The “DUnicaL Career” dual student-athlete career program and the “CUS Unical Sport Hub” project were presented today at the Cinema Campus of the University of Calabria, two initiatives aimed at the student community and dedicated to the valorization of sport as an integral part of the university path.
The meeting represented a moment of discussion on the relationship between study and sports practice, with particular attention to the possibility for students involved in competitive activities to reconcile academic commitments with sporting ones.
The value of this journey was described by Antonella Del Core and Valerio Vermiglio, former captains of the Italian national volleyball team, who shared their experience at the highest levels of sport with the public, focusing on the role of discipline, training and the ability to reconcile different objectives over the course of one’s career. The event was hosted by Maurizio Colantoni, RAI journalist, who accompanied the presentation and discussion with the guests.
During the event, the objectives of DUnicaL Career were illustrated, the program through which the University of Calabria intends to support the path of student-athletes, encouraging greater integration between the academic and competitive dimensions.
CUS Unical Sport Hub was also presented, a project dedicated to the development and promotion of sports within the University and the construction of a university community that is increasingly attentive to well-being, participation and the values of sport.
The initiative is part of the activities of the 2026/2027 academic year and confirms the attention of the University of Calabria towards a training model capable of accompanying students in the different dimensions of their personal and professional journey.
The message chosen to accompany the presentation, “Champions in sport and study, at Unical you can”, summarized the spirit of the meeting and the desire to create concrete conditions so that sporting commitment can coexist with university commitment. The rector Gianluigi Greco: “We send a message to all of Italy: “We strongly believe in sport. The values, the sense of sacrifice, loyalty. For once we are ahead in Italy. We are doing something that will be taken as an example throughout Italy. We managed to structure this project in four months because there are people who have passion. Then there is the other element: everyone must give their piece of contribution independently”. The great novelty of this project is to have created a volleyball team that will participate in the next national Serie B championship. A team of university students from Calabria, but not only (there are also two Venetians who came to study at Unical thanks to this project) which will be led by coach Giacomo Bozzo. An operational role will be played by Valerio Vermiglio as sports director and central figure of the project together with the president of Cus Gian Antonio Cuomo, to the rector’s delegate for sport and social life, Piero Guido, and to the president of the Physics department and member of the Cus Unical Sport Hub board, Francesco Valentini.