Panathinaikos departed today from Athens with final destination Zlatibor. Zeljiko Obradovic has traveled one day earlier, while today followed Dimitris Itoudis, the rest of the staff and the players: Fragkiskos Alvertis, Nikos Chatzivrettas, Mike Batiste, Stratos Perperoglou, Drew Nicholas, Dimitris Verginis, Aris Tatarounis, Kostas Tagaris. The players of Panathinaikos that played in the Olympic Games with the Greek National team will be present in Zlatibor on the 3rd of September and Sarunas Jasikevicius will follow.
Fragkiskos Alvertis was present one more time for Panathinaikos, recording his first appearance in the team in 1991. “We expect whatever it is that we expect every year. The goals do not change. Every year we have the same goals. We begin our preparation with good mood and positive spirit; will to work and great anticipation. Every year there is a “threat” coming from the other teams. Olympiakos is one of them. Olympiakos got new players and will be stronger. What does that mean for us? Nothing changes for us. On the contrary, it gives us a greater motive, which is good for us”.
Mike Batiste was present and smiling. He admitted that this first stage of preparation is not the best period of the season for him, adding that on the other hand it’s very important for the course of the team: “We are ready. We have the hardest part of the season in front of us. We will have strong practices twice a day, we are going to run a lot, we will have to do a lot of basketball drills again and again to find our rhythm again, to get our feet moving. To tell you the truth this is the period of the year I hate the most. But on the other hand I know that it is something that has to be done, because we are going to put the foundations of our team for the whole year. Personally I got some rest, I had the chance to see my family, to spend time with them, because during the year I don’t have the chance to do it and I am feeling happy that I am here now. It feels like I got home!”
Batiste was asked about the “moves” that Olympiakos has made during summer: “It doesn’t matter what players Olympiakos gets. We prefer to think that Olympiakos is always a threat to us. At least, that’s the way we are thinking. We don’t think who is on the other side. We just know that we have to play as good as it gets; for us, for our team, for our fans. Anyway, everybody knows that the game between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos are special games, no matter whom the players are stepping on the floor. We’ll see how special they are going to be this year”.
Dimitris Verginis is one of the new faces of Panathinaikos: “This first week it was a period of adjustment for me, to see how the team works. From now on we begin to work for the main period of preparation. We need a lot of work and we know that through tough work we are going to get to goals that the team has set. We will be 15 days in Zlatibor. We have to be devoted, to work hard and to give 100% so that we can return stronger. The way that Panathinaikos works is completely different to what I have experienced so far and that is what makes this team one of the best teams in Europe. I believe that Panathinaikos lands on a different level. The coaching staff is one of the best a player can find, Mr. Obradovic is one of the best and Mr. Itoudis is a big asset for Panathinaikos. I feel really lucky that I have to work with them”.
