Posts by JoanaBG

Quote from fire_cai_bin

This may be off topic, but a couple hours ago Yuan Xinyue confirmed with VB (1 year)

Not if they give her a Turkish passport too!

Yes.

Bošković plays well, but Eczacibasi loses: what a LOSER she is, she can't even win the match on her own!

Bošković plays well, someone ele plays well, Eczacibasi wins: what a LOSER she is, she needs Hande/Voronkova/whoever to win the match!

And absolutely, saying she has a toxic personality and that she was happy to win the Club WCh because she got sponsorship money and not because she cares about her team is totally "constructive criticism".

Also, I don't think ANYONE, Serbian memebers included, claimed she played well in the last year's final series.

The level of almost pathological hatred for Bošković some people have here (Including the ones I actually liked and respected) is frankly kinda disturbing and really puts off from participating in discussions.

The trauma from so many beatdowns on NT over the years, I guess. Still not a pretty sight.

I mean, it's really not a secret and Tijana has talked about it a billion times. She and her sister were invited by Galatasaray, they spent a few days training there, they liked it and were ready to stay, but then it turned out the condition was that they were to receive Turkish citizenship, their father promptly said no and that was the end of it.

The less known fact and something Tijana revealed only recently was that Vesna Čitaković who played in Galatasaray at the time, and who was used by the club as a connection to bring Tijana there, was accused by the club management of sabotaging her "transfer" to Turkey NT and was even temporarily suspended.

By the time this saga ends, we'll have found out we've lived in some alternate universe all along and that Tijana has actually played for Bosnia all this time and that in fact it's Bosnia that's won all those medals and not Serbia.

She's NOT Vargas. Deal with it.

I honestly think most of this year's problems (and there have been plenty) came from the simple fact that no one expected Santarelli to leave so soon. Like Bjelica said, they're not used to changing coaches as often. When Terzić was leaving, everyone knew his time was up and the change was necessary. Moreover, the team bonded with Santarelli almost instantly, so the transition was very smooth. It was very different this time around because basically everyone was caught by surprise and it was difficult to adjust mentally. No wonder almost everyone underperformed compared to last year.

And Maja's comeback added a whole different layer to an already established team dynamic.

So this was basically an adjustment period and we'll see the real results next year. I'm not entirely convinced, but I'm willing to keep an open mind.

Well, Ivana Španović became the world champion today, so Bošković again won't be the female athlete of the year in Serbia no matter what happens

LOL, Maja and Jovana basically hinted they tanked against the DR so they could have more rest.

I intensely dislike the route this sport has taken and I feel my interest is starting to wane.

I just can't get behind the idea of world rankings being as important, this is not tennis. Having WCh every two years devalues them enormously and increasing the number of teams is an overkill. The new Olympic format is also dumb AF.

I feel like it's all being done to further promote the VNL and I absolutely LOATHE it.

I really don't like these developments. I applaud Milenković being cut, but that's about it.

What the HELL are Mijatović and Cvetković doing on that list?! It's a throwback to the Terzić days when he's select some randos who'd obviously never see the court.

Branka Tica ought to have been there. She needs to start training with the A team ASAP and join the big league. Who cares about junior competitions.

I also feel Jovana Mirosavljević has been given up on too soon.

All in all, I miss Santarelli. Fuck Turkey.

Sara Lozo is doing rather well, no?

It seems like all games this week have been postponed.

I think they're prepping Blagojević to become the NT coach in the next 5 years or so and I'm fine with it.

Quote from Janko

I agree with all of that. But you are forgetting about money going exclusively into the pockets of people at the top of OSSRB. Doubt even 5% of that is going to go toward improving our volleyball (facilities, stipends etc.)

I completely agree that's exactly how it's going to go down, because sadly that's how things are done here. Still, I don't think raising Santarelli's salary is a logn term solution because at the end of the day, there will always be someone willing to pay him more than what we can afford. So, if he's so easily lured by a few % increase (I seriously doubt we were paying him pocket money), it's best to cut your losses and let him move on. Better now than right ahead of the Olympics or something.

And then make Turkey pay in all the ways possible.

Quote from Janko

I bet OSSRB weren't willing to raise his salary a single cent to try to keep him, but you can bet they will try to squeeze TVF for all they think they can get away with, all of which will line the pockets of individuals in the organization. So fucking typical. Welcome to Serbia, a banana republic.

I'm not trying to be contrarian here or anything, but I actually don't see anything wrong with that picture. He has a VALID CONTRACT. It he wants to break it in order to chase money, let him. It means he'd never be reliable and there'd always be a danger of him running off as soon as someone offers a dollar more. Disappointing, but that's life.

Meanwhile, if they really want him, use the opportunity to milk those suckers dry. As much you can. And then break off every future cooperation again with them forever.

But you can't say Ivana Španović didn't deserve to be awarded as the sportswoman of the year, especially after all the incredible and inexplicable bad luck she's had over the last few years, and overcoming all that to beat Mihambo at her home turf and become the European champion. It was really inspiring stuff, and I'd say it's at least on par with the volleyball girls becoming the world champions.

I think it's fair all things considered. The volleyball team gets the female team of year award (duh) and Tijana gets this award which is also completely deserved in a year like our team sports had. And hell, it could have easily gone to Nikola Jokić or whoever.

Thank God this is over, I certainly don't remember a worse medal match at a major tournament. This was literally painful to watch.

If someone is watching women's volleyball for the first time now, they surely won't be tuning in again.

No, it had nothing to with that. She played ECh '07 carrying an injury and after Serbia won the silver and qualified for the World Cup just over a month later, she wanted to skip the tournament and rest up. Terzić disagreed with it but she decided to pull out anyway. It didn't sit well with him at all and she was never called up again. Shortly before the Beijing Olympics she held a press conference basically saying she wouldn't be playing on the NT again as long as he was the coach - not in those words, but that was the point.

It was quite a scandal. She was crazy popular and people got wild and didn't get off Terzić's back for years. I think many even cheered against the NT out of sheer spite.

He never commented publicly on that. Rumour had it that he was willing to invite her back at some point (2011, I think), but she declined. There was also a rumour that she and Jelena Nikolić couldn't stand each other and Terzić had to pick one of them.

God, that was so annoying. She was long retired from volleyball and had been a non-factor for years, and people were still crying about her absence.

But it's undeniable that she has insane charisma and was basically the face of the team that put women's volleyball on the map in Serbia. Such a shame her career turned out the way it did. And also a shame that we haven't had a similar magnetic personality type of player since. Veljković certainly has the looks, but she was never interested in media exposure.

Another crazy fact: WCH '06 was the last time Spasojević and Đerisilo played together.