Lucilla Perrotta’s legacy lives on through daughter Micol

“Forza!...Dai!...Ce la puoi fare!...Non mollare!” Lucilla Perrotta’s voice is loud and clear from the stands. The former Italian beach volleyball international player has been a consistent supporter for The Azzurre every time they have taken to the Al Gharafa courts in Doha at this year’s FIVB Beach Volleyball Under 18 World Championship.

And justifably so as her first born daughter Micol Lafuenti has been one of the standout performers in this year’s Under 18 World Championship playing alongside her new partner Sofia Bruzzone. Perrotta is a veteran of five World Championships and two Olympic Games (Syndey 2000 and Athens 2004) in a checkered 14-year beach volleyball career that also took in six European Championship medals including a gold medal in the 2002 edition.

There’s therefore a sense of pride when she watches her daughter Micol following in her footsteps, playing at her first junior World Championship at only 15 years old.

“It’s really tough to cheer from outside the court…I prefer to be inside the court but I am really happy for my daughter. I know what it means to play in such a high level competition. It’s an emotion that she will carry with her all her life,” said a beaming Perrotta.

Perrotta’s first medal arrived at the age of 19 when she clinched bronze at the 1994 European Championship. However, Micol didn’t reach the podium in Doha after they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by eventual bronze medalists Lente Thant & Simone Vervloet of Belgium.

“I got my first medal at 19 but she has started playing at a high level at a very young age. She is only 15 and I hope she can achieve more than me,” said Perrotta, who retired in 2008, a year before Micol was born.

Italy reached the quarterfinals on a 3-1 win-loss record after finishing top of Pool D and beating Venezuela’s Valeria Valentina Moreno Figueredo & Aidana Alejandra Mejias Ramirez in straight sets (21-11, 21-19) in the Round of 16. They however suffered a 2-1 (21-18, 19-21, 09-15) loss to Belgium’s Lente Thant & Simone Vervloet in the quarterfinals to bow out of the competition.

“We speak a lot about what happened during her games…the technique, the mental aspect. I am really happy to experience this with her and guide her through it,” said Perrotta.

For Micol, Perrotta is not only her mother but a coach, mentor, role model, cheerleader and critic, all rolled into one.

“She has always been there from the beginning and she is definitely a big influence in my career. She was my coach when I started out at 13 years and is always present during my games. I didn’t see her play but she had such a good career and I can only hope that I reach her level,” offered Micol, who is in the junior ranks of Green Volley back in Italy.

Despite not reaching the podium in Doha, Micol is excited about the future with her new partner Sofia, given that the U18 World Championship was their first competition playing as a team.

“This is the first tournament that we are playing together as we both played with different partners at the European Championship. We showed good organisation on the court and created some chemistry between us so we are happy with our performance. We managed to reach the quarterfinals after training together for only one month, hopefully we can do better in future competitions,” noted Micol, a budding outside hitter.

It was put to head coach Paolo Goria that Italy have failed to extend their dominance in indoor volleyball to the sand. He strongly believes this generation could be the one to ignite the beach volleyball dominance.

“We are so happy with the girls, the whole federation is happy. They played so well throughout the tournament and we are excited about the future. We have started recruiting young players into the beach volleyball programme and this is the first generation. We hope that they will become the next big beach volleyball players,” said Goria, who also guided the boys’ team of Riccardo Santomassimo & Marco Di Felice to bronze medal in Doha.

Perrottta, herself a beach volleyball coach currently based in Rome, couldn’t agree more.

“The coaches are working hard to promote beach volleyball and they have a good possibility to do it because they have started with young players.”