By Davide Bortoluzzi

In periods of economical shortage sometimes creativity could be the solution. This is basically what happened in Italian second division with the historical team of Veroli, which reached a partnership agreement with Stella Azzurra Basketball academy, currently on of the best Italian societies for youngsters. Stella Azzurra is a society focused on player development, with a strong international culture and a network of relations that allow the team to recruit some of the best young talents in Europe (the list is really long and includes several players highlighted in Eurohopes rankings too).  Veroli is town 100 km far from Rome, but plays his home games in the bigger town of Frosinone.

This summer the team was seeking to buy a right for a second division senior team, in order to test his best talents at an higher level than the one currently faced by Stella Azzurra senior team, which is in Italian 4th division. In the same period Veroli was facing some economic issues, with the uncertainty to be able to subscribe the team for the following season. In this context the two societies reached an agreement that led to satisfy the mutual needs and goal with Stella Azzurra sending some of his brightest youth talents to Veroli on free loan (becoming a satellite society of Veroli). Veroli reduced the budget acquiring young talented players for free, on the other hand Stella Azzurra had the opportunity to test his players at the desired level of competition without the pressures to win at any cost. Veroli hired a couple of americans and seniors to complete the roster, which is the youngest of all the ones currently playing in the second division.

Veroli uses Stella Azzurra’s facilities for trainings during the week, which was part of the deal between the two societies, furthermore Germano D’Arcangeli, deus ex machina of Stella Azzurra project is the head coach of Veroli. After a sloppy start, the team has won 2 of the last 4 games, with a remarkable showcase for the best Italian talents included in the roster. First of all the homegrown talent Andrea La Torre, the 1997 6-7 SG, and currently the best Italian player of his generation (6 pts and 3 rb for him thus far). In addition another big name of ’98 class playing in Veroli is Lorenzo Bucarelli, with 2 points and more than 15 minutes on the court at the age of 16. Other names are surely the ’96 PG Nicola Savoldelli, ’97 SF from Montenegro Todor Radonjic and ’96 PG Alberto Cacace.

This agreement is definitely a win-win situation, and in a period of crisis a creative and innovative way to manage business in basketball. 

Here you can find the games of Veroli

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