Serbian NT 2018

Quote from JoanaBG

No, she got her medal. I don't know whose medal it was, but it certainly wasn't of any of the players. It could have been Terzić's, since he's the one who presented it as a "special gift", but I doubt that. I don't know if national federations also get medals as memorabilia of some kind, if so, that was probably the case.

It was tacky as hell, that's for sure. And I get why they did it, in order to keep their funding. This guy is basically an Erdogan-wannabe, so you can imagine how much he wants to be involved in everything. But still I wish it hadn't happened and now this controversy is starting to overshadow the fact that they have WON that medal in the first place.

Hopefully it will all blow over soon and be forgotten by the time the next NT competition begins.

Now you say it this way, I can understand what is it situation. Indeed I can imagine our federation would have done the same thing and give the medal to Erdogan who would probably prefer women should not play volleyball with these shorts at all

Anyway, these girls made all nation proud, considering such a small country with poor economy, it is a huge success

There was a big interview with Maja Ognjenović, lots of interesting points, I'll try to summarize some highlights.

She admits that she and Terzić have a special bond and that they can't seem to do without each other and he made her the player she is.

After the Rio Olympics she felt her motivation wasn't there as much anymore and she didn't feel it wouldn't do justice to anyone if she kept playing on NT without being able to give her best. She never thought she had definitely retired for good, but she needed a break, Terzić understood it and gave her time off. Then he called her again this year and asked her if she's willing to come back and help the team.

But:

"At that time, I had a big dilemma, to be honest. This is something I haven't told anyone before. I kept thinking about the other setters on our team. I have big respect for Bojana and Ana, and of course, for Slađana Mirković who also deserved to be there. And I felt - so what, now I'll come back and all the effort they've made is for nothing? I wasn't feeling comfortable. But then Terzić convinced me that I shouldn't be thinking like that. Also, last year I could finally have a free summer and a lot more time for a normal life with my husband, which meant a lot for me, and it was difficult to give that all up... But the desire was there and my husband, who was a professional athlete and played for years on NT himself, was totally supportive and backed me up completely. So, in the end, I went along with it. It wasn't an easy decision to make, but deep down, I knew it was the right one."

About the future of the setter position on Serbian NT:
"Both Ana and Bojana are really high class players, they've both shown their worth a lot of times over the years, both in their clubs and on NT. Bojana had to take over as the starter last year for the first time, and we won gold at ECh. Ana had some problems with her health, she played on NT even before Bojana did. I can only praise them both a lot. And in Slađana Mirković I see someone who can be in the starting line-up on NT in the future. She's definitely got that "setter feel" about her, she's rapidly improving, which we could see during the NT preparations this summer, she was neck to neck with Bojana. She's not too young anymore, she's playing as a starter in her club and some day she'll be able to take over on NT as well."

About her role as the team captain:

"Terzić has always requested from me to impose myself and act as a leader. That does not come to me naturally and for years I struggled to explain to him that I don't want to shout or give out commands. Over the years as I became more experienced and gained more reputation, I realized the girls look at me with more and more respect, and I felt pleased. I became someone who is there for them and who stands up for them if for any reason they can't do it themselves. I'm not a bogeyman of any kind, but I'm not acting like their mom either. For the last three or four years I've taken a different approach to them, but I did it subtly."

About the All Star team and her own performance at the WCh:

"I really don't pay too much attention to individual awards, most of us don't. Still, it's nice to get them and I'd be lying if I said I don't enjoy getting them. I secretely expected to be on the All Star team. Maybe it's because for the first time, I was satisfied with how I played, which is not something usual for me. I'm my own biggest critic, but this time, it really was the best I could play. It's obvious from the way the team played, too. I also think Silvija should have been given the award for the best libero, then there was the OH position... Well, two Italian players came up and got those awards instead. I'm not saying it was undeserved, but perhaps it's my last WCh... Malinov is a good setter, I really appreciate her, she's a lot younger than me, she's quite bold, which is a necessity for a player on our position. We'll see more from her."

After the medal ceremony, Jovana Stevanović approached her and told her there was someone in the crowd who wanted to greet her:

"It was Eleonora Lo Bianco. I didn't even know she was there. She came to me, congratulated me and we talked. If there's anyone in my career I've ever looked up to, not as idol, but as a player who's special both on court and off the court, it's her. A great person, before everything else, a world champion, someone who has spent so much time on the top. I was extremely glad. The legendary Takeshita was there as well, she gave me a hug. Such things make you feel really good about yourself."

OK, that came out way longer than I expected. Sorry about that.

You're welcome

I really thought it was interesting that she openly talked about how her comeback would affect the other setters. And I can't help but wonder how they felt about it. On one hand, you must think about what's best for the team, but on the other, Maja's comeback certainly meant one of them is automatically out of competition for the place on the team, so it's tricky.

Also, it does look like her comeback wasn't entirely expected by the team, so Terzić took a bit of a gamble there. All's well that ends well, and this obviously couldn't have ended any better, but it could have gone badly too.

Basically, I think I've heard every possible variation of "We've played with all our heart, thank you for supporting us" over the last few days, everything that goes beyond that is highly appreciated.

Like when Rašić and Mihajlović were on TV the other day and they talked about how well they all know each other and know exactly what kind of support each of them needs in the moments of difficulty - some need a kind word, some need a hug, some need to be yelled at a bit... And then the TV hostess asked which player needed the most support after the first set in the final. Brankica paused for a second and then said: "Terzić!", and the hostess was like "Dammit, I knew you were gonna say that!"

Thanks for the translation Joana! I like this kind of interviews a lot, very personal and real words other than the regular gibberish that every player says after a medal.

It is nice of her that she considers other setters but at the end of the day, you should do things what's best for the team. The others are younger and can get a chance next time.

One thing that worries me is that in Tokyo almost everyone in the roster will be around 30 years old already ( expect Boskovic,Busa,Milenkovic)...I hope these 3 will be enough to represent the "youth" and keep up with Italy and China.... We all saw in Rio with Brazil and now in Japan with USA that a roster with a bunch of 30 years old does not gives u any advantage...but we saw that youth pays off.

Terzic had the balls to bench Brakocevic for Boskovic back in 2014...so I hope he will have the balls to do what is the best for the team and cut some players. Makes no sense to have a 30 year old setter on the bench (32 in Tokyo) when your starting setter is 34.

I love Veljekovic and she was one of my favs. this WCH....but considering her age I think it is time to give her spot to Mina Popovic or any of the youngsters.

And I don`t think Zivkovic minds at all been the backup setter, maybe Anna had a problem...but not her. I get the same feeling from Bjelica, and it must be hard to find someone that knows they will really never get a chance because Boskovic is simply the best and there`s no getting past her.....but I think Terzic could use the backup spot to give some of the youngsters to gain experience.

Quote from pope

Maja called Rasic and she came over and Maja asked her to lift it....But Rasic was like "no , u do it"...Of course I can only assume, but I think Rasic was like " No, you are our captain and you are of the reasons we won this tittle, without u we could done have done it". Rasic did not want to take the moment from Maja`s......at least this is how I see it.

And that's exactly what Milena said!

In her words: "Most of all I want to thank Maja for that moment. I never expected it. I tried to convince her not to do it, I thought she should be the one to lift the trophy alone, but she insisted we do it together. With all the emotions I was experiencing at the moment, it came on top of it all. It was an amazing feeling."

I just watched Serbian late night TV Show . Guests were Maja, Tijana, Brankica and Terzic. It was very interesting and you can hear a lot of things out of the court and what are they talking about during matches etc. I didn't know that Galatasaray called Tijana Boskovic and her sister when Tijana had 13years old to practice with them for few weeks and after that finished they offered Boskovic to play for Turkish NT.

Brankica is super funny person. I just love her personality. She said that her spikes much better when She doesn't think about it, She just go and spike with 100%.

Terzic said that He often says Maja how to play but She still plays how She feels it and even though He is not happy with that, results are saying just opposite. So He said it is better that way

He was not happy with individual awards at all. He doesn't know how they won WCH when they have only 1 player in "Dream Team"

Quote from crovolley

I just watched Serbian late night TV Show . Guests were Maja, Tijana, Brankica and Terzic. It was very interesting and you can hear a lot of things out of the court and what are they talking about during matches etc. I didn't know that Galatasaray called Tijana Boskovic and her sister when Tijana had 13years old to practice with them for few weeks and after that finished they offered Boskovic to play for Turkish NT.

Brankica is super funny person. I just love her personality. She said that her spikes much better when She doesn't think about it, She just go and spike with 100%.

Terzic said that He often says Maja how to play but She still plays how She feels it and even though He is not happy with that, results are saying just opposite. So He said it is better that way

He was not happy with individual awards at all. He doesn't know how they won WCH when they have only 1 player in "Dream Team"

Actually 2, since Boskovic won MVP. I'm not into the MVP getting the award for the position they play too, since it's obvious they were the best on the whole tournament. If Maja got best setter, then best MB should have gone to Danesi. Zhu must have gotten an award, same goes for Sylla. Popovic could have been best libero, but De Gennaro had a much greater impact on her team, regardless of numbers

To want Popovic instead of De Gennaro is beyond crazy. Maja should know that.

Huge reception for Brankica in her hometown

Isn't Brankica's hometown in Bosnia? How can they celebrate a Serbian victory?

EDIT: Ok I just read now that this town is on the border, so probably most of its inhabitants feel Serbian?

BiH is country of 3 nations. Serbian, Croats and Bosnian and all them have their "territory". This is easiest way to explain. A lot of Croats and Serbian athlets play for their nation(Serbia and Croatia) and not for their country BiH.

You literally have 3 presidents their(if I'm not wrong?). It is just to complicate

Bosnia and HERZEGOVINA

;))

Well, looks like it was a smart decision by Boskovic family by not accepting Galatasaray’s offer. As we saw many examples, Turks does not know a single thing about devoloping players so Boskovic would be just a bench warmer like many other young players do..

From 44 minutes, Tijana, Maja, Brankica and Coach Terzic are guests in a popular Serbian show.

That's the TV show crovolley was taking about.

Terzić is suprisingly chatty. He didn't come across as cold or aloof at all. Brankica is awesome, funny and bubbly. She seems a lot of fun to hang around with. Tijana is great, but she's a bit too shy and reserved to be really media-friendly. Perhaps it will change as she matures. Maja seemed somewhat tired from all the media obligations over the last week. She'd given better interviews before. I still wish we had another Anja Spasojević-type personality, someone eloquent, well-spoken and perfectly comfortable in front of the camera who people could instantly relate to.

It's interesting that none of the girls remembered how the 5th set unfolded, while Terzić basically knew it point by point.

Terzić talked about his beginnings as a women's volleyball coach 20 years ago. I knew he wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea at the time, but he says that's actually an understatement. He says the mere thought of going from coaching men to being a coach of a women's team horrified him, he thought it was beneath him and didn't want to do it at all. In the end he was more or less forced into doing it and he only accepted because he was told it would only last a season. And when the season ended, it turned out the players liked his work (he still doesn't understand why) and asked him to stay, so his fate was sealed.

He talked about the difference between coaching men and coaching women. According to him, women are able to train longer than men and are more loyal and willing to commit to the cause if they believe in what they're doing. On the other hand, they're more easily influenced by off-court distractions such as family or relationship issues, but he learned how to deal with it over the years.

I couldn't understand any of it, of course, but that was fun to watch. Humanized Terzić quite a bit for me. And Brankica! I'm not sure about the fashion choice but she'd be fun to have a beer with. I'm glad she plays in Japan!

Quote from JoanaBG

It's interesting that none of the girls remembered how the 5th set unfolded, while Terzić basically knew it point by point.

Very interesting. I've had the impression that players often don't even know the score of a game. They seem unaware when a Technical Time Out arrives, etc. I once heard an announcer say, when a team was down by 9 points or so, "You don't play the score, you play the point". Makes sense.

Thanks for translating some highlights