11/10/2020 – Closing day in Matera for EIE Erasmus + Sport project “Easybasket In Europe”. The project started the 01/01/2019 and will officially end the 31/12/2020: two years of intense activities and events.

The project has been proposed and coordinated by Olimpia Basket Matera and has garthered togheter 9 partners: FIP – Federazione Italiana Pallacanestro, APD Pielle Basket Matera, ASD Cultura e Sport Matera, Istituto Comprensivo “G. Pascoli” School Matera, Lietuvos Sporto Universitetas (Lithuanian Sport University of Kaunas), Czech Basketball Federation, Deutscher Basketball Bund (German Basketball Federation), Danmarks Basketball Forbund (Danish Basketball Federation) and NGO Red Deporte (Madrid, Spain).

In the city of Sassi, the final press conference has been held in the morning of Saturday 10th October: the conference was attended by Maurizio Cremonini, technical coordinator of the Easybasket In Europe project and National Technical Manager of the FIP Minibasket Sector, Sergio Galante, EIE project manager, Giovanni Lamorte, president of FIP Basilicata. Videoconfering web tool allowed also other partners to virtually join the press conference: Thomas Johansen (Danish Basketball Federation), Tim Brentijes (German Basketball Federation), Carlos De Carcer (Red Deporte NGO), Kestutis Matulaitis (LSU University), Enza Sileo (G. Pascoli School), Jiri Novotny (Czech Republic Basketball Federation) were part of the meeting.

In the afternoon from 16.00, the second Multiplier Sport Event took placein the Giovanni Paolo II park in Matera city center: the event has been coordinated by Maurizio Cremonini himself and the national staff of FIP. Instructors, students, teachers, sports associations, sports federations, simple enthusiasts and curious attended the event.

At first, the new mayor of Matera, Domenico Bennardi, opened the event saying that he felt proud of such an International event organized by association coming from the town.

The intense day was an opportunity to illustrate what has been achieved in 2 years project which, albeit conditioned by the pandemic, have made it possible to spread the innovative discipline reserved for boys and girls from 5 to 8 years: the aim has been to create tools to train Easybasket instructors, a Easybasket guide and E-learning platform, and much more, all with the ‘intent to promote good practices by increasing participation in sport: all the tools are freely available at the project websites: www.easybasket.eu e e-learning.easybasket.eu.

“I am satisfied and proud of the project – remarks Cremonini – because we have brought to Europe an adequate content to bring children closer to the game of Minibasketball; it is a reason to be proud to be have carried out such a project around Europe. Another important thing is that there will be an impact on Basilicata: a new specific training project dedicated to 40 young Lucanians coaches will start. It is a source of great satisfaction – concludes Cremonini – to generate an action like this that we hope will allow Basilicata to have some new Minibasket center dedicated to children.”

“We bet on this project – declares Sergio Galante – and we trust in the Italian Federation work, which involved its staff and allowed us to get in touch with other European Federations that we have put in the partnership. At the end of the 2 years project I can say – concludes the EIE project manager – that I am not happy but very happy, not only for the project but also for having created a network of relationships between federations, sports universities and associations, which allows us to look forward with serenity and above all have connections for future cooperation. “