check-ups.
After yesterday’s day dedicated to schools, which saw the participation of thousands of girls and boys who were greeted by the tennis player Andrea Vavassori, Today the ribbon cutting officially started the event in the presence of the regional authorities, from the President of Piedmont Alberto Cirio to the sports councillor of the municipality, Dominic Carrettafrom the director of the ASL Città di Torino, Charles Peakto the president of the Piedmont Coni Regional Committee, Stefano Mossinoto the Federal Councillor Fitp, Angel FrigerioThe founder of Tennis & Friends will be hosting the event, Giorgio Meneschincheri.
In the Health Village, set up in the square, today and tomorrow citizens will be able to use over 80 health stations and will have the opportunity to carry out free screenings in more than 35 specialist areas, located along the square and managed by military medical personnel and doctors from the excellent structures of the territory coordinated by the ASL Città di Torino. Furthermore, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, a blood donation station has also been set up inside the village.
“We must never stop repeating that prevention saves lives, just as we must always remember that sport, together with a healthy lifestyle, is one of the main tools for preventing diseases. – President Cirio underlined in his speech – and ‘Tennis & Friends – Health and Sport’ is an extraordinary event that this year lands in the centre of Turin where we hope many people will come, especially students and young people” .
“The success of this initiative demonstrates how important it is to promote prevention and encourage a healthy lifestyle that also involves sports practice. – added the councilor Domenico Carretta – ‘Tennis & Friends’ is part of the calendar of events leading up to the Nitto ATP Finals and this year it joins the second stage of ‘Tennis in città’, the event that brings racket sports to the squares and most iconic places in Turin with the aim of making these sports disciplines discoverable to an ever-wider public.”.
“Screening is becoming increasingly important – observed Meneschincheri – especially with respect to more serious pathologies such as oncological ones but the free ones offered by the National Health Service are still too exploited, in 2022 the participation figure, for example, was around 50%. Sport is prevention and it is necessary for institutions to support families who do not have the economic means to have their children practice regular sports activities. Health is a right for everyone as well as prevention that comes from sports activities practiced from a young age”, Meneschincheri added. “In these four years a strong partnership has been built with ‘Tennis & Friends’ and today the presence of the Villaggio della Salute coordinated by the ASL Città di Torino under the aegis of the regional health system for the first time in Piazza Castello represents the tangible result of this collaboration where prevention takes the field with 50 clinical pathways and this event represents a concrete example of our company’s commitment to promoting the health and well-being of the community“, concluded Carlo Picco.
From 2011 to today, over 400 thousand citizens have taken part in the ‘Tennis & Friends’ project during the various events, over 330,000 visits and screenings have been carried out with a constant growth in participation of over 20%. Next to the Health Village, the Sports Village has been set up, which for two days offers visitors the opportunity to try their hand at sports activities on the tennis courts and mini pickleball courts set up by Fitp, to attend the ‘Celebrities Tournament’ and see their favourites compete to win the trophies put up for grabs by Frecciarossa, Intesa Sanpaolo and Eni.
