A sincere and unconditional passion for a discipline, probably little known by most, but which has become an irreplaceable travel companion for the protagonist of our interview. Davide Brezigar, a third-year physics student at the University of Trieste born in 2004 and raised in Medea (Gorizia), who practises TeamGym.

David, how did you approach this discipline?
‘As a child I started playing basketball but then, at the age of 9, I approached TeamGym through a multi-sport event called ‘Sport in piazza’ (sport in the city’s square). So I went to Lucinico at the headquarters of Dynamic Gym: I immediately liked it, I became passionate and since then I have not abandoned this sport. For me, going to the gym was and remains a game – together with the search for competitive results, of course.’

But what is TeamGym?
‘Born in the 1970s in the Scandinavian countries, TeamGym is a team sport that combines all the technical elements of artistic gymnastics. The acrobatic elements, in my opinion, are even more at centre stage because there is a constant involvement of the public and because, in fact, we do not compete individually. A TeamGym competition is divided into three tools/exercises: tumbling, i.e. a lane where a series of acrobatic elements must be performed in succession, the trampet or mini-trampoline where gymnasts perform acrobatics and jumps, and finally the floor where all the members of a team simultaneously perform a free body exercise’.

What qualities do you need to emerge in this sport and what do you like most about this discipline?
‘I believe that in order to emerge we need to cultivate and enhance great coordination and a substantial physical and mental strength. In addition, a high level of technique is required to run a competition programme so that you can do everything safely.’

With which team do you compete and what were the best results collected in your, still short, career?
‘I have always been an athlete of Lucinico Dinamic Gym (Gorizia), a team with which I won two Italian titles at senior level in 2023 and 2025. With the Italian national team I had wonderful experiences winning Italy’s first bronze medal at the 2021 European Championships in the mixed Senior category. To this we then added the presence in two European finals in 2022 and 2024.’

How do you combine study and sport? What are the next steps in your two careers?
‘It is certainly not very easy to combine the two careers, but I have never felt an excessive burden in cultivating both. My head and my strengths are focused on the study but the sport is fundamental to swich off, drop any tensions and, above all, have fun. For the future, one day I would like to contribute to the research sector of the subjects I study and maybe move soon to a Scandinavian country, where there are excellent physics faculties, to compete with a local TeamGym team.