Bologna –
The new Virtus Segafredo player Andrejs Grazulis was presented today at the headquarters of Bonfiglioli SPA, partner of Virtus Segafredo Bologna.
Sonia Bonfiglioli, CEO Bonfiglioli Group – We have defined a new model with Luca. We are two companies of the territory, sports and basketball is a beautiful, clean sport, a stimulus for many days. Kids are playing basketball today. My hope is to expand the partnership and I hope other companies will decide to support Virtus. Bonfiglioli is a historical company in the area, my father founded it in 1956. We are roots, present and future, in a context where we win together. Hosting Virtus is a pride and a pleasure. Our real strength is the people of this territory. We are so critical as Italians, but it’s not like they are so much better outside. We don’t realize how appreciated we are outside. And in sports we have real excellence, like Virtus.”
Luca Baraldi, CEO Virtus Segafredo Bologna – “These are the most beautiful words a CEO can hear regarding the company he administers. Virtus is only momentarily Dr. Zanetti’s and Dr. Gherardi’s, but it is from the territory. And we did an analysis, over 40 percent of the employees of companies in the territory are Virtus fans. I was hoping they would tell me over 50 percent… we introduce an important player like Grazulis and we go toward integration with companies. We want to export this model, including corporate welfare with ticketing inside. And if someone copies us, we are happy.”
Paolo Ronci, Virtus General Manager – “Presenting players in companies we see work environments, and we see beautiful and elegant environments. And we have the idea of replicating them in our environment. Working in such an environment pushes all of us to give our best, to return something back to those who take care of us.
Today we are introducing Grazulis, we haven’t seen him yet, he took it a bit easy in recovery. Next week he will join the team and then he will be on the field. He is the kind of player who is not talked about so much, but he can do so many useful things for the team. I think the virtussino people will learn to love him, he is generous and can do so many things. He has great shooting ability, strongly desired by the coach. And he has the experience it takes to be in a group with ours, he played a world championship as a star right under coach Banchi. We are very happy to have him with us. Will he play in the Super Cup? He will start next week with the team, I think he will be evaluated day by day very cautiously.”
Andrejs Grazulis: “I am happy to be here, and to finally start training with the team from next week. So far I have been training on my own, but I am looking forward to the start of the season, as early as the Super Cup. Last year was a good season, but it ended with an injury, which is part of the game. I don’t know what to expect from this season, I don’t see the future. I will work day by day in training, and see what will happen.
My idol? Printezis. He’s a legend, I loved his style of play, so much effectiveness and energy.
The importance of Luca Banchi? I know him from the national team, I know his system, and he was important in the choice. But for now we haven’t talked about roles or anything, because I haven’t trained with the team yet. The main thing until now was to get healthy again. Euroleague? For the past five years I’ve been working to get there, it was a goal of mine. The most important thing is to play, to do the best I can. And hopefully see the fans happy. Every year I played differently, depending on what the coach asked me and the characteristics of my teammates. Knowing the coach, I have an idea of what he may ask of me. I can say I’m a shooter, I open spaces, although I’m certainly not the best shooter on the team. I am a Swiss Army knife, I can do many things.”
