Here we go again, the All around train doesn’t stop, we go up the country, starting from Campania and going towards the Adriatic, in Emilia Romagna, if we talk about women’s basketball, we talk about Faenza, another salvation obtained in the play outs by beating Battipaglia , no mean feat for the team led by coach Seletti.
Today we’ll talk about it with president Mario Fermi, fasten your seatbelts, let’s go.
Hello President, how do you rate the Faenza season, in your opinion could we have aspired to something more?
I consider our season very positive, certainly better than the 2022-23 season, as we had a very young team, with many bets, girls who had never played in A1, so we knew the difficulties we were facing, we could win some matches moreover, but it is necessary to remember that we played with everyone, we lost at home by only 2 points against Venezia, the same great battle against Bologna, we obtained salvation like last season but with a notable difference, this year we had 7 seniors, last year 10, so a positive balance.
Seletti in his first year, what did he bring that was new compared to the previous technical management?
The coach brought great seriousness and professionalism, he brought a new way of understanding basketball, he distanced himself from the classic schemes that have been in vogue for years now, a method that is not easy to understand immediately, so the girls took some time to understand the new game, with particular attention to the growth of our young girls, a sector where Seletti is extremely prepared.
Was there a moment during the season where you seriously thought about relegation?
Honestly, we never thought about relegation, because we had great faith in the team we had, even if the victories were very few, seeing the performances against Venezia and Bologna, we were quite confident about achieving the objective.
Cvjanovic has already settled in San Martino, have you tried to keep her?
We tried in every way to retain her, given the importance of the player, we also made her a good financial offer, but San Martino’s offer was higher than ours, so she opted to have a different experience, but to we would have been one of the reconfirmed.
Faenza Basket Project also carried out social activities during the year, what do you have in store for the future?
On the social side, during the season the team held meetings at primary schools, to raise awareness among even the youngest of the importance of women’s basketball, the first team was also close to the mini-basketball sector when it could, we are an integral part of our city.
The Pala Bubani often offers a beautiful setting for the public. How are the relations with the citizens and the municipal administration?
Honestly, I expected the stadium to be fuller throughout the year, and not only against Venezia, Schio or Bologna, or in the play outs. Logically, I understand that our results were not driving forces for our fans. However, we remain satisfied with the average audience that we had.
What will be the future actions you will undertake to enhance the Faenza Basket Project, will there also be a lot of focus on the youth teams?
The youth sector is of absolute importance for us, it is the only way that a club has today to be able to move forward, to be able to create some young players at home, it would be wonderful and it is our objective, it is no coincidence that this year in A1 we had 5 girls ranging from 2005 to 2007.
What will be your goal for next season?
Surely salvation, given the budgets of the other teams, we place ourselves in the third tier, that is, in the area where we have to suffer, clinging to the category with our nails.
Who will be on your new roster and what will you focus on in its composition?
The watchword is youth, this will be our policy for the next seasons too, we have signed Martina Fantini, born in 2005, who in A2 with Basket Roma, had an average of 12 points and 8 rebounds, we have the confirmation of Franceschelli and the return of Porcu to the field, there are interesting players such as Brzonova from Stella Azzurra, but for the moment we are talking about negotiations, let’s see how everything will develop, but Faenza is ready to fight again this season.
Matteo Avagliano
