From the athletes of the C series, who as freshmen managed to give the big teams a hard time and even reach the playoffs, to the boys of the black-green “cantera”, winners of the men’s Second Division championship. And again the very young people, who distinguished themselves in the FIPAV and CSEN championships, and the little ones from S3 who are just starting out.
A season with results “beyond expectations”, as president Pino Lovero admits, the one that has just ended for Volley Bitonto. After the celebrations, he is already working for next year. A future to be written, starting from the “nursery” and the desire to convey the values of sport to the athletes (over 230 registered last year alone), as stated in the poster dedicated to the unforgettable president Vincenzo Schiraldi, displayed at the PalaRutigliano.
“We try to help our boys and girls grow and have fun, involving them in different events – Lovero comments -. We try to do as many competitions as possible to go beyond training in the gym and to allow them to gain experience and compare themselves with other realities”.
In fact, many championships were played: S3 mixed, under 13 male and female, two groups of under 14 female, under 15 male, two groups of under 16 female, under 18 female and 2nd division male and female. In addition to the top championship of the national C series, which gave great emotions.
“As newly promoted players, with a young group and many players in their first experience in Serie C, we had set ourselves the goal of survival – reveals the president -. But the team immediately showed that it could give even more well-equipped opponents a hard time, stringing together victories and leading the standings for several weeks, despite the serious injury that occurred to captain Michele Carnicella at the beginning of the season.”
“Unfortunately, an emotional decline and two other injuries in the series, of the opposing starter Christian Fiore and of the central defender Corrado Scacco, have put the stability of the staff to the test, causing the team’s position to fall to mid-table” comments manager Franco Pasculli, praising the reaction of the boys who “with an exciting display of pride in an important technical growth, even managed to reach the playoffs for promotion to the second national series”, despite having to lower their heads in front of an opponent like the Omega Mesagne is much more structured.
“Despite this, we emerge from the promotion fight having enriched our wealth of experience and with the awareness that, with commitment and work, we can be suited to playing matches of such depth and importance” reveals hammer Simone Zumbo, on behalf of all his teammates , the setters Arcangelo Muschitiello and Raffaele Garofalo, the opposites Simone Ferrante, Christian Fiore and Giorgio Carotti, the centrals Francesco Pierro, Corrado Scacco, Pasquale Pasculli and Domenico Ricciardi, the hammers Michele Carnicella, Giuseppe Lamacchia and Domenico Manuzzi and the liberos Giuseppe Retto and Francesco Lovero.
There are few new features planned for next season. Mister Vito Avellis and a large part of the roster have been confirmed, and will be strengthened with new additions and some returns.
Also ready to return to the field are Miki Tatulli, Raffaele Garofalo, Domenico Ricciardi, Francesco Bertola, Gian Marco Ruggiero, Antonio Traetta, Giorgio Carotti, Francesco Lovero, Alessio De Chirico, Alex Tornese, Gianvito Pazienza, Fabio Terlizzi, Nicolo Fornelli and Artiom Granieri, who, led by mister Giuseppe Retto, achieved promotion to the First Division.
“The boys had a wonderful journey, winning every race – comments Pino Lovero -. We knew we could count on the strength of the team, almost entirely from Bitonto, which has many athletes who grew up in our youth teams.” Alongside them there are also some talents, discovered thanks to AmaVolley, the project designed by the company to make even non-competitors fall in love with volleyball.
But the strength of Volley Bitonto is in the staff: alongside Pino Lovero, there are Vito Sasanelli, Franco Rapio, Pino Dimichino, Marco Loiodice, Franco Pasculli, Giuliana Monte, Giovanni Milillo, Ilaria Schiraldi, Lia Schiraldi, Antonia Cuzzo, Mariantonia Retto , the athletic trainer Nicola Molfetta, the social media managers Nicola Napoli and Alessia De Lucia and the nutritionist Katia Amorisco.
“Thanks to their commitment, and the support of our sponsors (Brini Legnami, Branding, Nanocchio Costruzioni, Car Bike, Meleam Spa and Foodness) we were able to continue a difficult season”.
The wish for next year? “We hope to have more space, to have more time for training”.
