Serbian Women's NT 2022

    Okay now that the first post-Terzic season is drawing to a close, I will say something that I have thought ever since he parted ways with our NT. This is just my theory and speculation, don't take it for anything more, but I'm reasonably confident that I am correct, at least in the broad outline.


    Yes, there can be no doubt that saturation point has been reached. Terzic was visible disinterested the whole previous NT season, which was most glaringly obvious in the ECH final. Even for his standards, he was apathetic and extremely slow to call timeouts. I don't doubt he wanted changes in his life and was seeking new challenges. But the key IMO is the timing of it.


    He called it quits when most of the best members of our best-ever generation were retiring or in the process of heavy decline. There is no need to remind this forum how it looked that one player was dragging an average team on her back. I believe that was Terzic's perception, as well. I think he left NT when he did because he felt he had, so to say, milked it for all it was worth, and that it would be ever diminishing returns from now on. He was thinking something along the following line (and forgive me for some metaphor-mixing): "Ok, I won more than a dozen medals; I've ridden the peak of this wave. I'll get off before the wave crashes down, and I'll look blameless for the resulting draught. All the blame for future failures will be on my successor's shoulder, and the bigger his failure, the more fondly I and my successes will be remembered and idealised".


    The cherry on the cake for him is that his next gig was the team that many thought had the most promising potential in the world down the line. To be there for the beginning of another wave, so to say. Well, less than 12 months later, not only did his previous team repeated what was probably his single greatest success in 2 decades at the helm (and in his successor's first year in the job), but his team is indefinitely suspended from all competitions.


    There is a saying in Serbian that goes something like: "Life is the greatest novelist".

    Sara Lozo about her injury :rose:


    "I think I had a good start of WCH, I got a chance, which certainly was the right one, i justified that chance. Unfortunately, against USA in the group, I stratched my abdominal muscle, I didn't inform anyone. I keep silent, I was thinking it will pass. Match against Poland is coming in second round, when I felt more and more pain during the morning training. I knew it wasn't good. I did training, got injections and managed to play against Poland. After that game, it was definitely not possible anymore. The agreement between the coaching staff and me was to preserve me as much as possible, rest for the semi-finals, the final. We know we will play. I thought I was done, that it was the end for me at the WCH. I was very sad. Is it possible that I got a chance and what is happening to me?!

    In QF against Poland i just wanted to jump on the court, just to feel the atmosphere in a packed hall, to help the team as much as possible. But it ended well for us, the team played phenomenally.

    Before the SF match up I felt much better, I came to the coach and said, Dani, if you think I can help the team at some point, I'm ready! This was followed by the coach's reply that he is really happy. After that third set he told me to start warming up that I would start the fourth. From the moment I hit the ball for the first time, there was no pain anymore. It was as if everything had disappeared overnight. At first I thought that is the adrenaline, but it wasn't. Thank's to the physiotherapist Darko Stamatović, I have to mention him, who took me to therapy every day, talked to many, was dedicated to all of us...

    In the final i felt a great responsibility. I'm playing a big competition for the first time, we're fighting for the gold. We have a chance to win in the next two hours, to be world champions. Everything was like in the movie."

    He was hated in certain circles here, but that was nothing compared to the hate he's about to experience.

    We still dont have name for replacement.


    I dont like idea at all. We dont know who will be new president (probably someone who are already inside federation) and i am sure he/she will do great job but Gajic did such a great things for serbian volleyball in last 5 years. And i dont like to change something that already working.

    Reigning general secretary Knezevic will be the new president 99%. X/


    The name is totally irrelevant, of course, the richly branched business model is maintained, the good things about the presidency of "Mr." Gajic can be counted on the fingers of one hand.


    A certain sum of money has undoubtedly been pouring into volleyball for years, and which part of it really ends up purposefully and meritocratically divided, a rhetorical question, where the answer is completely clear.

    We all love to talk about how deadly duo is Boskovic - Ognjenovic in the last 8 years.


    But what about Boskovic - Drca? They played only 2 tournaments as a main diagonal, ECH 2017 and WCH 2022.


    Serbia both tournaments finished unbeaten, in WCH 12/12 and lost only 5 sets, and in ECH 2017 they won 6/6 and lost only 2 sets.


    So is basically 18/18 with 7 sets given. :obey:

    Be honest, did you guys envision Teodora as a motormouth? How Tijana described her in OKO... I laugh just thinking about it, but also it speaks well of her that she wasn't insulted for basically being described as "she never shuts her mouth".:lol::rose:

    Nice observation, but in fairness, the competition in 2017 was probably the weakest at least since I started watching volleyball. We only had 2.5 players playing good in that tourney, and we still breezed to a title.

    Quote from Janko

    Be honest, did you guys envision Teodora as a motormouth? ".:lol::rose:.

    About Pusic in the first round literally she was the only one which voice can be heared. I believe there is some agrement about that being part of her job (how many blocks for attackers, defense structure, setter position,...), but she did much more than that. She actively participated in every action, if nothing else then with her voice.

    Quote from Janko

    We only had 2.5 players playing good in that tourney, and we still breezed to a title.

    And i hope that you didn't include Drca in that 2.5 players, because she was far from impressive at that tournament.

    But also i have to disagree about that 2.5 half players counting. The level of competition wasn't impressive, that's for sure, also Boskovic dominate that competion as never before (and even after, including both WCH's, her level was crazy high backthen).

    Veljkovic is clearly the second great player from that tournament, but also Malesevic for example played really good (both for her standards and in general).

    Blagojevic as libero was a factor for sure, she done a really nice job, even not played her standard position.

    Although it's true that Mihajlovic wasn't great till semifinal, her contribution in medal matches was pretty important for that breezing.

    Quote from Bogdan

    The level of competition wasn't impressive, that's for sure, also Boskovic dominate that competion as never before (and even after, including both WCH's, her level was crazy high backthen).

    Veljkovic is clearly the second great player from that tournament,

    Although it's true that Mihajlovic wasn't great till semifinal, her contribution in medal matches was pretty important for that breezing.

    I perfectly agree with the quoted part, so it was Boskovic, Veljkovic and the half was reference to Mihajlovic who I remember didn't play great in most matches, but in medal matches did. I even agree that Tijana dominated that competition like never before and perhaps not even since.

    Bullshit guys, teams was not weak, we were strong.


    Turkey: Naz, Boz, Neriman, Gozde, Bahar, Eda, Gizem Orge

    Italy: Orro, Egonu, Bossetti x2, Danesi, Folie, Chirichella, De Gennaro

    Netherland: Dijkema, Sloetjes, Buijs, Grothues, De Cruif, Belien, Schoot


    Bulgaria: Kitipova, Dimitrova, Rabadzieva, Vasileva, Vuchova, Dimitrova, Todorova

    Russia: Gonchorova, Voronkova, Parubets, Kosheleva, Koroleva, Fetisova, Krychova


    Azerbaijan with prime Rahimova

    Nobody says that we were not strong, but Just listing the players are completely irrelevant, It's more about shape of that players and other teams wasn't at their best. While it says a lot about overall competition level, it not discredit our success to be in right shape with right players in right time.

    Quote from Bogdan

    Nobody says that we were not strong, but Just listing the players are completely irrelevant, It's more about shape of that players and other teams wasn't at their best. While it says a lot about overall competition level, it not discredit our success to be in right shape with right players in right time.

    Not only that, but Italy and Turkey were both very young squads at the beginning of their rebuild with a few veterans to bolster them up (and not many of those played good), while Russia was IMO still reeling from last year's results and if I remember correctly had some coaching issues (not to mention that was the year Kosheleva really took a nose-dive in quality of her play). Netherlands was our only real rival, and credit to them for holding on in the final as long as they possibly could before being blown apart by Boskovic.