Hands down, Paris Basketball won the Ile-de-France derby against Nanterre (102-86) at the Accor Arena in Bercy on Sunday evening, rounding off a crazy four-game week in great style, including a victory over Panathinaikos (84 -80) Tuesday, and an epic defeat in the Bayern Munich arena on Thursday (109-107).
This Sunday evening, immediately after the success on Nanterre, Tiago Splitter, the coach, presented himself at a press conference accompanied by Stella, a young fan invited to share the day of Parisian basketball players in order to pay tribute to him.
At 24 years old, the young fan from Ile-de-France has the particularity of having recovered from bone cancer (osteosarcoma) in 2010-11, when she was 10 years old. As a result of the illness, Stella wears a knee prosthesis. At 18, she then had to face thyroid carcinoma, or cancer of the thyroid, which she also triumphed over.
“We have Stella with us,” Splitter said. She spent the day (Sunday) with us. She beat cancer twice. And of course, she is an inspiration to us more than anything. So, I want to thank you, Stella, for being here with us and supporting us. I told her this morning that what she did is far, far more difficult than what we do on the basketball court. So thank you for being here and inspiring us. »
After which, Stella, an engineer by profession, took over from Splitter on the microphone, speaking in English, then in French: “It was a real pleasure to spend the whole day with you guys,” said Stella, a member of the Aïda association, which supports young people facing illness. The players and the staff are a great inspiration for people like me, as I could be before. So thank you for that. »
The young woman, who walked alongside Parisian winger Tyson Ward (1.98 m) in the corridors of the Accor Arena, shared her experience, immersed in Paris Basketball: “First match of basketball in Paris. Incredible experience. Huge atmosphere, very high intensity throughout the match. Very good understanding between the players. I was also very well placed, just behind the players, so it was very nice to experience all the emotions and to see the staff in action too. »
The young woman then detailed her impressions: “At different times of the day, there are different intensities, between the first training this morning (Sunday) more serious, then a little calmer. Same just before the match: I felt them very concentrated and hot before starting, and that was felt throughout the match…”
