Ambition and enthusiasm have been two qualities that distinguished Starlites BC since the club’s foundation.
The Naxxar-based team have always held a long-term approach when taking crucial decisions for their club and that stance has surely reaped its fruit during the past five years with the club winning honours not only at senior level but also in the different junior age groups.
This summer, Starlites BC decided to take another ambitious step when they decided to take part in the FIBA Euro Cup.
They are the first Maltese club to compete in a continental competition after an absence of 32 years and despite the huge economic cost such venture entails, they are still ready to take this step to give their players an invaluable experience that will surely benefit them in the long term.
On Friday, the FIBA draw held in Munich paired Starlites BC with Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta, with the opening leg in Malta on September 24 with the return leg in Cyprus three days’ later.
Coach Paul Ferrante said that he was fairly happy with the draw.
“Obviously it’s going to be a tough challenge as all the teams in the draw are highly-rated,” the Starlites coach told the Times of Malta.
“Famagusta are a professional team in Cyprus who have experience in Europe, so it won’t be easy. But, certainly it could have gone worse as we managed to avoid tougher opponents such as Bilbao, of Spain, or French side Dijon, so we are fairly happy.
“At the moment, there is a lot of enthusiasm at the club ahead of this experience and we are looking forward to it. The club has formed a sub-committee that will help in making sure we are prepared for this venture from all areas. But the main objective behind this challenge is to try and take our club to a new level.”
Ferrante confirmed that Starlites had already started working to strengthen their squad and bring in a number of overseas players that can help the team to be competitive.
“I have bee working hard in the past weeks to try and bring valuable additions to our squad without putting a huge financial strain on the club,” Ferrante said
“We have a selection of overseas players who are willing to join the club at a very reasonable cost and that provides us with the opportunity to evaluate them well before deciding who we will be registering for the competition.
“Playing in Europe, you can field as many foreign players as you want, but they need to be registered to play in the Maltese league too. In Malta you can have register how many foreigners you want but can only field two at the same time on the court.
“Our intention is to give the opportunity to our Maltese players to experience fully playing in a European competition, so the plan is that yes we will have two or three foreign players on court but they will team with one or two local players at the same time.”
Key players
Ferrante admitted that Starlites had lost two key players in the close season as Alec Felice Pace has decided to continue his career in Germany while Matt Attard is also seeking a move to the Spanish League.
“But on a more positive note, we have Miguel Fabri back after completing his rehabilitation from injury and we are looking to bring in an established Maltese player in the same position Alec plays so we add more cover in that area.”
Ferrante admitted that he is a very competitive coach who is always desperate to win matches. However, for this European experience he admitted that he will adopt a more conservative approach and give priority to giving all players the best opportunity to learn a lot from this experience.
“Our plan is to see the bigger picture of this experience,” he said.
“The most important factor has to be to ensure all players gain as much as they can so that they become better players. I want to help our Maltese players to continue to develop their basketball talent as for us this experience can help us to provide the club with a sound future.
“The main goal for next season remains that of winning the Maltese league championship and keep our team at the top of Maltese basketball. Having said that we will still give it our best shot to do well in Europe and that will be our main focus in the coming weeks.”
Ferrante confirmed that pre-season preparations will start after August 15 and there are already plans in store to organise a number of friendlies in September before the European matches against foreign opponents to provide the necessary match sharpness to the team.
On his part, club president Ivan Riolo said that the club decided to take the challenge of playing in Europe as they wanted to reward their players for the success they brought to the club and provide them with more stimulus to continue to work harder and grow as a team.
“Our players have been exceptional for us in recent years, winning the last three championships and we wanted to reward them with this unique experience in Europe,” Dr Riolo said.
“I am sure that playing in Europe will provide that spark to the players to take the next step in their careers and continue to grow as a group of players.
“Added to that this project will surely inspire a lot of youngsters. Seeing our seniors playing in Europe will surely motivate them and dream of following them in representing our club in the future at the highest level.”
