Former Cagliari Calcio psychologist Fabio Zarra at the Dinamo Club House: "AI helps athletes."

For 10 years, Fabio Zarra was a psychologist for Cagliari Calcio. He and colleagues are now developing a system that combines Virtual Reality (VR), Artificial Intelligence, and personal counseling to help athletes achieve better performances. The meeting was held this evening at the Dinamo Club House as part of the Sardinia Factory project, in collaboration with Dinamo Banco di Sardegna and the Dinamo Foundation.

A chatbot was created, a software that allows a virtual psychologist, Mat, to answer questions from users who, for whatever reason, prefer not to interact with a human psychologist. "We've included over 3,000 pages of information, but only on specific topics. If you go beyond the context, Mat says he doesn't have the skills to answer." The meeting also included some interactive moments with the young people present, who used their smartphones to perform some exercises to strengthen their brains, which they consider a muscle to be trained.

Fabio Zarra also promoted this idea in a book entitled “IronicaMente Sportivə: Improve your mind by taking yourself seriously,” a journey between the serious and the facetious, a mental training that combines science, stories of great athletes, and psychological techniques to help improve performance, in sport and in life.

Livia Lepri hosted the meeting. Assistant coaches Massimiliano Oldoini and Antonio Carlini, as well as physical trainer Francesco Marra, were present for the Sassari team.