A year ago the PalaCrisafulli in Pordenone hosted the final of the LBF Super Cup between Virtus Bologna and Famila Wuber Schio. An open challenge until the end between two of the strongest teams in Italian women’s basketball. For that match, the pitch decided to reward Bologna’s black spots with Laure Cox’s decisive three-pointer and the performances of the individuals as Cecilia Zandalasinicaptain of Virtus at the time. It was she who raised the cup next to patron Massimo Zanetti. In the background the deserved tricolor of a team that managed to overturn the prediction.
After that match many things changed. The female Virtus Bologna no longer exists. The athletes moved elsewhere to continue their sporting careers. Cecilia Zandalasini instead said goodbye to Italy heading towards the United States, where she now plays with the Minnesota Lynx shirt. Last July 22nd he wrote a post where all his bitterness emerges regarding what is happening in the world of women’s basketball in our country. “You just need to move a few kilometers away from our Alps to realize the revolution that is taking place around women’s sports. If you then fly to the United States you won’t find a person who isn’t wearing a t-shirt: “Everyone watches women’s sports””.
“A big step backwards”
“In two months my life went from having the certainty of a two-year contract, in the city I love, to the closure of the women’s sector of my team”, continues the athlete. “Without warning, without warning signs, without guarantees and within a society that has always made great proclamations and claimed solidity and planning. The closure of the women’s project in Bologna is a big step backwards not only for the city, which lives and breathes basketball, but also for the entire national project.”
At the same time, he was keen to thank the staff, the team, the city that hosted it and President Zanetti “who believed in this project from the first moment to the last”. Yet what remains imprinted are those bitter words that reflect a situation of great uncertainty for a sector that needs to grow. “At the end of our days,” says Zandalasini, “we just want to be an inspiration to all the little girls who come to see us and dream of becoming like us.”
The Wnba final
Despite the disappointments, Cecilia Zandalasini’s story had a turning point this season. The Italian athlete, in fact, is playing one of the most important games of her career for the second time: the WNBA Finals against the New York Liberty.
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