Professional Italian basketball small forward Nicolò Dellosto believes the lessons of sport extend far beyond the scoreboard. A new internship opportunity in Florence will give Elon students the same chance to learn through basketball — connecting academics with the professional game.
A shared commitment to education has brought together Elon University’s School of Communications; Accademia Europea di Firenze, the host institution for Elon in Florence; and Italy’s Pistoia Basketball to create a new internship program for students in Florence beginning in fall 2026.
Dellosto said the opportunity is exciting, as education is at the forefront of his life since one day his playing career in basketball will end. During the summer, he graduated with a master’s in sport management in hopes of pursuing a career in coaching in the future.
“Before I’m a player, I’m a student,” Dellosto said. “I’m very happy with this collaboration because I’m trying to understand if it can also help me because I would like to keep doing what I did in the last year — to open my mind because one day I will stop playing basketball.”
Pistoia Basket 2000 is a professional Serie A Italian basketball league in Pistoia, Italy, which Dellosto plays for. Head of University Relations for the team and Academia Europea di Firenze professor Marco Bracci said the opportunity is unique in Italy, as Pistoia Basket 2000 is the only league in the nation that collaborates with multiple American universities.
Gonzaga University was the first to team up with the league, with both programs offering in-depth internships that expose students to the behind-the-scenes action of sports.
“Players are like students,” Bracci said. “They are learning by doing. They are learning by practicing. I think that is a mutual, reciprocal, learning process. The holistic vision of the player, which is consistent with the university’s approach to the holistic vision of the student.”
Elon men’s basketball forward Iker Garmendia knows a lot about European basketball — having played both on Spain’s national team and premiere league Joventut Badalona. One of his teammates, graduate student forward Kacper Klaczek, played for the Polish national team. Garmendia said it made his transition to Elon easier for him as he had someone like Kacper to connect to.
The redshirt freshman started playing basketball at 8-years-old with his older sister “as a package” at the same club in his hometown of Barcelona, but he eventually started switching teams as he got older.
The balance between academics and athletics is what brought Garmendia to the United States. He was always interested in the sciences — math, physics and energy — especially after his grandfather introduced him to renewable energy. Staying in Spain would have required playing basketball as a full-time job, whereas Garmendia had passions of his own that he could achieve in the U.S.
“My story is that I’m doing environmental engineering. It was impossible to do both [in Spain],” Garmendia said. “Here in the states, they combine both perfectly, a good academic level with the highest basketball level. Basketball is not for life and you have to have a ‘plan B’ always.”
Before coming to Elon, Garmendia played at University of Illinois, Chicago. But Garmendia did not play in a collegiate-level game until he got to Elon.
His first game was against the Belmont-Abbey Crusaders on Nov. 6, but he said the environment was one of the biggest changes for him, being able to immerse himself in a college community where he could see many familiar faces and build relationships with fans.
This collaboration proves basketball’s greatest lesson — learning never ends, whether in class, practice or competition, Bracci notes.
“Education is important for a basketball education,” Bracci said. “A formal education in the classroom or like offering internships to students – education in a broader sense. It’s important not only for your future, but also for better understanding what you’re doing now as a player.”