Kastritis: “We had to manage many problems”

Yannis Kastritis congratulated the Aris players for the victory over Lietkambelis in Panevezis, despite the injury problems and the lack of proper preparation, he noted the hard work the “yellows” are doing and the improvement of their image from match to match, he stood the rise of psychology after the consecutive defeats in Greece and Europe and expects improvement in the next matches, while he stood on the whole of Greek and foreign players without separating them.

In detail: “Obviously, it was a very important win for us, as it was also the first of the season. I want to congratulate my players. I am very happy for them because it was a very difficult thing as we had to manage a lot of injuries and in our preparation we were not able to train with all our players.

We are showing improvement and our players are working hard and for that I am very happy for them, but also for the victory we got today. It is a difficult season for all teams. Lietkampelis had injuries, I wish all their players come back fast and healthy. I want to thank our fans who were by our side, once again, and supported us.”

On how important this victory is for the team’s psychology: “It’s important, first of all, for psychological reasons, it’s not easy at the beginning of the season to start with consecutive defeats. We are used to difficulties, this is how we ‘build’ our character. The children showed a first reaction today. Really, there is no need to exaggerate our emotions either when we lose or when we win.

As long as you work hard and are a ‘tied’ group inside and outside the lines then, sooner or later, the course will come, but also the consistency we must have. I will be very happy if I see a stability from here on in the performance of the team. I’m not at all sure if we’re ready, maybe we’ll have some ‘ups and downs’ again.

But the children believe it and we see the progress we have. We keep the pieces we need to keep. As good and easy as the victory seems, there were periods of the game where we were not as we should be, we want to improve them”.

On the presence of the Greeks and the upgrade that has been made to the Greek “body” of the team: “We are all together, one team. I don’t want to single out either Greeks or foreigners. We are a total of twelve players, many congratulations to all. Sure, some will play well one day and some another. Today, pretty much everyone was very positive.

In basketball, there are many factors that determine victory, not just points. So, today we are completely happy with the effort of all the children. Although we made a lot of mistakes and had empty spaces, we can keep the consistency and that, although the opponent tried to get back into the game, we had the possessions we would have liked”.