A great emotion, as always. Whenever he speaks Zoran Savic - guest in video link last night of the Bolognese television broadcast Sport Club, of which we share the full video - listen to his words, his reflections, his thoughts, and at the same time immerse yourself in memories thanks to inexhaustible anecdotes, it makes an incredible effect. And it brings to mind the evening walks during the Euroleague away matches, on the eve of matches, unforgettable, as well as every other moment lived and shared together.
The first? It is in turn an anecdote, practically unknown. One morning in late August 1996, called while I was at the seaside for an interview in Fortitudo, I parked on the corner between via Graziano and via Nannetti, behind the PalaDozza. Getting out of the car, I saw a gigantic shadow behind me, as he got out of a huge black car: it was him, Zoran Savic, one of the greatest international basketball champions, just arrived in Virtus.
What I felt in that moment? I dreamed of entering that world of professional basketball, after that in the previous five years, between high school and university, I had been commuting between Bologna and Cesena, dividing myself between study, collaboration with the press office of Ahena Cesena, Serie A1 women's team and basketball played, both in Bologna and in Cesena. I understood that my dream was to work in basketball, live off my passion. Not even for a moment, seeing a meter from me Zoran Savic, I thought about the fact that he would play on the opposite bank of the Rhine.
The admiration for the Champion and the dream was too much, sooner or later, to be able to know him personally. Over the next two years, the knowledge was indirect (and definitely "Fund", through the derbies of BasketCity), but the admiration for the character remained enormous, incredible, something literally unspeakable in those days, even because Zoran Savic in fact it was the backbone of Virtus and marked the season in particular 1997/1998, that would bring the Italian Cup to Fortitudo, but Euroleague and Scudetto to Virtus. Always passing through the eye of the fiery derby needle.
Then, in the autumn of 2001, the return to Bologna of Zoran Savic. At Fortitudo, to give weight but above all character to the team e, in fact, change the fate of the Company, in the future. I still remember the emotion I felt when I heard about the signature, finally I could get to know him personally and find out, behind the Champion, the greatness of man. The following season, its withdrawal from the parquet e, immediately, his landing behind the GM desk, always in Fortitudo. Leg, that in the meantime I had become Head of Communications, a professional relationship began, but above all personal and familiar, even closer and more confidential with him.
Three incredible years in which he gave life to the most important cycle in the history of Fortitudo, with the double epilogue of the Euroleague Final Four in Tel Aviv 2004 and the Scudetto 2005, something absolutely unforgettable and unrepeatable. His return to Barcelona to become GM of Blaugrana did not interrupt the personal relationship, which indeed intensified from a distance. As it happened after his second GM adventure in Fortitudo in 2008/2009.
Just Zoran Savic, at the end of September 2010, gave me the opportunity to leave, calling me in Barcelona to enter the world of INVICTUS. Something completely new, born in those famous evening walks around the Europe of the baskets. First a Sports Management Agency, INVICTUS Sports Group, representing international coaches and players, then a Specialization Basketball School, INVICTUS Camp, it later became an Academy, split between Bologna as INVICTUS Academy e Dubai e Abu Dhabi, come Basicball Academy.
Once again and more, Year after year, the importance of man confirmed the value of the Champion. Zoran Savic it was always there when i needed for health problems, getting on the first plane, and it continued to be there later in my life, as well as his family. These are the things that matter most, that are worth more and that remain inside. People count, relationships of fraternal friendship, that bond that makes you feel in confidence and breaks down any distance, every border, making you feel part of a family.
A sea of emotions. All of this, Leg, is Zoran Savic.
#WeAreInvictus