News

A passion for sport

Cadet Sergeant Caetano Capurro, aged 17, from Leicester has represented his unit and area in five different sports.

He explained: “I love sport and the ACF allows me to try a range of new activities without simply sticking to one sport.”

Caetano has represented (Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland (LNR) ACF in football, cross country, rugby, swimming and tug of war, for most of these he has also been selected to represent the Eastern Region at national competitions.

In Rugby Sevens, Caetano initially represented LNR ACF but was selected for the national competition despite his limited experience.

He explained: “I’d never played Rugby before cadets but then they invited me along at county level first and I really enjoyed it and luckily I was quite good at the sport so they invited me back for nationals.”

Not only does being involved in ACF sport give Caetano that athletic outlet he enjoys he also finds it has helped him socially.

He added: “Sport can be competitive but I think this is healthy. I’m playing against cadets from other counties but that isn’t going to stop me wanting to see them outside of the sports because they’re my friends now.

“I was the only LNR cadet in the national team mostly playing alongside Sussex cadets. I never thought I’d become such good friends with cadets from another part of the country but now I’ve got a bunch of friends I can see if I ever go down.”

When asked which of these sports was his favourite he said: “Even though I love football, emotionally the sport I was most attached to is Tug of War because of how much we all wanted to win that.”

Caetano was involved in Eastern Region’s Tug of War victory and was with the team as it gradually improved over a few years.

He explained: “The feeling of winning and beating the rest of the teams was incredible. The fact I can say we have fought through the competition to the top is just something that I’ve never had with any other sport.”