Virtus Bologna, Marco Belinelli doesn’t think about retirement
The words of Marco Belinelli
Marco Belinelli is playing an extraordinary season at age 38 in a Virtus Bologna jersey, as captain of the Vu Nere in a newfound youth that also leads him to the top of the individual rankings in Serie A. His primary goal toò, è increase Virtus’s trophy case. He told Basketball Zone about it. "The fire in me despite my age, the love for basketball leads me to do this. I do it for the challenge, to prove that I can still be an important player. I do it becauseé however, I still have so much desire to add trophies to my trophy case but most of all to add trophies to the Virtus Bologna case. What I do is not è only thanks to me but è thanks to the team, thanks to the company, thanks to the coach. I like challenges, I go on the field trying to always be myself, to prove myself, to help the team win. As long as thereé c'è this desire to do, this desire to compare myself, I go ahead. Then of course there will come a time when I will struggle, and probably that will be the time when I will say; ‘Vabè, enough now’ … forò not yet that time”.
Chapter Azzurro: "I’m glad to hear my name mentioned to the national team forò you also have to be honest: the group of the national team è a nice group already created, so I don’t know if my presence could bring something positive or negative. Right now there are other priorities in my life, not that the National Team is not because I have always attached so much importance to the blue team, for’s sake; I am a father of two little girls and after a very long season where you play so many games between the league and Euroleague, I need to rest, I need to do my own thing and be with my family, I need to do my trainings and then be able to start the season again with Virtus in a positive way so right now I find it hard to answer but è complicated”
Closing remark on eventual retirement at the end of next season: "It will be a decision that I will make; also talking about it with the company and the coach. I haven't given myself an end point: as long as I play, as long as there's the will of the company and the coach to make me feel important and I personally feel like an important player who still makes a difference, I don't even think about retirement. I am 38 years old, I am fine physically, we see year by year. I don’t think about retirement, I when I joke with my wife I say I would retire at 40, for’we really see year by year. The important thing è to keep the love for basketball, the desire to train, the desire to challenge myself and challenge the guy younger than me, this leads me to go on the court and prove what I am”.
