A Champion. Training for happiness

“On darker days I thought: if I were not blind, I would be much happier. But many sighted people are not at all happy. I learnt to see with my heart (His book is entitled: Teach your heart to see), to listen, to hear.” Daniele Cassioli was born blind in 1986. His great passion for sport began at the age of 3. Since 1995 he has collected 25 World Titles in water skiing. 25 European, 41 Italian Titles and 3 World Records.
Daniele lives with visual impairment. This is the boundary for his ‘everyday life’. He is helped by a family that has always pushed him to face the world and get to know it. Now, with his story, he tries to do the same with all those he meets on his path.
He shifts the weight of his feelings, asking himself whether seeing is the same as understanding. He shifts the weight onto emotions, placing at the centre the importance of a sense of balance that leads to what he calls happiness.
His story, his path to success, is proof that diversity is not an obstacle and can be an asset. He tells of how important it was to first recognise this value for himself, before making it known to others.

Learning to cope with boundaries and discover it is possible to overcome them, firstly in life and later in sport, has been a source of great energy.

Daniele learned how to “see” through sport. Sport means freedom in space, awareness of one’s own body. Having acquired this awareness, he now transfers it to younger kids so that they too may be able to “face the world” just as he did.