Pilla, do you still remember? After all, the face to face awaiting coach Stefano Pillastrini on Saturday 29 October is poetic: his Gesteco against his eternal Fortitudo Bologna.
Because the Ueb coach grew up there in Bologna; because, within Effe, the experienced coach has taken the path of basketball. Thus began his long, successful career in the world of the wedge ball.
Coach, what effect will meeting the team from which it all started?
«By now we have already challenged each other many times. In any case, it is clear that Fortitudo remains my club, the team that I supported as a child, the one where I started coaching the youth teams until I became head coach. In short, it is my story, my roots are there, at Effe. I do not deny that I have also been close to returning several times ».
What prevented it?
“For some reason it never happened. Moreover, in my career it has often happened to me to train teams that instead had a heated rivalry with Fortitudo. Just think of Virtus, but also of Scavolini, Treviso and Varese, all historical enemies for Bologna, on the Effe side ».
Has this had repercussions on your relationship with the square?
«Yes, let’s say that he pushed me away from a part of the fans. But my roots were and so remain. I grew up in Bologna, even as a Fortitudo fan. It is clear that, once he became a professional, working life took over ».
A memory dear to you from your time with the Bolognese eagles?
«I became head coach after winning the Italian junior title and when the club was facing a serious economic crisis. They decided to focus on young people and thus gave me the bench: at only 29, therefore, I received this honor but also this task ».
Then how did it go?
«We started in the cup and we started badly. I remember that against Forlì we lost by thirty or forty points. The match was then played at home, with the public whistling. Not we, of course, weren’t even worthy of it. But the management.
Later the season took a different turn: it was very hard, but we managed to save ourselves in Cremona, in a match played on the eve of Easter. For the occasion, there was an incredible exodus from Bologna, with about 2,500 fans following us. At the end of the race they waited for us at the exit: that was a good moment ».
If you could meet that technician, the coach that he was, what would you say to him?
«Nothing in particular. Because I am genuinely happy with my life, with my career. What I did I always did in the belief that I was doing the best. So I’d do it all again. Obviously, there would be a thousand mistakes that shouldn’t be made again, but that is also part of the path, a path that makes me proud.
If things went well I must also thank Fortitudo for giving me the opportunity to become a coach and to make a job what it was, which is my passion ».
What match will tonight be then?
«It will be a match against a very strong team, with a great coat of arms. In comparison, we will be like a Cinderella invited to the great ball. In any case, we want to keep what we have earned: this is why we will fight every game. Consequently, today we will go out on the field to win ».