Our PE teacher assigns us homework even now that we're stuck at home. I don't mind. She sends us pictures of exercises we're supposed to do at home. I can do them all well because I do rhythmic gymnastics, play soccer, and run track. I like doing exercises and I'm really happy when someone teaches me new ones. We're locked down now, but a few days before they told us to stay inside, I went to train with my friend Antonella Palmisano at Castelporziano. There's a big gym there and a big running track. She does race walking—she's really good. She wins medals. Antonella and I are teammates because we have the same coach: Patrizio Parcesepe. He's really good and I like him a lot. He's always joking with me. Teasing me. He cares about me, I know it. The other race walkers were there too, like Massimo Andrea and Vittoria. I trained with them but they're crazy. They stand on this huge exercise ball. Huge. I'd throw a regular ball and they had to catch it without falling off. Crazy. I changed clothes in the locker room with Antonella and then we went to lunch. But at home I do the same exercises she taught me.
Our teacher assigned us to watch the movie about Pietro Mennea—it's called The Arrow of the South—and write an essay about it. I got a 9. The movie was good but it was kind of long. I watched it on a computer and it doesn't look as good as on TV. In my essay I wrote that Mennea was strong and always won. He was stubborn. Like me, Dad says. Vittorio Di Saverio, who coaches Margherita, Giulia, Isabel, and Camille too, told me that Mennea trained all the time, even at Christmas. Andrea Ceccarelli, another coach, told me that my friend Filippo Tortu broke Mennea's record. But I've beaten Filippo lots of times. At least five times. I crushed him. Dad even scolded me because the first time I won, I made a bad gesture at Filippo with my hands. Dad says you should never do that. So when I beat Filippo the other times I didn't make any gesture. But once I raced Castelporziano with Margherita Magnani and she cheated like Dad: instead of running the track properly, the two of them cut across the grass to pass me. They're both natural cheaters.
But everyone says Mennea was stronger than anyone. I think I'm the strongest.