The winners of the annual One Team Awards have been announced, and Olympiacos Piraeus has been unveiled as the recipient of the main prize while Adam Waczynski was named winner of the inaugural Best One Team Ambassador award. Olimpia Milano was awarded the One Team Silver Award, after winning the Bronze one year ago.
One Team, founded in 2012 with the backing of Turkish Airlines and enjoying the long-time proud partnership of Special Olympics, is Euroleague Basketball’s social responsibility program, which sees clubs from all over Europe use the power of basketball to support vulnerable members of their local communities.
The 2020-21 season saw many clubs improve their programs despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced clubs to find new ways of connecting with their One Team participants. The achievements of the last year and plans for the future have all been discussed at the One Team Annual Workshop including the presentation of the awards.
“I would like to thank all the participating teams for their commitment to this program. Last season we were all tested by the global circumstances and One Team perfectly symbolizes the capacity to overcome difficulties with hard work and solidarity,” stated Jordi Bertomeu, Euroleague Basketball CEO. “Congratulations to all the awarded programs and I would like to invite you all to enjoy the celebrations we will stage this season for the tenth anniversary of One Team.”
Zalgiris Kaunas won the One Team Bronze Program award.
Michele Samaden, One Team Manager for AX Armani Exchange Milan, added: “We are very happy about this award, which we share with all the children and teachers at the Baroni School, our partner Laureus and our ambassadors Gigi Datome and Kyle Hines. It has been a difficult season but the desire to help our children has given us the motivation to stay close to them in a different way. It is a great satisfaction to have been able to improve every year the program, which has become richer in content that can really change lives.”
The other teams named on the initial shortlist for the awards were Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse, Unicaja Malaga and Zenit St Petersburg.
