Ramondino, Tortona basketball coach “Identity and character, we are unique” – Corriere.it

The small and pretty Tortonaframed by her generous necks, an eye-catcher for beauty and a killer in terms of blood sugar and triglycerides, even the primacy of basketball against Olimpia Milano will be played on Sundaysuperpower of Italian basketball together with Virtus Bologna, already defeated by Tortona last Saturday. Marco Ramondino, Oscar for best coach with Derthona last year, from Avellino in love with his land but grateful to this slice of Piedmont that communicates and intersects within a few kilometers with Milan, Genoa, Turin, is aware of the risks of such a challenge ambitious: «Tortona basket has grown quickly, it has climbed the categories year after year, one can fall into the mistake of thinking that it is almost easy to live at such high and competitive levels. The danger of addiction must be avoided. Improving is difficult, the club knows it well, those who work and guide it, the owners, Beniamino Gavio, the president Marco Picchi, the CEO Ferencz Bartocci, the technical staff, my collaborators and me, the team».

How do you stay high?
«We have to carry on this enthusiasm and give continuity and constancy of results, a damned complicated operation».

The steps to succeed?
«More than moves, I would speak of men. Starting from the presence of Gavio who combines two fundamental aspects: ambition and low profile».

What does he mean?
«He is driven by the desire to do, grow, progress and what he is building, this wonderful citadel of sport, is an important signal that gives the club a European dimension. To all this he associates not appearing, not flaunting. Then each of us, Picchi, Bartocci, myself, my assistants, bring something on a professional, human, emotional level, in short, we complete each other».

Do you know that you are sitting on a bench much coveted by some of your colleagues? Tortona has become a goal, a prestigious technical destination. In short, the owls hovering above her head …
“Come on, it’s normal. However, I wouldn’t put it on the owl aspect. It will happen, sooner or later, that I will have to leave Tortona. In Serie A there are 16 jobs, like the one in Tortona there are even fewer: I don’t carry out my job in a defensive position, I instead commit myself to taking care of a very important reality that has been entrusted to me, trying to improve it . Here, I hope that my successor, when he arrives, won’t have to start from scratch, he won’t find rubble, but a consistent and happy structure. My teacher Andrea Capobianco, an exceptional man and coach, taught me that it is good to leave a better situation than the one you found when you leave».

Can Tortona become the Cantù of the 80s in basketball, a winner in Italy and in Europe?
«The great challenge is to re-propose our identity every year and make it prevail».

What basketball is yours? What does he teach? What does he expect from his team?
“Basketball is a team game. My player must abandon personal gain, favor the collective interest».

When it doesn’t, how does it intervene?
We need to understand if the player sees it or doesn’t really care about the collective interest. In the first case we can work on it. How? With dialogue, technical meetings, examples, videos. In the second case instead there is little to do, I can preach but in front of me I have to have a listening ear… otherwise I’m talking to the wind. In forming a team it is important to put good people together».

Which coach are you? What does he not compromise on?
«A team must learn to stay together, but this takes time. I have become more tolerant with the birth of my children, accompanying their growth…».

Excuse me, what does your children have to do with the team, how do you combine the paternal aspect with the technical one?
«By becoming a father, watching my children grow up, I understood certain behaviors better and what lies behind them, human events are given due weight. Unless there is a clear lack of respect, with the player I think more about evaluating the mistake than hypothesizing something definitive. Not only that, I for one try not to create aftermath. Angry is contemplated, it is wrong to sow nervousness and tension».

It’s a basketball that neglects Italian players in favor of foreigners: but this isn’t your case, with you, for example, Severini became an important player, he was called up to the national team.
«For us Severini is fundamental, a golden boy, he has the right approach, marked by sacrifice. Just as Tavernelli is important: in a team for someone to shine, there is a need for someone who lives in the shadows playing a very delicate role».

Minus 3 to the second match of the year for Tortona: after defeating Bologna, on Sunday it’s Milan’s turn
“They are teams with great mental as well as technical strength.”

And so what?
«We must not distort ourselves, be afraid to be ourselves, change our attitude. Knowing that against similar teams you have to produce an exceptional effort on a physical and psychological level». Milan, Messina, be careful: this is how Ramondino twisted Virtus Bologna. «Not at all – he intervenes promptly – Ramondino hasn’t beaten anyone at all: it’s the team, it’s the players who take the field and who have defeated Bologna…I don’t play baskets».