VILLORBA – Women are increasingly bringing our province to the top of sport. At the beginning of May, in the same days in which the Imoco won the fourth scudetto in a row in volleyball, there was a true Treviso woman who celebrated yet another tricolor of her career in basketball. It is about Giorgia Sottanaplay class 88 made in Villorba, a symbolic woman in the recent history of Italian basketball. She grew up in a family where the wedge ball is almost a religion, she has lived a career that is not always easy but full of successes. For personal reasons, her role on the field is not that of a few seasons ago, but her satisfactions are not lacking. After the experiences in Turkey and France, in the year of Covid she returned to Famila Schio, a club where she had collected the best satisfactions in the first part of her career. Last season the race towards the tricolor had stopped in the final, against Reyer Venezia: the Famila had succumbed to the lagoon also in the Supercoppa final, and had had to be content with beating them in the Italian cup final. This year, however, Giorgia’s club made a feast of trophies: Supercoppa, Coppa Italia and Scudetto, beating a fierce Virtus Bologna in the final 3-1. In the decisive match, the Villorbese scored 12 points in 23 ‘, with a couple of triples and five assists.
Six league titles, six Super Cups and eight Italian Cups are not won by chance, in addition to the 140 appearances in the national team, of which she was captain and leader for a long time.
«This season went super well – says Giorgia – In Italy we won everything we could and I think it was a very important response after the defeats of the previous year. Hitting all the goals you set yourself at the beginning is certainly satisfying, it’s what you work for all year ”.
It wasn’t a walk in the park.
«It was endless: we started on 9 August and only finished in late May. You can easily understand how exhausting it was. In addition to the commitments in Italy, we are back to playing the Euroleague at full speed, unlike last year in which we played it severely limiting travel, with the Covid-free bubble formula. We did a lot of matches, a lot of trips, it wasn’t easy at all: from the second week of February we always faced the double commitment, with races both on weekends and midweeks. There hasn’t been a week without games in between, it was devastating ».
But everything went very well.
«There is only one regret and it is the Euroleague: I am convinced that we could have grabbed the Final Four and instead we let them slip away. In Italy, on the other hand, we were half a step above all the others, or at least this is what the results say: the Scudetto finals went very well, we played in front of a huge audience, both at home and in Bologna, and I must say that it was a wonderful experience. “.
You will turn 34 in December: a particular age for a basketball player.
«I still have gasoline and fire inside: surely there will be other seasons ahead on the parquet. Obviously I’m not a hypocrite and I know that those left behind are more than what I expect as a player. But I enjoy it day after day, year after year and let’s see how it will be. Now I just have to recharge the batteries and start preparing for the next challenges ».
From the end of the championship to today Giorgia hasn’t stopped: a bit of well-deserved holidays, her Playground Basketball Camp in Lido delle Nazioni but above all the release of her new book, I trust you: “I speak of love, travel, freedom and values with the aim and the hope that in reaching the last page everyone has found a small part of their own truth”.
