Parma have kickstarted their admirable ‘Shape your passion’ initiative this week wherein they’ve provided every new primary school student in the city and province with a club shirt on their first day at school.
Serie A clubs have their problems, but Parma’s latest initiative has provided others with an example to follow, and they’re no alone in their attempts to get fans on side as early as possible. Atalanta have their own long-standing tradition that sees them gift a Nerazzurri shirt to every newborn in Bergamo.
But with Italian football still fighting against its off-field problems, most recently dealing with more incidents of racism surrounding Romelu Lukaku, the Crociati’s move has been rightfully well-received by those who noticed though it hasn’t quite made the waves they might have expected outside of Emilia-Romagna.
One-hundred-and-fifty-five classes were included overall, with a total of 3,300 kids being greeted with gifts as they faced the daunting challenge of walking into a classroom for the first time in their lives.
Impressively, club captain Bruno Alves and Atalanta loanee Dejan Kulusevski helped by personally delivering the shirts to Pezzani on Via Puccini in the city and Verdi in nearby village Collechio – where the side train. As well as the two first-team regulars, Women’s player Alice Lombardi and Primavera prospect Edoardo Corvi were also in attendance.
“Parma Calcio wanted to be present at as many of the institutes in both the city and province as possible,” a club statement read on Monday, “officially launching the ‘Shape your passion’ initiative.
“This is a scheme carried out in collaboration with Ringo and Errea, which saw the club donate a Crociati shirt to every child in the city and province on their first day of primary school.”
Schoolchildren arrived to their new classrooms on Monday morning to find Parma-branded bags atop their tables, with Gialloblu shirts waiting inside each of them, complete with the Ringo – sponsors of the club’s youth teams – logo in place of the first-team sponsor Aon.
Backpack ??
Pencil case ??
Homework diary ??
Crociati shirt ??A Crociati surprise for more than 3,000 children in Parma and the province… ??
Discover more and watch the clip below ?? https://t.co/REhwsHoxin #NextchApter #ShapeYourPassion pic.twitter.com/MVFUOS0XvP
— Parma Calcio 1913 (@ParmaCalcio_en) September 16, 2019
The gift was completed with a picture of the club’s mascot to be coloured, as well as a letter from president Pietro Pizzarotti, wishing each of the children an enjoyable and successful first year at school.
“It’s just one of the many initiatives that Parma Calcio have run for young people in the area,” the club’s statement continued.
“Once again, the whole club wanted to be at the side of the boys and girls of the city at a time [that is] so important for them and to teach them a bit about the Crociati passion with which they should face all the big moments in life.”
The city of Parma is sports-mad, but even despite having a local top-tier side with some pedigree behind them, a number of younger football fans still opt for supporting Inter, Juventus, AC Milan and others, which is natural, but continued efforts like this will go a long way to locking in fans from an early age.
Parma and Atalanta are setting examples to follow, and other Serie A sides could do worse than to take inspiration from their efforts in their local areas.
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com