Santa Maria Maggiore (VB), 15 December 2023 – NHOA Group, (NHOA.PA, formerly Engie EPS) global player in energy storage, e-mobility and EV fast and ultra-fast charging network, announces the launch of the “NHOA Ski Team” in the context of the NHOA Élite Program and the broader sustainability and inclusivity strategy.
This initiative has been launched during the NHOA Group Annual Meeting, which brought together over 500 people from 41 nationalities across four continents at Piana di Vigezzo, in the heart of the Italian Alps. Among them, there was Daniele Cassioli, NHOA Group’s ambassador for inclusivity and the most successful paralympic water ski athlete in history, with 28 World Cup and 27 European titles.
The NHOA Ski Team is affiliated with FISI – the Italian Winter Sports Federation and aimed to coordinate all NHOA Élite Program services related to skiing, mountain, and outdoor education for the benefit of all NHOA Group employees, their families, and all the athletes from every ski club in Italy and Europe who will join the project.
Even more importantly, the NHOA Ski Team will select an athlete among those aspiring to compete in the Paralympic Alpine Skiing World Cup (World Para Alpine Skiing World Cup) to support him/her on the journey to the Milano-Cortina 2026 Paralympics, in coordination with FISIP – the Italian Paralympic Winter Sports Federation.
The over 60 athletes of the NHOA Ski Team and the other clubs that have already joined the program will have exclusive access to all NHOA Élite Program services and priority access to winter and summer training and education centers, less than two hours from Milan and Turin, in Val Vigezzo and Val Formazza.
NHOA Ski Team’s program for athletes, including those with disabilities, will span over 150 days of sport activities per year, including alpine skiing, athletic training, and multisport for children and young people from 4 to 21 years old, plus over 100 hours of training for coaches and families, complemented by all the services of NHOA Élite Program.
“I thank NHOA Group for this important inclusiveness project, dedicated to all athletes, especially those competing in winter sports,” explains Alessandra Locatelli, the Italian Minister for Disabilities, “and for the specific involvement of Paralympic athletes. Sport is not just an extraordinary tool for promoting wellbeing and inclusion, but is essential for fostering relationships and increasing autonomy, especially for young athletes with disabilities. It is necessary to continue investing and working together to ensure that every young person has the opportunity to practice sports out of passion, competition, or pleasure, at all levels and across the entire territory. Through competition, with the professional assistance guaranteed by NHOA, athletes will participate in new challenges with complete preparation, and particularly with support that will also extend to families. An important initiative that unleashes new opportunities and a lot of energy through specific support projects spread throughout the territory, to reach the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games of Milano-Cortina 2026, optimizing the performance of all athletes participating in the program“.
The NHOA Élite Program
The NHOA Élite Program aims to cultivate a culture of excellence and continuous performance optimization while simultaneously fostering harmony, balance, and inclusiveness. It provides access to training, coaching, and services developed in cutting-edge élite contexts, under the technical direction and coordination of Alessandro Serra, who served for 7 years as the Responsible and Head Coach of Alpine Skiing World Cup National Teams for Italy and Finland, participating in 3 Olympic Games, 5 World Championships, and enrolled as Youth Technical Director from CONI.
Launched on June 5 from the Parenti theatre in Milan and live streamed across four continents, the NHOA Élite Program is a permanent wellbeing program that places individuals at the center of a project aimed at human, professional, and sports growth, based on three pillars: continuous performance optimization combined with physical and mental wellbeing.
The program also involves the creator of the S.F.E.R.A. Model, Giuseppe Vercelli, Professor of Psychology at the University of Turin, Head of the Psychological Area of Juventus F.C., FISI, and official psychologist of CONI for 5 Olympic Games, as well as his entire team.
The S.F.E.R.A. Model has been chosen by the NHOA Ski Team for the performance optimization pillar, as it is a reference model in the international landscape, presented to the scientific community at the XII World Congress of Sport Psychology in Morocco. The program includes training through the S.F.E.R.A. Model for NHOA Ski Team coaches, as well as NHOA employees, along with dedicated training programs on performance optimization.
The physical wellbeing pillar is based on high-profile athletic training, led by Marco Tagliaferri, professional trainer for international athletes in cycling and endurance sports, along with Stefania Bianchini, professional trainer and record-holding athlete in combat sports with 4 World titles in kickboxing and 4 in boxing.
Regarding the pillar of mental wellbeing, the NHOA Ski Team will refer to the Progetto Psiche Association, chaired by Dr. Laura Calabresi and Dr. Francesca Ghezzi Confalonieri, which counts over 60 psychologists, nutritionists, psychotherapists and psychiatrists among its team. The NHOA Ski Team will provide athletes and their families with continuous training services, workshops dedicated to mental wellbeing for prevention and awareness, and a dedicated psychological support service managed by the Progetto Psiche team, with the option of initiating individual therapy sessions upon request.
All activities, competitive schedule, and available services will be managed through the dedicated app “NHOA Élite”, already available on Apple and Android platforms, developed by Onesporter, founded by Andrea Lazzaro, an international benchmark for digitalizing athletic training for more than 10,000 athletes worldwide, including participants in the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games of Beijing 2022.
NHOA Ski Team: 60 athletes and over 40 years of history
The NHOA Ski Team will be affiliated with FISI and will regularly participate in alpine skiing competitions for the Central Alps Committee across regional, national, and international FIS (International Ski and Snowboard Federation) circuits starting from the 2023/24 season.
The NHOA Ski Team will also coordinate with the FISIP coaches for the training activities of Paralympic athletes selected for the journey towards the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games of Milano-Cortina 2026.
The GogaTrubi Ski Team, historically supported by the NHOA Group and resulting from the merger of the two historical ski teams, Goga and Trubi with over 40 years of history, will merge into the new NHOA Ski Team in the coming weeks. Despite the merger, it will maintain its identity, its teams of technicians and coaches allocated across different athlete categories, the club’s brand identity, and the current uniforms. Patches indicating belonging with the NHOA Ski Team will be added to the uniforms.
The Revolution Ski Race, founded by President Giorgio Ruschetti, has officially joined the NHOA Élite Program. Thus, the collaboration between the Revolution Ski Race and the NHOA Ski Team will begin with the opening of the winter season 2023/24. While the teams of technicians and coaches allocated across different categories will remain unchanged, the Revolution Ski Race, like all teams wishing to join the project, will have immediate exclusive access to all the services of the NHOA Élite Program, synergies with the NHOA Ski Team, and to the winter and summer training centers in Val Vigezzo and Val Formazza. Organizational and corporate integration within the NHOA Ski Team is expected to occur over the course of 2024.