Opened in 2017, the Gudini Sport Center was brought to life by Luca Lodovici and partners who were intent on "(...) giving something beautiful, modern and functional to the city".
In concrete terms, it is a facility with football court and five-a-side football pitches, and beach volleyball and padel courts, along with all the amenities for athletes and spectators.
In terms of avant-garde technology, MONDO has chosen the latest generation of artificial grass systems: Mondoturf 4NX ASN EF for the football pitch and Supercourt™ for the padel pitch.
In short, whereas previously the city suffered from a lack of adequate space to play and train, now, with the Gudini Sports Centre, Rieti boasts a complete and ultra-modern centre designed for everyone, sports professionals or amateurs alike.
Thinking big and choosing cutting-edge playing surfaces have transformed Gudini into the beating sporting heart of the city: indeed, both the football pitch and the padel court are professional surfaces in every respect.
First of all, the football pitch is the only one made of synthetic grass in Rieti. Indeed, an underlay has been installed below the turf to better absorb shocks (the same mat used on professional pitches!): the advantage is twofold, improving the performance of the players and the game itself because, thanks to this system, bounce and ball control are better; likewise the risk of injury is reduced to a minimum.
The padel court also boasts an innovative surface: it is the same one that Mondo has created for the central court of the World Padel Tour and now even the players of Gudini Sports Centre in Rieti will finally be able to test it under their feet.
The soccer field is used throughout the year, in every season: FC Rieti trains to prepare for official matches; there are football schools from all over the city, who use the facility daily; and then there are all the other fans, of all ages, who come to play their games every week.
In any case, the feedback is positive, not least because Mondoturf 4NX ASN EF artificial turf system is designed for the benefit of pitch playability and player safety. It combines the advantages of the new 4NX monofilaments with those offered by a performance infill of upgraded SBR granules installed on a prefabricated elastic underlay of cross-linked polyolefin foam.
The 4NX filaments have a unique morphology with a semi concave structure with three asymmetrical ribs and a greater thickness, which offers the turf a higher elastic memory capacity: this is because the fibre is developed to quickly recover its original position after the interaction between the surface and the ball.
At the same time, the combination of 4NX filaments with the performance SBR granule infill and elastic underlay improves stability and playability at the same time: the result is a perfect balance of resilience, vertical deformation, rebound and durability, as well as a significant reduction in the risk of injury to players.
Watch the interview with Luca Lodovici, Head of the Sports Center, who talks about why he chose Mondo sports surfaces for his center.
At Gudini, the padel surface is the same one used for the central court of the World Padel Tour, the largest world circuit in this discipline.
It is a synthetic turf system designed and produced by MONDO in collaboration with WPT players and technicians: Supercourt™ integrates the advantages of STX textured monofilaments and its central rib, with XNOVA textured monofilaments featuring a parallelepiped structure; all combined with a silica sand infill.
Thanks to this combined fibre turf, playing speed, ball bounce and stability are all improved.
Indeed, the angular and vertical bounce of the ball is homogeneous before and after the impact on the glass.
Similarly, the speed at which players move around the field is optimized through a reduction in linear and rotational friction during action.
Finally, the textured and therefore "curled" fibres better retain the sand inside the turf and make the surface more resistant and durable.
A field for real professionals, just like Lodovici envisaged, defining the system installed by Mondo as "(...) the best surfaces that can be used for this sport, just like the others we always aim for the best for our customers.
Padel is the sport of the moment and is seeing constant growth: it is in part for this reason that a system with different characteristics from the traditional padel has been chosen, albeit usable by players of every level.
So far, four years after its inauguration, the Gudini Sports Centre has proved to be a successful project, capable of attracting a varied and wide-ranging public who can enjoy sport on truly professional courts and pitches.
Watch the interviews with Arianna Angelucci and Emiliano Marinetti (Padel Fit Trainers) of the Associazione Sportiva Padel Rieti.
Discover the range of MONDO artificial turf systems for football pitches, five-a-side football pitches and padel courts. Contact us for a free quote or for technical advice.