In Rome, June 6th, the best Italian freestyler, Domenico Grasso, has been chosen. He has taken part in the world final in Brazil in November.

Domenico Grasso. This is the name of the Italian winner of Red Bull Street Style, great freestyle soccer challenge, taking place on June 6th in Rome. In the wonderful Ponte Milvio, well known in Italy for “padlocks of love”, soccer balls were protagonists, juggled with mastery by participants.

A quick heel pass or a spectacular bicycle kick as Francesco Totti or Ronaldinho are used to do, are no longer considered the ”state of the art”. Freestyle soccer has reached a new level also in Italy, turning ball control skills into a form of higher art.

”Red Bull Street Style” offered an international platform to the most talented ball artists in the world, to test their skills one against each other.
The Italian trip toward the world final, taking place in Brazil, has begun in Rome. Our capital hosted Friday June 6th the national final of Red Bull Street Style, aiming to select the best Italian freestyle soccer player. From every part of the Boot, the best freestylers met in the heart of Rome, in Ponte Milvio, to show their skills and get the pass to Brazil. At the end the only sixteen years-old Domenico Grasso from Brescia won on the talented competitors. He is a member of the historic Footwork team, and managed to beat in the final Swann Ritossa, 22 years old guy from Trieste. The duel saw the victory of Domenico, who amazed the judges with the difficult PATW trick (Palle Around The World).

Rules were very simple: 3 minutes, 2 players, 1 ball: In each “battle” two players competed one against the other. Taking 20-second each with the ball, for a total of three minutes, they used their time to show the best of their artistic moves on the beats of break-dance and hip hop music. Three prestigious judges valuated participants in three different categories: control, creativity and style.
Control has been judged by the great football player of Lazio Tommaso Rocchi, creativity by a well-known name in Italian extreme sports scene, Lorenzo Damelio, and style by one of the first freestyle players in Italy, Gaetano Vitagliano.

Red Bull Street Style has also seen the presence of the fair sex. One of the protagonists of the event was Laura Biondo, a nineteen years-old girl from Verona. Laura was able to qualify for the final in Rome thanks to her video uploaded on www.redbullstreetstyle.com <http://www.redbullstreetstyle.com/> , and she didn’t look out of place among the guys, managing to reach the quarterfinal.

The award for Red Bull Street Style winner in Rome was a flight ticket for the final in Sao Paolo, where Domenico has competed with the best freestyle soccer players in the world. The Italian guy met in the final winners of more than 40 national contests, and the individual creativity was be a real plus.
In Brazil on November 18th our Domenico managed to reach the final selection of 16 best freestylers of the world, but he then had to surrender to very talented Japanese Yosuke Yokota, ending the competition at the second place after French breaker Arnaud Garnier.