20/01/2005
L'Adige

The attacker of Castiglione delle Stiviere has left behind his back all the accidents

"Itas, you have all you need to become great"

Savani, five months as a "trentino"
Calm city, serious society
by Chiara Vaccari

TRENTO - Five months has passed from the arrival of Cristian Savani at Itac Diatec Trentino and we would have been happy to comment in an other way the first part of the championship of one of the greatest italian young players. Unfortunately, the attacker of Castiglione delle Stiviere has been struck by three accidents which let him dispute only 9 matches from the first to the last minute on 23 played by the team (15 in regular season, 8 in cup).
"At first, I didn't think about bad luck; after the third accident, I started to think that maybe.. there's a little bit of that in these valleys...".

The last accident is particularly strange.
“Yes, it's strange. Especially if you think that I had never been in a best form during all the preparation, and still I got an halt".

During the forced stop, have you felt any pressure?
"Not at all, infact I almost felt badly towards the society in which I just arrived. All were always there for me and nobody has tried or wanted to rush me".

And now that the sky over the team is clearer, do you feel a different kind of pressure?
"No, now I'm playing with continuity and things are going well, so there's nothing to say against it".

Do Trento and Trentino Volley come up to your expectations?
"Yes, they're a calm city and a serious society, those quality are of primary importance to work well and they're harder and harder to find".

Do you see the basis to become a great reality?
"I think Trentino Volley is already that for what concerns the managerial level. It's a matter of time, results will come. To win is not so easy, especially in these last years, since Trentino has had the absolute monopoly".

From which companion you feel you can learn the most?
"I can learn from all: Goran knows the best variety of ways of offense, I can learn the block from Stefan and the serve from Andrè".

Speaking of serving, when will you start again to serve "at all arm"?
"For now I'll keep serving in jump floating. Silvano started to make me serve in this way when I had problems to my ankle. Since the results are satisfaying, we decided not to change".

For the first time in your career, you are far from home. An other incentive to your personal maturation.
"It was time to cut the umbilical cord with my family in order to grow as a man. Maybe my parents are not so happy, but it was the right thing to do and the right moment".

Were you disappointed by the exclusion from European cups?
"Yes, but I think the blow has been absorbed by now. Unfortunately those matches were apart, while in championship we managed to play a little, in cup it's been a tragedy. But the other italian teams don't shine either. On the contrary the perfomance of Piacenza surpised me".

Given the situation of emergency in which you were, maybe you chose to aim to qualification in Italian Cup?
"No, it's impossible to face so many kilometres and flights thinking of losing just 'cause the opposite team speaks an other language".

What did Montali tell you about the national team?
"Montali doesn't promise anything to the single player. He just said that some important players will leave the team for age reasons and for personal choices. We young players want to do well and to make the generational turnover easy".

On Monday you'll face Modena which is in a difficult situation.
I fear it a lot, it could come with two faces: as a team that brings to light his personal qualities or as a team that falls to pieces entirely. I think it will come in the first way, looking for points it terribly needs".

This interview by Chiara Vaccani was transalated by Claudia Pisanu