The third episode in the rapprochement between the Italian national basketball and rugby teams took place in Bologna today, with the coaches of both teams involved in the last few weeks. After the visit of Gianmarco Pozzecco, coach of the Italian national basketball team, to the Azzurri players of ‘Italrugby’ on November 8th in Udine before the game against Argentina, there was another meeting on November 25th in Reggio Emilia, when coach Gonzalo Quesada attended the ‘Italbasket’ game against Iceland. To complete this journey, the two coaches finally met again today in Bologna, on a neutral court, so to speak, to play a special padel challenge.
Together with Macron, the technical sponsor of the two Italian federations, an event/exhibition was organised that saw the couples formed by Gianmarco Pozzecco-Stefano Mancinelli (ex-captain of the national team with 122 presences to their credit) and Gonzalo Quesada-German Fernandez (Quesada’s assistant coach) facing each other.
On the courts of the Country Club Racket World in Villanova (Bologna), the challenge got into full swing with a series of ‘challenges’ related to the respective sporting worlds of the two coaches. The first challenge was to score in the ball basket, obviously by hitting with a padel racket. Then, it was the turn to simulate a rugby-style conversion between two posts mounted above the plexiglass walls of the court, again hitting the ball with the racket. Finally, the two pairs of rugby players and basketball players also challenged each other on ‘neutral’ ground, i.e. padel, experiencing the new Macron rackets in some classic challenges and taking some shots on the court.
A moment of entertainment, sharing and, above all, a celebration of the friendship born between the two coaches who lead two national teams that are symbols of Italian sport. Italbasket is fresh from qualifying for EuroBasket 2025, scheduled for late August and September next year in Latvia, Cyprus, Finland and Poland. Italrugby, on the other hand, has recently concluded the Autumn Nations Series test matches against Argentina, Georgia and New Zealand, and is preparing to experience an exciting new Guinness Six Nations season starting in February 2025.
All garments of the Italian national rugby team and the Italian national basketball team‘s clothing lines, as well as the Macron collection dedicated to padel, are available in the dedicated sections on the macron.com website, at the Macron Sports Hubs and at all authorised Macron retailers.
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