Ah, Father's Day. That magical day when men are celebrated for... well, for doing something billions of people have been doing for millennia. And this year, the pearl of wisdom comes to us from Matteo Giunta, former coach of the "Divine" Pellegrini, who, in an interview with Men's Health, enlightened us immensely. Get ready, because the revelation is one of those life-changing ones - becoming a father is a strong emotion. Shocking, right? 🙄
Honestly, reading his words, I almost shed a tear. Not from emotion, but from laughter. It seems that the birth of little Matilde has opened a portal to a dimension of awareness previously unknown to the average man. Let's analyze these cosmic pills of profundity together.
The Enlightenment: Time is Precious. Really?
"When a child arrives, you immediately feel how the time available to you becomes even more precious, and you learn to use it better." Thank you, Matteo. Thank you. Without this insight of yours, I would have continued to think that having a child was like having an evolved Tamagotchi, which you can pause whenever you want. It's absolutely adorable that a man in 2026 only discovers the concept of "time management" after procreating. Who knows, maybe with the second pregnancy announced, he'll also discover that diapers don't change themselves. One discovery at a time, please.
The best part is when he says that this new responsibility, paradoxically, "also gives you more serenity." It's not a paradox, darling. It's called "stopping being self-centered and growing up." It's not quantum physics, it's life. Welcome to the club.
Athlete or Person? The Discovery of Humanity
My favorite part, the one that almost made me fall off my chair, is this: "becoming a father has made me even more aware of the fact that first and foremost we are people." Holy shit. Thank goodness. Imagine being an athlete coached by him before this epiphany. Did he see you as a mass of muscles and stopwatches? A racehorse?
He himself says: "sometimes you risk looking only at performance." Risk? My dear, that's what mediocre coaches do. A true coach, like myself, has always known that the athlete is a person with balances, emotions, and a life outside the pool or track. I don't need a child to understand that, I just need a functioning brain. Good luck to Nicolò Martinenghi for Los Angeles 2028; I hope this "empathetic phase" of his coach is not just a passing trend.
Have You Become "Kinder"? No, "More Empathetic"
When asked if he has become "kinder," he hedges. "Perhaps more empathetic, yes." Ah, I see. Because "kinder" is for losers, but "empathetic" sounds more intellectual, more profound. It's the same old warmed-up soup. You simply understood, with embarrassing delay, that the people around you have feelings. Congratulations.
This entire interview, which you can read in full here, smells of cliché to me. It's the classic script of the man who discovers the depth of life only when he becomes a father, while for centuries women have been taken for granted to have this package of "empathy and time management" installed by default at birth.
It's great that you're growing as a person, Matteo. Really. But don't sell us these obvious truths as if you've discovered the cure for cancer. It's the bare minimum.
And now that you've unlocked this new superpower called "empathy," what will you do with it? Will you use it to bring your athletes to a higher level of awareness and performance, or was it just a nice little phrase to say for Father's Day? 🤔
