Author: Andrej & Daniela Urem

From the May 7, 2002 New York Times. John Kraljic Petrovic: An Athlete of the World By HARVEY ARATONARIO MIOCIC still calls Willis Reed to reminisce, to wonder what mighthave been and…

From the April 28, 2002 New York Times – Mihaljevic of Croatia coaches the St. Francic College Women’s Water Polo Team Diverse Women Form Tournament Team By ERIK BOLAND Megan Nolan admitted she had low expectations for her first season on the St. Francis College women’s water polo team. “Hopefully, we’ll win more than three games,” Nolan, a junior,recalled thinking after transferring to St. Francis in Brooklyn Heights last August from Golden West Community College in California. The pessimism was understandable. The women’s program, a Title IX sport established in 1996, had never won more than four games in a season. But under their first-year coach, Srdjan Mihaljevic, the Terriers, an undermanned amalgam of nationalities and playing experience, finished 16-3 and qualified for this weekend’s Collegiate Water Polo Association Eastern Championships at Princeton, N.J. St. Francis, seeded 11th, played second-seeded Hartwick (23-8) last night. The winner of the 12-team tournament, in which Michigan is seeded first, advances to the N.C.A.A. tournament in Los Angeles. The 23-year-old Mihaljevic played on several Croatian junior national teams before coming to the United States in 1996 as a high school exchange student. The assistant coach, Yulian Hristov, is from Bulgaria. Jelena Maljkovic, a sophomore, is from Yugoslavia. Gili Kollan, a freshman, and Carmit Reuven, a junior, come from Israel. The freshman goalie Liz Grant is from Texas. “Think about it, a Jewish girl coming tostudy in a Catholic school,” Reuven said. “People ask me about it all the time, but I think it’s beautiful to learn about another culture. We are all good friends.” Kollan and Reuven played together on various Israeli junior water polo teams. “We try not to talk too much Hebrew,” Kollan said, adding, “Jelena tries not to talk too much Serbian and Liz tries not to talk too much, I guess you would call it, Texan.” The Terriers have nine players. All of St. Francis’s opponents have between 18 and 20 players, allowing for liberal substitutions during the grueling 28-minute games in which players swim an average of one mile. St. Francis has few substitution options and even less room for injuries. Grant sat poolside during a recent practice, her right thumb wrapped in gauze that covered a blue plastic splint. She broke the thumb, the second time she has broken it this season, in practice last week before the Northern Division playoffs in New London, Conn. Grant played all four games as the Terriers went 2-2 to qualify for this weekend. “It hurts, but you play with it,” Grant said. “We only have nine people.” Warding off shots of the yellow one-pound rubber ball, Grant has also suffered a concussion, a hyperextended elbow and had her nose broken twice this season. Mihaljevic attended St. Francis on an athletic and academic scholarship, playing four years for St. Francis’s men’s water polo team. While finishing his economics degree last spring, he assisted the former coach, Kylie Parnaby, and took over when Parnaby chose not to return this season. Mihaljevic, who works during the day as an equity controller with Morgan Stanley, inherited a team with little or no water polo experience. Other than Maljkovic, the team’s leading scorer this season with 57 goals, and Reuven (27 goals), much of the team was made up of converted swimmers like the New Yorkers Patricia Comer and Catherine Dale, who were learning the sport for the first time. Mihaljevic, and seasoned players like Kollan, Reuven and Nolan, attribute much of this season’s 12-game improvement to the swimmers’ rapid progress. “They’re way better than I was my second year,” said Nolan, who played four years of water polo in high school, then two more at community college. “They’ve really done well for just starting.” For next year, Mihaljevic has already secured commitments from two players, one from Yugoslavia and one from Florida. Still, finding players in the United States remains difficult. “In the U.S., with the exception of California, you don’t have water-polo powers in a state,” Mihaljevic said. “And the kids in California, they always want to go to the best water-polo schools, which are over there. My best bet when I’m recruiting people is selling coming to New York City.” And perhaps, after this weekend, an N.C.A.A. tournament berth.

Dear Nenad,   Judging by the amount of calls and enquiries received from Croats and non-Croats from abroad, I am certain that information about the Davor Suker Soccer Academy “International Soccer Camps” would be…

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