Gianni Petrucci holds on to Gianmarco Pozzecco

Basketball could not miss the fifth edition of the Trento Sports Festival, an event organized by La Gazzetta dello Sport and Visit Trentino from Sept. 22 to 25.

At the beautiful Depero Hall, “Tiro da due” was staged, a talk hosted by Gazzetta journalists Andrea Tosi and Antonino Morici that was attended by FIP President Giovanni Petrucci and the coach of the men’s national basketball team Gianmarco Pozzecco.

The occasion was propitious to return to the beautiful Azzurra summer that just passed. A summer in which Poz’s boys thrilled by coming within a step of the semifinals of EuroBasket 2022, the continental championship that saw Italy host one of the four rounds of the first phase at the Forum in Milan.

“We conveyed,” the coach said, “enthusiasm regardless of the results. In sports results count, there is no doubt, but evaluations must be made based on what you deserve on the field, and not on what you get. With France we would have deserved better luck. I am very proud of what the boys have done, and we want this long wave to propagate again until the next commitments to continue along a road that can lead us to great satisfaction.”

“The strongest team does not always win,” said President Petrucci. Pozzecco has brought incredible enthusiasm and has managed, with the team, to go far beyond the cheers of basketball fans. The CT is a charismatic character and the players feel this. However, he is also a top-notch coach.”

In the afternoon, the CT took the court in Trento’s Piazza Fiera for a free-throw contest with the many kids who crowded the playgrounds in downtown Trento. “To the kids,” said the CT, “I tell them to always maintain the ability to have fun. It’s something that will take pressure off when the more complicated games come.”