The Menarini Red Foxes return to aiming for the basket. The wheelchair basketball team once again faces the start of the FIPIC (Italian Wheelchair Basketball Federation) Serie A National Championship. And he does it by taking to the playing parquet with a new team and an exceptional coach.
Born in 2005, the first wheelchair basketball team in Tuscany, Wheelchair Sport Florence is that type of reality in which the integration of disabled people comes from working together and from the example of passion, talent and determination that its athletes demonstrate in every game they face. With landing in the top division in 2021, the desire to have fun and win has not faded at all. Menarini, as title sponsor, has been alongside this association since 2011.
A story that was retraced today by the Councilor for Sport of the Municipality of Florence Cosimo Guccione and Ivano Nuti, president of the company, on the occasion of the press conference to present the Volpi Rosse Menarini team at the Cortile di Michelozzo of Palazzo Vecchio. A moment of meeting set in the “House of the Florentines” to underline how the connection with the city is a central aspect in the team’s identity.
“We are always happy when we participate in the presentations of our city’s sports teams, today especially for Volpi Rosse Menarini – declared the sports councilor of the Municipality of Florence Cosimo Guccione – We are next to them, to support them and invite the city to follow this team which will carry the name of Florence not only in Serie A but around Europe, in Eurocup 3. Even today we are sending a message that wants to say that nothing is impossible. And sport, in these cases, is among the best examples of how with courage and obstinacy, with firmness and conviction, many obstacles can be overcome. I thank Menarini who has embraced this project for years and supports this reality. I say to the team, to the staff, to those who collaborate and support: you are the pride of Florence.”
The youngest team in the championship: a definition that is confirmed by the age of the majority of the squad of players who will be led by coach Fabio Castellucci, former coach of the Under 22s and assistant coach of the first team of the Italian national team.
“We wanted to create a very young base of athletes who have yet to ‘explode’ as top players but have great potential – explained Ivano Nuti, president of the Volpi Rosse Menarini – The players we have at our disposal this year have been the strongest in the entire youth path at national level. Furthermore, the presence of the new coach will be an added value for the team, given that almost everyone has already worked with him in the blue shirt. Our warmest welcome to him and to the new arrivals in the Volpi Rosse Menarini family.”
A very tough test awaits the Menarini Red Foxes in a few days, with their debut away in the province of Teramo, against the Italian champions Amicacci Giulianova. The appointment is at the Palacastrum in Giulianova on Saturday 21 October, 4pm.
And in Europe? After the qualifying achievement achieved in Chalon-Sur-Saône (France) last spring, the Eurocup 3 qualifying matches will involve the Volpi Rosse Menarini on 6 and 7 March. They have the task of representing Florence and Tuscany.
“For over ten years with this beautiful project of sport, inclusion and autonomy we have been carrying forward the fundamental values that animate Menarini – commented Lucia and Alberto Giovanni Aleotti, shareholders and members of the Menarini Board – Forza Volpi Rosse!”.
Here is the complete roster of the Volpi Rosse Menarini: Jitske Visser, Riccardo Innocenti, Samuele Cini, Niccolò Bartoloni, Mehran Hosseini, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Kevin Giustino, Cosimo Caiazzo, Lorenzo Bassoli, Miguel Pinto Reis, Salim Chakir, Bilal Oujedid, Mattia Scandolaro, Giacomo Garavello, Francesco Marotta, Camilo Van Trijp.
