President Amarousiou: “We want and believe that we will play in the Basket League”

The president of Amarousiou, Christos Georgousopoulos, expressed faith and optimism that his team will overcome the obstacles and compete in the Basket League, a right he secured by winning the championship in the Elite League. Speaking to EEC WebRadio he said:

On whether Marousi will play in the Basket League: “We will know this on September 15, which is the final date of the last stage of the supporting documents and the “interviews” that the team must give. Today (27/06) we sent all the supporting documents of the first phase. The cutoff date for these was July 2nd and we shipped them today. We still have a way to go, we cannot say that they have passed. We are preparing step by step, as we have been doing all these years, soon to cope with the regulations and the criteria that are set. Our “want” and “believe” is that we will play in the Basket League”.

For the support they have from the world throughout this endeavour: “The greatest optimism was the result of the General Assembly of June 17, where it was the most crowded General Assembly of the association, the presence of the people was touching. Even more moving was that the majority of the crowd was young, local Amarousi people and parents of children from our academies. After winning the championship they were at the club offices every day asking how everyone can help. It is a new vision that the administration, players and coaches have set for this whole city to “embrace” the Amarousi team. 8 years ago I remember that it was a little “cramped” stadium, because we had very few children in the academies and now we have reached a number close to 500 children, with parents who are members of our family. That was the main push, which gave us the final push to move forward.”

For the support of the municipality of Amaroussi to the team: “The municipality of Amarousiou also supports us. No municipality, no ministry, no region can give money, but they can support you in other ways. The municipality of Amarousiou all these years has provided us with a stadium that meets our sporting needs and, as soon as it understood that one of the criteria to play in the Basket League is the upgrading of our stadium, it immediately proceeded to implement actions. In fact, today there is a Municipal Council and one of the topics is the approval of the fund for the upgrade of the stadium. From the first moment, the services of the municipality of Amarousiou came to us, they asked to know, we made contacts to find out the criteria and immediately we saw that there is a very positive response. It was another criterion that made us move forward.”

On whether they have entered the sponsor market: “There is a task force which has started various discussions. Our goal is, in addition to the local market, which is large at the level of small and medium-sized enterprises, the large enterprises that exist here in our municipality, so that we can attract them and follow us as sponsors”.

For the competition planning of the new season: “In this group over the years we have created a model of distinct roles and distinct responsibilities. I am responsible for all the correct administrative functioning of the group together with the other members of the Board. and the basketball committee. I have never entered and will not enter into sports matters. The full planning responsibility each year belongs to our technical director, Giorgos Sourlis, who together with the coach structure the team based on the criteria and material infrastructure given to them by the management. At the level of the four lines of the field I will never enter, because I do not want to be graphic, since I am not knowledgeable on the subject. I’m just a sports fan.”

About the story of Amarousi: “Our city is a basketball town, I started watching the team since 1989. Marousi has always loved basketball, always had it at the top. In recent years, many old sports fans came back, they saw that something good is being created and all this in the context of purity, volunteerism and love for the team. And this was also the 3rd pole that pushed us to continue this fight. The fans always support and love the club”.

On the problem they overcame last season with the ban: “One of the “hurdles” we overcame last year was that we had a ban for years. We re-created the team from scratch when it was taken over by this administrative group of fans from the 3rd national team and we closed the “holes” one by one. One of the last two that were left was about a ban that existed, which no one reminded us of. Since the structure of our group was such that it did not acquire foreigners, it never made us busy. Last year, however, after the introduction of the electronic ticket system, which “untied” all of our hands, we saw that we could not move forward if we did not find a solution to this issue. We found her and a chronic “snorer” left our team. All this happened because the Federation itself helped us to enter into a logic that you must be short and be able to cope with the regulations. I consider this to be a first step, but the difference between the Basket League and the Elite League is real.”