TREVISO – The salvation achieved on the last day it probably wasn’t in his plans at the start of the championship. But, as things turned out at a certain point, it was a real undertaking. Now Nutribullet coach, Frank Vitucci, can take a breath after months of total apnea and enjoy a result that truly deserves to be celebrated: «I am certainly happy, because we achieved this salvation with our own strength, without having to hope for help from others or wait to know the results of other fields. We are saved at 24 points, collected largely thanks to an important second round, when the team, with some ups and downs, essentially found its balance. It’s paradoxical that those who finished with 24 points have been celebrating for a month while we’ve reached the final corner.”
The important thing, however, is to have reached salvation…
«As Pope Francis says, those who are satisfied are happy. With a schizophrenic championship like the one we experienced, with several results that were not unpredictable but certainly particular, we can be satisfied with what we achieved. It was important to achieve this goal, which at a certain point seemed very far away. However, I never thought it was unattainable.”
How did you experience those first nine days of the championship?
«Obviously it was a very hard period because we worked a lot, but due to various factors we didn’t produce anything. With hindsight, I see it as a learning experience because there is good even in negative moments: you strengthen yourself, you understand who you can really rely on, you try to find ways to improve. I wouldn’t want to always experience situations like this, but when you’re in one it’s very interesting to understand how to get out of crises, if they let you. I have to thank the club for not changing the coach in the end, which is not to be taken for granted: they often sack you, and it happened again this year.”
Have you ever thought about giving up?
“Absolutely not. I’m an Aries: tenacious and stubborn, more than you might think. I say this without presumption. But there were matches in which, if we had lost, they would have sent me home.”
Was the 0-9 start to the season all the fault of Booker and Young?
«Certainly the two choices turned out to be wrong in the long term: the first didn’t understand how our championship works, the other got lost along the way. Before replacing them, we went to great lengths to try and fit them. Then there was a combination of factors, including a difficult calendar that we weren’t able to turn in our favor: we threw two or three games at the last minute. If we had managed to bring them home, something would probably have changed. The Milan match dazzled us a little, because we looked better than we actually were.”
Then you went on with strings of victories and defeats.
«We have had long, very up-and-down periods. The other failures were the home defeats against Pistoia and Varese, which marked the rest of the championship. In reality there have been ups and downs for everyone, the difference for us is that we started off very badly: so the lean periods seemed like famines.”
In the last two races we have seen great performances.
«Certainly in the end the team I had in mind from the beginning emerged. There is a lot of work behind it, even if it may not seem like it. Luckily this group of guys, who were certainly not happy about losing or making a bad impression, came together just when it counted. I am referring not only to the last two matches, but also to the victories against Sassari, Reggio Emilia and Varese. We didn’t pull off spectacular shots, but whoever beat the top teams in the class was relegated.”
What did you think at the time of Paulicap’s injury?
«In those moments you have to quickly imagine a plan B, you don’t have time to feel sorry for yourself. You immediately process what you already have in your head, or have tried in training, without panicking or generating anxiety in the players: the team must perceive that the technical staff has in mind what to do.”
To achieve salvation, young people were often sacrificed.
«The discussion would be very long. I summarize it like this: in a difficult situation like the one we have experienced, young people must be protected and not just thrown into danger. There were no conditions to do so.”
President Contento has already said that it starts again with you and Giofrè. Have you already thought about next season?
«During the year it happens that we develop ideas, but then we also have to be able to take the right steps. We have time ahead of us and there are situations that need to be defined, clarified and improved. We won’t do it tomorrow. Let’s let the wave pass.”
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Read the full article at
The Gazzettino
