Giampaolo Ricci: “It will be nice to return to Tortona, a city that I feel is mine”
Among the great protagonists of the 2016/17 Derthona Basket season, which ended in the second playoff round at the hands of Trieste, Giampaolo Ricci returns as an opponent at PalaOltrepo for the friendly match between Bertram and Vanoli Cremona. A little more than a year later, therefore, the paths of the player and the Bianconeri cross again: it is the winger who says that it will be a moment It's very exciting for me, because in Tortona I created very strong bonds with the players and staff of the club. Last year I had already returned as a spectator and was positively impressed by the atmosphere and the welcome that fans and professionals had given me. Tortona for me is and will always remain a special place, we were the protagonists of a great year and an incredible second half, with thirteen victories in fifteen matches˝.
During a season - the 2016/17 season - which was very satisfying, there are various moments, good and bad, that Ricci remembers, starting with the ˝Trapani match, which we won with a Greene basket at the end. That was the occasion in which we established ourselves as the revelation team of the entire tournament and from there we managed to conquer second place in the standings at the end of the regular season˝. Perhaps the least pleasant episode of the entire year occurred in the penultimate championship match, when ˝I broke the scaphoid in my hand. I wasn't even supposed to play in the playoffs, but – says the player – thanks to the great work of the club's medical staff, whom I will always thank, I was able to take the field with my teammates to play the matches that we had all earned together˝.
Even the playoffs of the 2016/17 season reserved some very beautiful moments for the player, like that of ˝game 5 of the first round against Mantova, when Amici missed a shot against my defense which allowed us to go through˝. Giampaolo has some regrets regarding the outcome of the series against Trieste, in the following round, however ˝We arrived at that series not in the best shape and with several injuries. Trieste was objectively stronger but I am convinced that as a team we would have played at our best. The judgment on the year, however, is not only linked to the results, but also to the bonds that have been built: Tortona is a city that I will always feel mine"..
The year in Piedmont established Ricci as one of the best Italian big men in the championship, thanks also to his ability to play away from the basket. After an exciting season, Giampaolo chose to move to Cremona, who were relegated to A2 last summer before being brought back due to Caserta's exclusion from the championship. The doors to Serie A, a championship, therefore opened for the class of '91 It is difficult due to the presence of a greater number of foreign players. Last season was full of satisfactions at team level: we reached the semi-final of the Italian Cup, coming one step away from the final and we managed to reach the playoffs at the end of the regular season. I decided to stay in Cremona to be able to demonstrate that I am a player worthy of Serie A level.
The good performances in Cremona allowed Ricci to earn a call-up to the national team: a moment that the winger defines ˝very exciting, because appearing in the list of players who wear the Italy shirt makes me proud and proud and repays me for all the sacrifices I have made during my career˝. Giampaolo had the opportunity, in Italy and in Cremona, to work closely with Meo Sacchetti, the coach who saw his progress over the years and rewarded him with several call-ups to the national team, which are ˝the dream of every player and every boy who enters the gym as a boy: wearing the Italy shirt is something incredible. Now Ricci will return to Tortona, this time as an opponent, with the hope of finding themselves opposite each other again in the future during the season.
