In yet a new milestone for Italian sports, strength coach Carlo Varalda has been selected by the International Rowing Federation (FISA) to be the only coach to test all athletes for the 2011 championships. Varalda, who pioneered the Varalda Adaptest in collaboration with SENSORIZE, received wide acclaim at this year’s World Rowing Championships at Karapiro, New Zealand.
“SENSORIZE technology has allowed me to devise a test protocol that would have been otherwise difficult,” Varalda explains. “Even though I have developed this test to evaluate the coordination of adaptive rowers, it has great potential to be used for evaluation of able-bodied athletes,” he adds. Varalda, 50, also sees the possibility of using his test to identify budding talent among the younger rowers.
Mounir Zok, technical director of SENSORIZE, explains how the company facilitated the development of the Varalda Adaptest. “Through our research and development department, and our experience in a wide range of sports, we devised a software that can analyze the performance of rowers during the training sessions,” says Zok. “This software is a first of its kind, and, combined with our wireless technology, made it possible to test the rowers.”
Varalda worked with a total of 13 adaptive ID athletes at Karapiro coming from Hong Kong China, Russia and Italy to evaluate their coordination skills. “SENSORIZE technology gives me the chance to perform quick tests with real time visualization of results,” says Varalda. “This is of great importance for my work since it saves me time and allows me to share the results with the athletes immediately after each test.” This approach was highly appreciated by the board of FISA as well as by its executive director Matt Smith.
Varalda is member of the scientific committee of the Italian Weightlifting Federation and was appointed by the Italian Rowing Federation a few years back as the strength coach of all Italian national rowing teams competing in all categories.
The World Rowing Championships at Lake Karapiro in New Zealand witnessed Great Britain receiving most medals followed by New Zealand. Italy received a total of 7 medals: 1 gold, 4 silvers and 2 bronzes. Among the awarded athletes: Raineri, Stefanini, Venier, Agamennoni, Luini and Bertini.
