Marco Belinelli pushes away the possibility of retirement
Marco Belinelli pushes away the possibility of retirement
"I am afraid to quit. I wish it never happened, because I don't know what I'll do after that. This is what Marco Belinelli, the only Italian basketball player to have won an NBA title (with the San Antonio Spurs), says in an interview with 'Vogue Italia' of which a preview has been provided.
"The United States gave me so much, introduced me to so many people, opened me up,‖ says Belinelli talking about his life in the States. I had a good time there, although every time I came away from Bologna I cried. At the beginning I was dumb just. I did not feel I had the right to speak, until I won. They said I did not have the physique nor the character, that I was not aggressive enough. I answered not with words but with deeds on the field".
"I like to change the minds of those who slaughter me,” he adds, “because basically, at the same time, I don’t give a damn". Now instead Belinelli, at 38 and wearing a Virtus Bologna jersey, wants to "show in every practice that I am still capable of helping the team win. Last season I succeeded, I had the strength to show that I could still be important".
Of what he experienced in the U.S., one other thing has stuck with him: "I was there in the 'Black Lives Matter' period,” he recalls, “and I saw that the champions of the sport there; they have much less trouble exposing themselves publicly, taking a stand. The players have much more visibility and a strong union behind them. The problem of racism lì è is bigger. Here–according to Belinelli–we should do something moreù for women’s rights, for the world to be moreù fair and safe for them".
