By Stefan Djordjevic / info@eurohoops.net
These days, it’s not so often that the teams at the biggest stages feature a hometown player, let alone for him to be the face of the club and lead it to victories.
Well, that’s exactly become the case with Marco Spissu and Dinamo Sassari. However, far from it that it happened overnight and it took years of Spissu gaining experience around Italy as well as a few coaching changes in Sassari.
One step at a time towards the childhood dream
Spissu was raised in Dinamo Sassari’s youth teams and even made the debut for the senior squad at the age of 16. While he played now and then for Sassari’s A-squad, it wasn’t until his return in the 2017-18 season, that he gained a more significant role.
Prior to it, the youngster had to go through an experience-gathering trip around Italy, playing on a loan for six teams – Sant’Orsola, CUS Bari, Casalpusterlengo, Viola R. Calabria, Derthona Basket, Virtus Bologna.
He won the U19 Italian Championship with Casalpusterlengo as the competition MVP and he kept growing. His most significant growth happened with Derthona and Virtus Bologna, in the Italian Second Division.
He got ample playing time and proved he can handle being the primary ball-handler and playmaker for the team, and do it all under pressure.
With Virtus, Spissu thrived in the derby against Fortitudo, earning the MVP of the match award with 20 points on 4-8 threes. And that trend continued. He was named the best player under 22 years old and the MVP of the Serie A2 Italian Cup which was won by Virtus. Not to mention that he was one of the leaders in the squad that advanced to the Italian top division.
If a season like that weren’t enough for Sassari to bring him back, what would be? And they indeed brought him back. A dream come true for Spissu.
“I always say it’s special for me to wear this shirt. I dreamed of it as a child. When I went to the pitch my dream was to compete one day by carrying the shirt around Italy and Europe. Now I have succeeded, so I am very happy and proud to be able to do it. I can’t ask for anything better.”