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WE ARE ERCOLINI

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I thoroughly enjoyed this film and highly recommend it to the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival. This documentary film from Italy shows how life-changing team sports can be! The enthusiasm of a great coach can raise kids' confidence to amazing new levels. Insisting on good school grades, in order to play on the Ercolini team, is a powerful way to improve kids' futures. Gypsy boys from the "wrong side of the tracks" in Italy are helped by a terrific soccer coach who is stern, yet generous. He demands that the kids attend school and that they study a lot at home. In return, he offers free transportation for them to soccer matches in different towns. The coach teaches them the power of a positive attitude and good teamwork. He encourages an energetic, brave outlook on life, and shows these boys how to set the world on fire, with or without him being there. It is fun to watch the boys all singing together in the team van after losing a game. This keeps their spirits high and their sense of belonging alive. Their first trip ever to a beach is a real treat for them all. The set and location of the trailer park and abandoned gypsy camp where the coach first met these boys is a moving scene. It makes you appreciate how sports combined with education can be a way to escape this poverty. My favorite part is when the boys unfold a large sign in front of the hospital, pleading for the coach to recover and come back to the team soon. What a display of love and caring for their adult hero! The message of this film is that a kid's real goal and victory in his or her young life is to get good grades in school to ensure a better future. I give this film 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 5 to 16. In Italian with English sub-titles. Reviewed by Jeff M., KIDS FIRST! Adult Juror.

the history of the first youth soccer team made up of young Roma, dreams, expectations and hopes of a group of young players towards integration.