Piero Bellizzi is easily noticeable at Lakeside Field. While every other player on the pitch is bundled up, Bellizzi’s sleeves are taped up and his socks are rolled down, leaving as much skin as possible exposed to the Evanston air.
“I was always kind of a baby with the cold,” Bellizzi said. “But now I think that the cold helps. If you’re already warm, you might stop, because you don’t need to move to keep warm. But if all you’ve got on is a T-shirt, and it’s 40 degrees, you’re going to be running around.”
But the actual reason Bellizzi modifies his uniform isn’t that he’s genetically more resistant to the cold than his teammates: Bellizzi’s extra-large uniform is a bit too big for his 5-foot-8, 140-pound frame.
“I had to tape it up,” Bellizzi said. “I looked like an overgrown baby out there.”
Bellizzi hasn’t been playing like a baby: The outside midfielder is second on the team in points, with three goals and three assists to his name.
“Our team is made up of piano movers and piano players,” coach Tim Lenahan said. “Piero is certainly a piano player.”
Bellizzi is from Rye, N.Y., but his love of soccer is pure Italian. Bellizzi, a dual citizen of the United States and Italy, spent his senior year of high school abroad in Udine, a small city in northeastern Italy, where he trained with the Serie A club Udinese.
“It was a soccer awakening for me,” Bellizzi said. “Having played my entire life here in the United States, and then going to a country where soccer is the biggest sport, and they’re really successful at it.”
Practicing with Udinese gave Bellizzi a new perspective on soccer before coming to Northwestern.
“I saw them playing, and I realized, ‘wow,'” Bellizzi said. “This is how professionals train. I got to see the best of the best.”
Bellizzi holds dual citizenship not because of his birthplace, but because his father, John, was born in Italy. He credits his father, who played collegiately at Queens College, with his own passion for the sport.
“I’ve been surrounded by soccer my whole life,” Bellizzi said. “And it’s because of him.”The two trained on a daily basis as he grew up.
“Every time he was free we would go outside and do a bunch of drills,” Bellizzi said. “We’d be working on my touch, my skills. And besides just playing, at dinner time, on weekends, all that was on the TV was soccer.”
Bellizzi’s exposure to soccer has paid off. Bellizzi led the team with eight assists his freshman year, and earned a spot on the all-Big Ten second team and all-Freshman teams.
“He’d started practicing with us in January,” Lenahan said. “He was playing more like a sophomore than a freshman.”
Now, with two full seasons under his belt, Bellizzi has made his presence felt as a key contributor in the offense.
“He’s got all sorts of technical skills,” fellow junior Matt Eliason said. “He’ll score goals, and he’ll set people up. He’s been great for the team this year.”
Bellizzi and the No. 17 Wildcats (8-2-4, 1-1-1 Big Ten) take on Indiana (7-6-1, 2-1) this Sunday at Lakeside Field.
