With that surname that makes one think of walks in Burcina, perhaps Biella was in their destiny. But Luca and Matteo Pollone were born and raised in Vercelli, Cervetto district, at least until the call of basketball brought them closer to the mountains. From that moment on, life, studies and training have been colored by the red and blue of Pallacanestro Biella. Matteo, 21 years old, is still in the team, deputy captain of Edilnol in A2: “If I think about when I arrived as a kid – he explains – I never expected it”. Luca, 24 years old in April, is in his third season in Serie B with the San Giobbe Chiusi shirt with which he scores more than 15 points per game.
Around the Forum, the 4500-seat building where the heart of Pallacanestro Biella beats, they had been nicknamed «Pollo» and «Pollino». “I finished eighth grade – says Luca – when Federico Danna, the head of the youth sector, talked to my parents to bring me to the team”. Two years later his brother joined him. Both of them commuted: school in Vercelli and training and matches in Biella. From the third grade, the move to the club’s guesthouse which was also a school of life: “I have grown a lot also as a person – reveals Matteo -, we had to learn to organize ourselves”.
The age difference meant that they almost never managed to play together: “That’s better – jokes Luca -, we are too competitive between us”. But it is as if one had followed in the footsteps of the other: the major made his debut in the first team in October 2014, joining us permanently in 2016-2017, with the happy interlude of a training in Milan with Kobe Bryant during a tour of the sample. «Pollino» tasted the A2 parquet in 2016 to never abandon it. As at the beginning: «He tried other sports – explains Matteo – then he moved on to basketball. I followed him ».
Both of them reinvigorated the family passion: mum and dad were players. «The first shots – says Luca – I made them in Vercelli after my father’s matches with the All Blacks». Now that they are far away, the contacts are virtual but constant: basketball and university reasons, since they both study engineering. “Let’s try to help us with the books too,” says the major. “Even if we are of a reserved nature – adds the younger – we” look “at each other”. Luca took advantage of a break in his championship to review the last A2 games: «Advice? He knows what I want to tell him: he has to look at the basket, shoot more. I learned to do it and I have to thank Giovanni Bassi, who trained me in Palermo and asked me this year in Tuscany ». And after the one-on-one matches this summer (“Maybe the first time we’ve been together for so long,” says Matteo), just wait for the next match. In 2019 in Biella they were against each other in a 3 against 3. “I won,” says Luca. “But I hit him on the head,” Matteo replies. –
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