Trento, 19 August 2025

Italian Champions back to work with a reduced squad

With the championship badge won on May 7 standing out on their Erreà Sport representative polo shirts, bags, and training hoodies worn by players and staff, the Italian Champions Itas Trentino gathered this afternoon at the BTS Arena (the new name for the PalaTrento, which will officially replace “ilT quotidiano Arena” starting from September 1) to begin their preparation for the upcoming season, which will see them defending their national title and competing in at least two additional competitions besides the SuperLega (Supercoppa and Champions League).
Exactly two months before the start of the regular season (scheduled for October 19, once again in Cisterna di Latina), the yellow-blue team began today the training program that, at least during the first forty days, will be marked by the presence of a very limited number of players from the new roster: just five, which will become six over the weekend with the arrival in Trento of Spanish outside hitter Ramón. The other eight players and new head coach Marcelo Méndez are currently engaged with their respective national teams ahead of the upcoming World Championship (September 12–28 in the Philippines).
Only familiar faces responded to today’s first call-up: liberos Laurenzano and Pesaresi, outside hitter Bristot, setter Acquarone, and middle blocker Sandu, promoted from the youth sector but who had already spent much of the previous season training with the first team. The limited number of first-team players available prompted Assistant Coach Adriano Di Pinto (who will be the technical leader of the group during the first month of training) to supplement the squad with six players from UniTrento Volley (the yellow-blue junior team that will once again compete in Serie B). Alongside them, Matey Kaziyski will also take part: the legendary number 1 of the yellow-blue club will complete the entire preseason with Itas Trentino before beginning a new professional adventure abroad.
“In this initial phase, the focus will be on physical work and individual technical training, so the lack of players from the new roster won’t be a major issue,” Di Pinto explained before starting the training sessions. “The new Strength & Conditioning Coach Davide Grigoletto will have time to better get to know the players already present and work with them throughout this first week, during which ball training on the main court will be reserved only for the young players assisting us during this period. Beyond the individual objectives, it will also be important to begin laying the foundations for creating a cohesive and efficient working group like the one we relied on in past seasons. We want to fully integrate the new additions, Ramón and Sandu”.
Alongside Di Pinto, ensuring the yellow-blue team’s work proceeds in the best possible way, will be Team Manager Riccardo Michieletto, now in his twenty-first season on and off the court with Trentino Volley, scouting coaches Fabio Dalla Fina and Stefano Coser, the new Strength & Conditioning Coach Davide Grigoletto (returning to the yellow-blue technical staff after sixteen years), physiotherapist Luca Pirani, club doctor Mauro Bertoluzza, and nutritionist Alfonso Presutto.
The schedule for the first week will see the players working exclusively in the renovated weight room of the arena and on the adjacent rugby field for athletic training through Friday; the first contact with the volleyball is scheduled no earlier than August 25.
The (provisional) calendar of friendly matches has also been set, currently including seven dates: on September 17 in Trento against Mantova (Serie A3), on September 26 and 27 again at home against German side Dachau, on October 1 in Rovereto against Brescia (Serie A2), on October 8 in Schio against Padova, and on October 11 and 12 in Montichiari for a four-team tournament featuring Monza, Padova, and Modena.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office