After the launch of the project during the Masters Tournament last November, in the presence of Ivan Ljubicic, Lorenzo Sonego and Gipo Arbino, the girls of I Tennis Foundation for Ukrainian Kids are ready for the international tour of ITF tournaments. First stops in Portugal (in Setubal and Porto) and then Malta for Adelina Nykyforuk, Veronika Shepelenko, Arina Yatsuta and Sofiia Kucherova, who over these months have been working with great passion and dedication on the courts of the Circolo della Stampa Sporting in Turin under the supervision of Gipo Arbino and also taking to the courts on several occasions with the Davis Cup champion Lorenzo Sonego.
This work involved both the technical and athletic side (with the support of the Staff from the Circolo della Stampa), and the mental part with the intervention of Stefano Massari (Matteo Berrettini‘s mental coach) assisted daily by Simone Bongiovanni, programme coordinator and founder of I Tennis Foundation.
During this period, the four Ukrainian girls, hosted by the Turin charity together with their mothers, also had the opportunity to fully experience the city of Turin, its historical centre and its museums, settling into the city naturally and thus being able to live their country’s difficult historical moment with much more confidence. With the goal of continuing to pursue their dream!
Scholarship plan contents
The one-year scholarship plan supported by the partners Assist Digital, Barilla, Coop Lombardia, LabLaw and the foundations Compagnia di San Paolo, Fondazione CRT, Fondazione Cecilia Gilardi and Fondazione BNL for the benefit of 8 Ukrainian refugee women (4 girls and 4 mothers), started in October 2023 and includes:
4 scholarships for tennis, school, full hospitality and international programming
4 parents hosted in Italy
10 months of tennis, athletic, mental training and complementary tennis courses
12 weeks of ITF tournaments