Serbian Women's NT 2022

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    What's not to understand? You see a shoulder of an Amazon goddess, you bow down...












    :P:rolll:

    So proud of the girls !! They are having an excellent tournament. I’m super nervous still though. I’m more nervous about our quarterfinal match up than I am our semi for some reason. If we can get past the quarter final I think I’ll be able to relax

    Quote from Madden54

    So proud of the girls !! They are having an excellent tournament. I’m super nervous still though. I’m more nervous about our quarterfinal match up than I am our semi for some reason. If we can get past the quarter final I think I’ll be able to relax

    Me too (both about pride and fear about quarters)! In one of your posts on the tourney thread you identified the things that I'm most delighted and surprised about: how they look so fine-tuned and resilient, as well as (and I never thought I would say this about this team) versatile. In some matches some of them play subpar, but in every match at least 3-4 girls play great. Hell, even Brankica and Mina had some good games. Only Katarina Lazovic feels superfluous, with all others ready to play their part if need be. I don't expect that particular aspect to survive until the end of the tournament when the pressure and expectations rise, but hopefully it won't look too much worse than now.

    Random fact of the week: Magdalena Stysiak speaks Serbian (actually more like Croatian, but it's the same language:lol:)



    Also a great interview with Anja Spasojevic. It's a crying shame there are no subtitles.


    can you sum these up for those who don’t speak Serbian :)

    Stysiak said she was shocked to see Busa play so well and that her team was frustrated because they could not play to their potential because of Serbia's level. She thought that they can beat Canada and Germany, and was hoping they can achieve something against USA. Lastly, she was asked where she learned Serbian so well; she said that she never formally learned it, but had a Serbian teammate in every club she played in and was a big fan of our music, so those 2 things combined to make her conversant in it.


    As for Spasojevic, sorry, it's too long, but what I can tell you is that she combines a remarkable insight with a laid-back, unpolished attitude that you don't often see with volleyball players when they give interviews. It sounded like she was speaking to a pal in a restaurant over drinks or having a sports discussion over a barbecue in the backyard.

    Quote from Janko

    Stysiak said she was shocked to see Busa play so well and that her team was frustrated because they could not play to their potential because of Serbia's level. She thought that they can beat Canada and Germany, and was hoping they can achieve something against USA. Lastly, she was asked where she learned Serbian so well; she said that she never formally learned it, but had a Serbian teammate in every club she played in and was a big fan of our music, so those 2 things combined to make her conversant in it.


    As for Spasojevic, sorry, it's too long, but what I can tell you is that she combines a remarkable insight with a laid-back, unpolished attitude that you don't often see with volleyball players when they give interviews. It sounded like she was speaking to a pal in a restaurant over drinks or having a sports discussion over a barbecue in the backyard.

    thanks! That’s so funny about Stysiak shading Buša hahaha

    Yes, Stysiak sound like croatian, but she only use serbian words. :lol:


    Btw this is not her first interview in serbian language. Few years ago she played with Scandici against Tent in CEV cup semi final.


    She was roommate with Sladjana, Bojana Milenkovic, Busa, Mina Popovic and played with Lazovic last season.


    She said Mirkovic is better cook than Milenkovic. :lol:


    Tica also said Sladjana is a wonderful cook haha

    Quote from volleySrb

    Yes, Stysiak sound like croatian, but she only use serbian words. :lol:

    During her time in Chemik she was roommate with Busa.

    Later, in Scandicci she had Samadan.

    That might be why she sounds croatian.


    Anyway, she also speaks polish with weird accent. I only heard one person before speaking polish similar way as Magda.

    Quote from WZP

    As I understood correctly she said where did she learn Serbian but I don't understand her answer so could you help me and translate?


    Quote from Janko

    Stysiak said she was shocked to see Busa play so well and that her team was frustrated because they could not play to their potential because of Serbia's level. She thought that they can beat Canada and Germany, and was hoping they can achieve something against USA. Lastly, she was asked where she learned Serbian so well; she said that she never formally learned it, but had a Serbian teammate in every club she played in and was a big fan of our music, so those 2 things combined to make her conversant in it.

    Slavic languages are all quite similar in many aspects, so if you're a native speaker of one and you're exposed to another over a longer period, you can pick up a lot. I've learned to understand Russian exclusively through music, for example.

    It's obvious she never learned the language formally as it sounds like a strange mixture of Serbian and Croatian, but she's quite fluent indeed.


    As for Anja Spasojević, she's a true gem! She absolutely needs to work in the media! I'm sure she'd help put women's volleyball on the map in Serbia even more.

    She gave this interview before the start of the second phase, so she summarized Serbian performance in the preliminary pool and she's very impressed with how composed they are and how well they're playing. However, she also warned that the USA played extremely badly in that match and that it's not a realistic account of their abilities, so if we get to play again, we can expect a totally different American team. Still, she's confident we can beat them no matter what if we play our game.


    Then she talked about the opponents in the second stage:


    Poland - if you let them play their game, you're screwed, so you have to impose yourself right from the start. They are a good team and they have the crowd behind them, but objectively speaking Serbia is better and should win the match in straight sets. But it's important to get into the game right from the start.


    Dominican Republic - they're like Serbia a long time ago. A quality team that lacks consistency. They have great attackers and Brenda Castillo is an amazing libero ("I actually remember her! She played in my time! I don't know how the hell she manages to keep going, but she does it and she does it so well!") and they can play on an extremely high level for a while, but they can't keep it up. Sooner or later they're going to drop down so it's important to be patient and wait for your chance if you get into trouble against them. Serbia might lose a set to them, but should win.


    Thailand - "a traditionally difficult opponent", playing the Asian style that never suited us. They're fast and play amazing defence, so it's important to keep focus and don't give away points. If we play like we can, we should win comfortably.


    Turkey - turns out she's a big fan and always roots for them unless they're playing against Serbia. That's mostly because she's very close friends with Eda. According to her, the MBs are very good, the setter is good, the OPP (Ebrar) is unreliable because you never know how she's going to play, she can be either amazing or awful. The OHs are the weakest link. But they also have Guidetti's system behind them and they keep fighting until the very end and in her opinion they're the most difficult opponent in this phase.


    Generally, she's very happy with the way the team is performing and she thinks Santarelli established a very good connection with the girls. She believes Serbia can go all the way if they keep playing like they can, but also says you can never discount the possibility of having a bad day when nothing goes right for your team, like she believed it happened to USA against Serbia, and she hopes we can avoid them.

    Quote from Giival

    how the hell do you learn serbian/croatian through your teammates and friends :lol:

    I've been trying to learn german and italian for the last 15 years and I am still not fluent :down:

    Even as a Polish I can’t understand how such young person learnt Serbian through her teammates. For me she sounds really fluent and have no problem with understanding. Maybe she is just so smart 😅