Among the bright stars of Russian basketball - our contemporaries, the colorful figure of the four-time European Cup winner and winner of the 2007 European Championship stands out. This is Alexei Savrasenko, Honored Master of Sports of Russia, one of the best players of CSKA, who completed his sports career, but continues to remain in the service of his beloved basketball.
The beginning of the way
Alexey's sports career was predetermined from childhood. Born in February 1979 in Krasnodar in a family of volleyball players, where his father was a playing coach for many years, Alexey Savrasenko, whose photo is presented in the article, did not follow in the footsteps of his parents. From the age of 11 he became interested in basketball. Trainer Y. Kostetsky spotted him and invited him to a sports school. The boy already stood out among his peers by growth.
Seeing from the ward’s great desire and serious attitude to training, Kostetskiy sent Alexei to the Stavropol Sports International at the Olympic Reserve School. For four years, the boy has grown significantly in training, having signed his first contract with the Krasnodar team. His salary was already equal to 200 dollars.
Legionnaire's Way
From the age of 17 he began to play for the Greek Olympiacos. The team had a restriction on foreign players from other countries. To gain a foothold in the basic composition, Alexey Savrasenko accepted Greek citizenship and even changed his name. According to the passport of this country, he became Alexis Amanatidis. As part of one of the strongest teams in the Greek championship, led by the famous Dusan Ivkovic, Alexei Savrasenko became the winner of the Euroleague of the 1996/1997 season. In 2000, due to the position of the club’s leadership, he was unable to take part in the Olympic Games, speaking for the Russian national team, although he had previously been involved in the junior team.
In 2000, he presented his candidacy for the NBA draft. However, the citizen of two European countries, Alexei Savrasenko, a basketball player whose height is 215 cm, was not of interest to any of the teams. His overseas career will never happen, but the athlete will spend another year in the Greek “Peristeri”, not having enough playing time in “Olympiakos”. Proving himself on the good side, the basketball player with the role of center player was returned to the main team of the Greek championship, in which he became the owner of the Greek Cup - 2002.
Peak sports career
In 2003, Alexey was invited to CSKA, the team with which the main achievements in the basketball player’s sports career will be associated. Alexey Savrasenko will leave her only in 2009 at the age of 29 years. CSKA is the leader of domestic basketball, which has not conceded a single national championship for the entire time an athlete has been in it. The most striking victory for him was the victory in the 2006 Euroleague. In total, together with the team, he will become the winner of the “Final Four” three times, but 2006 will never be forgotten. On the eve the coach changed. After three years of failure on the European continent, the Italian Ettore Messina came to CSKA .
He listened to the opinions of each player, discussed tactics on the field and built relationships on trust. After three years of failure (the team reached the final, but eventually lost the decisive matches, including a disappointing defeat in Moscow), CSKA snatched the victory from Maccabi. Despite the illness of the son of the head coach, who missed an important training session before the game with Barcelona, the team in Prague achieved a champion title by giving the country a gift on the eve of Victory Day. Moscow met their favorite team with banners saying "We won, dad!" This was a kind of report to the great coach Alexander Gomelsky, who passed away in 2005.
European Champion
Sending a team to Spain at the 2007 European Championships, no one believed in the victory of the Russian team, which had not achieved it for 22 years. David Blatt’s wards were tasked with the maximum - a ticket to the Olympic Games - 2008. Guaranteed the owner of such a privilege were only Spaniards, reigning world champions. Two more teams could get to the Olympics, taking second and third places respectively.
But Russia, for which Aleksey Savrasenko played in the starting five, its main center, was the first to win the final in a dramatic match against the hosts of the championship. About how it was an exciting match, says the score - 60:59. To celebrate, Vyacheslav Fetisov, the head of Rossport, signed a document on awarding the title of Honored Masters of Sports of Russia to all twenty-two players, including the US-Israeli coach. This is the first time that a foreigner has received such a title.
Retirement, personal life
After being expelled from CSKA in 2009 due to a loud statement during the match about the insufficient playing time provided by the coach, Alexei Savrasenko, a world-famous basketball player, will replace five clubs. He will complete his career in the 2012/2013 season, playing for Lokomotiv Kuban. He will no longer be in the 2012 national team, which became the bronze medalists of the Olympics. But at the European Championships 2013, at the sunset of his sports career, he will participate in several games. However, in general, the performance of the team will be a failure.
Having left the parquet, Aleksey Savrasenko did not leave the sport, developing his favorite kind, being the main manager of streetball, street basketball in the 3x3 format. Being the head of the department at the RSE, he does a lot for the development of the amateur direction - not only school and student, but also basketball for wheelchair users.
He was one of the torchbearers of the Olympic flame of the Sochi Olympics.
The athlete is married, two daughters are raised in the family. My wife's name is Irina, while neither she nor the children are in any way connected with the sport.