A new center for Trieste Basketball: Mady Sissoko
Ballacanestro Trieste has a new center: Mady Goundo Sissoko, a Malian born in 2000 who is 210 cm tall at 113 kg and has a 223 cm wingspan. Sissoko arrives in the red and white after an’absolute star last season in the NCAA championship with the California Golden Bears jersey, closed with averages of 8.3 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.
“We are excited to welcome Mady Sissoko to the Trieste Basketball family – said President Paul Matiasic -When we look for a player, we look not only at his statistics, but also at his character and values. In Mady we found an outstanding athlete and an even more outstanding person. His story of perseverance, his work ethic, and his commitment to improving the lives of his community in Mali are a profound inspiration. He is an excellent defender, a dominant rebounder, and an ever-growing player, but it is his inner strength that makes him special. We are convinced that our fans will fall in love with his energy on the court and his incredible personal story. His arrival is not only a great coup for the team, but an’opportunity for our entire community to embrace a truly unique sports and life story”.
“In approaching free agency this’summer for the center position,” adjured general manager Michael Arcieri –from a purely talent and technical ability standpoint, we were looking for a player with great physical presence and dynamism, capable of capturing rebounds at an d’™s level;elite (especially on the offensive end), to protect the open court and the iron both as a stopper and a deterrent, and to defend effectively on the pick and roll; all while offering on the offensive end the ability to run the court and vertical spacing that would complement the dynamic play of our guards. From a purely character standpoint, as always, we looked for a guy with exceptional integrity, work ethic, competitiveness and passion not only for the game, but for his teammates, his club and his City. Mady Sissoko possesses all these qualities and more. The’evolution of her game over the past five years has been evident and for all to see. Coach Gonzalez and staff are excited about the prospect of cultivating the next stages of her technical growth. And her inspiring life story is a wonder in itself. He will bring a very special dimension to our team, our locker room and the entire organization. We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Mady and her family to Trieste and give her our warmest Trieste hug!””.
Madyy Sissoko’s career is a coming-of-age novel. His story begins not on a parquet floor but in the cornfields of his village, Tangafoya, a remote rural community in Mali with no electricity or cars. The last of ten children, he learned the meaning of hard work from his father and endured daily three-hour walks in order to study, driven by his parents’ will. After starting to play basketball very recently, he got the opportunity to move to the United States at age 15, to Wasatch Academy in Utah. The impact is tough as hell: he speaks no English and the loneliness brings him close to quitting, but his tenacity allows him to overcome every obstacle, learning the language and earning a call, as one of the Top40s of his senior year, from a college basketball legend like Tom Izzo at Michigan State. For four years he trained in one of the best “champion factories” in America, always reaching the NCAA Tournament and earning the unconditional respect of his coach and teammates for his dependability and work ethic. Last season, the move to California proved to be the key move: under coach Mark Madsen, Sissoko exploded, becoming the team’s captain and defensive anchor, finishing as the fifth-best rebounder (8.2 average) and second-best offensive rebounder (3.1) in a conference as competitive as the ACC.
