Guido Leonardi dall’Occa dell’Orso '22 Recruiting Profile

My name is Guido Leonardi, I am Italian and I attend the International School of Bologna. My passion for water polo started when I was 11 and saw a game of the ‘Settebello’, the Italian National Team. Ever since then, I knew I wanted to become like them. At that time alpine skiing was my first sport, I reached the national alpine skiing championships and competed in the top ranks of my country.  When I turned 13 I stopped competing in skiing, as water polo games started to be my first commitment and my passion began to grow exponentially.  I have played in two teams: Rari Nantes Bologna since 2010 and, starting in 2020, the senior team of De Akker Team Bologna.

Several times my strategic, physical and leadership skills convinced my coaches to name me captain of my squad, as I supported every single player in the team and was determined to win no matter what. While I was playing in the U13 (13 and under) I also played in the U15 and U17. By the age of 13 I became familiar with playing at least two games every weekend. I am able to serve in any position: being used to playing with older teammates, I have built experience in every corner of the pitch. In my age group, I used to play as the defender of the 2 meter man thanks to my strong legs and defending abilities. Moreover in attack I would find myself in position 3 where I could direct the game, pass and shoot. Now, I have excelled in my shooting abilities and I am even more efficient in playing as a driver both in position 2 and 4. In the season 2019/2020, aside playing in the junior teams, I was also called to play with the senior team competing at national level in Serie C where I played as one of the seven starters of the squad.

I have attended many elite water polo camps, among them, in the summer of 2020, I attended a camp hosted by three players of the Italian National Team: Matteo Aicardi, Stefano Luongo and Edoardo Di Somma (World Championship Winners in Gwangju 2019). There I measured myself against many players from all around the country and realized my club team was growing small for my determination. Thanks to the connections I had made with these three incredible athletes I was able to reach out to the athletic director, Arnaldo Deserti (World Championship Winner in Shanghai 2011), who accepted me in the De Akker Team Bologna, where I belong now.  De Akker competes in the A2 national championship which is the second most important league in Italy after A1, and our coach is Amaurys Perez (World Championship Winner 2011 and Olympic Silver Medal 2012). I am the youngest player in the team, where the average age is 24 years old.  We have been very fortunate to continue the championship  with games and training all along the COVID days.  During this challenging and extremely rewarding season ( we are in the finals towards promotion in serie A1), competing with teammates experts in the game, training up to ten times a week for a total of 20/25 hours weekly, I have enhanced my level of play and have turned into the best version of myself, so far, as a player and teammate, inside the pool and as a responsible and grateful person, outside.

Academically, I always ranked among the best students of my school, my unweighted GPA is 3.8 out of 4,0 with an expected IB score of 40. I strongly believe that studying and playing water polo in a college in the US would be the perfect fit for me.