The Youth Sector season begins
The Derthona Basket Youth Sector teams are in their first weeks of training ahead of the 2018/19 season. A significant amount of work has been done over the summer by Andrea Ablatico, president and head of the Basketball Lab, under the coordination of Lorenzo Pansa, coach of the first team. Among the black and white teams that will begin the season in early October is the Under 18 team, which will compete in the National Youth Division championship, and the Lombardy C Silver team, which has a dual membership with Olympia Voghera. The coach is Vanni Talpo, assistant to Lorenzo Pansa on the first team, and the roster includes some of the young players who joined Bertram. " Over the summer, the club made a significant investment in the players ," Talpo comments, " and has assembled a group with a high technical and physical level. The goal of our championship, which will start on October 1st, is to win as many matches as possible and develop the players, with the hope that in the future they can also become important elements for the first team.
The Under 18 Regional Gold championship also kicks off in the first week of October, featuring the team led by Paolo Censurini, who won the Promozione championship last year with Pallacanestro Tortona. This is the coach's " first experience coaching a youth team. The goal is to create a united and cohesive group of players of two different ages and coming from different teams. I also want to develop my players technically and tactically in preparation for the senior championships they will compete in in the future ."
The Under 16 Excellence championship will begin in late September (the 29th), featuring the team coached by Alessio Gaudio, Juventus Minibasketball Manager. The tournament promises to be "difficult and full of challenges, but at the same time, it's beneficial for the technical and mental development of our players: we've brought in a couple of players from Castellazzo who can help us throughout the season. Some of my players will also compete in the Under 18 DNG championship, and some of the boys from the Under 15 group will be part of the roster I'll coach. I think this is a good opportunity for the players to grow," Gaudio commented.
The Under 15 group will be led by Paolo De Ros and will compete in the Regional Gold championship, which is scheduled to begin in October. Training sessions over the first few weeks have shown that "the team's technical and physical level has improved compared to last year, thanks in part to the addition of some new players who, " De Ros commented, " have meshed very well with those who were already present last season: the goal is to achieve constant growth throughout the year ."
Massimo Bisin, Juventus Youth Sector Technical Director, will lead the Under 14 Elite team. He will be joined by Stefano Degrada as assistant and Giorgio Borghi, coming from Cuneo, as the youth team's athletic trainer. The group will compete in the " elite group of their category, with the goal of growing both technically and competitively. Some of these kids are already ready for the challenge, others, " Bisin commented, " need to grow and improve, but all of them, right from the first training sessions, have demonstrated a great passion for basketball. For my part, I want to wish everyone the best of luck for the upcoming season ."
The Under 13 Regional team's championship will begin between the end of October and the beginning of November. Stefano Degrada, returning to Tortona as coach after three years as a player, will be on the bench. The seasonal goal will be "to improve the offensive and defensive fundamentals of players who are in their first year of real basketball after completing their minibasketball program. We want to develop athletes capable of facing the subsequent years of youth development in the best possible way . "
Over the past weekend, Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th, the first mini-basketball tournaments took place in Alessandria: at the PalaCima, before the Memorial Cima, the rookies - led by Alessio Gaudio and Dario Gay - played a quadrangular with Olympia Casale, College Basket Alessandria and PMS Moncalieri, finishing second behind Casale, while the Aquilotti, coached by Stefano Degrada and Clara D'Amico, and the Scoiattoli – with Dario Gay and Valentina Scardaci as instructors – took to the field at the Cittadella dello Sport as part of the event “The Citadel of sport and well-being”. The tournament was organized by College Basket Alessandria and also saw the participation of Olympia Voghera.
