Commitment and dedication are the two pillars on which Paolo di Fonzo, the newly-appointed national coach, intends to base his work in a bid to revive the fortunes of the team.
The Italian was yesterday presented to the media during a news conference in which Malta Basketball Association (MBA) president Paul Sultana spoke about new initiatives to increase the popularity of the sport here.
Di Fonzo, who succeeds fellow countryman Bruno Dipietrantonio, is looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s a great honour for me to be given the job of Malta coach,” the former Virtus Roma mentor, winner of a Champions Cup, Intercontinental Cup and the Korac Cup, said.
“To be honest, I never expected to get this job but Paul Sultana showed great faith in my ability and I’m happy to be able to help Maltese basketball grow.
“I am aware that this is a difficult job but I love challenges and if everybody works hard and with dedication, I’m confident that we can reach our objectives.”
Di Fonzo has a good picture of the level of basketball in Malta as, for the past 15 years, he has regularly hosted youth selections who travelled to Rome for training camps.
“I’ve had the opportunity to watch some national team players in action, the likes of Lee Ross and the Schembri brothers, Dirk and Steve. In the last three days, I did some training sessions at Ta’ Qali and there seems to be a great desire from the players to improve,” he said.
“The first goal set by the MBA is to compete in the Luxembourg GSSE and we all want to reach that aim.”
Apart from the national team, Di Fonzo will also be responsible of the men’s junior teams. Sultana announced that the MBA has already set up a junior commission, led by Ivan Micallef, which will be working closely with Di Fonzo.
“Di Fonzo has a lot of experience in this field and his expertise will aid our efforts to help youngsters maximise their potential,” he said.
“Besides, we shall be imple-menting a series of initiatives to boost the youth sector. Coaches from the MBA will be holding training sessions for young students in various schools.
“This season we are also introducing the U-23 league. This championship is aimed at helping those players who are no longer eligible to play in the U-20 division and failed to make the cut with the senior team.”
The MBA head confirmed that Santino Coppa will continue in his role as coach of the women’s team.
“We have analysed the situation and we are pleased to announce that Santino Coppa will continue to be the coach,” Sultana said.
“The women’s team have achieved significant success and we see no reason why we should change a winning formula.”
Sultana also revealed that, from this season, the MBA champion-ships will have two new teams.
Phoenix Qormi will field a side in the youth competitions and the women’s league while Tarxien will be represented in the junior leagues.
The 2011-12 basketball season gets underway this weekend with the Super Cup.
Meanwhile, the MBA has relaxed rules on foreigners in a bid to en-hance the level of local leagues.
“We feel that the inclusion of foreigners will boost the local game,” Sultana said.
“Clubs can register as many players from EU countries as they want and only one non-EU player but they can only have one foreigner on court during matches.
“We’re doing this to protect our upcoming youngsters.”