Half-term was particularly exciting for Upper Sixth Former Antonino Muffoletto, when the Italian Rugby Federation invited him to train at the Federal Centre of Milan as part of their young rugby talent programme.
Antonino spent three days on a ‘full immersion’ training programme, which was followed by two days playing with their best U18 and U19 players. In addition, Antonino also had the honour of being coached by the Italian Rugby Federation U18 team coach.
Antonino has been playing rugby since the age of four after a friend suggested he might enjoy it. He loved it so much he continued to play and, when he reached the age of thirteen, his family looked for a school to study at where both rugby and academia were big components. Schools in the UK seemed to tick the boxes for Antonino, and it was Bedford School, in particular, that provided a proven track record of success in both areas.
Starting a new school in a new country was a big step for Antonino, but as a boarder in Burnaby House, he now thinks of school as his home and his housemates as his family. Antonino told us, “Boarding is nice, especially because I live in an environment with all my friends. When exam time come, everyone helps each other to revise. I have made lots of friends in the house who also play on the first 1st XV team and after matches we go back to the boarding house and chat about how we played, and that’s nice to be able to do that.”
Antonino explained, “Mr Hinkins has been really helpful, especially as I come from a different rugby culture. Italy is different from England, and different from everywhere else in the world. Mr Hinkins has showed me how teams can work differently, especially the fact that in England we don’t play rugby fifteens all year round, we change to sevens and then back to fifteens again, which is really helpful in game management.”
The Italian Federation’s call was an important milestone for Antonino, not only has it provided valuable training and coaching opportunities, but he will now remain under their watchful eye. He will send them regular footage of his game and, if he continues at this standard, he will be invited back to train with them again and even play in matches.
However, rugby is not Antonino’s only love. One of his reasons for choosing Bedford School was our strong academic success and the combination of that, coupled with rugby would give him a route into medicine – his other passion. He knows that studying medicine will be full-on, but if he gets the call-up from Italy, then he will definitely find a way to combine the two!
Antonino plans to continue to study in the UK and has applied to read medicine at Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff and Queen Mary.