The famous water polo player for Danas about the departure of coach Stevanović: He was provoked, I voted for Sora, but now I’m terribly disappointed – Sport

Certain statements of the new president of the Supreme Court, Slobodan Sor, caused the trophy selector Uroš Stevanović to submit his irrevocable resignation.

This decision affected the famous representative of Yugoslavia, Igor Gočanin, a man who spent some time as a member of the Professional Council of the Croatian Academy of Sports, and currently holds the position of president of the Assembly of the Association of Water Polo Coaches of our country.

The former trophy water polo player of Partizan, Olympic champion from Seoul in 1988 and European champion from Athens (1991) with the Yugoslav national team, does not like the way in which Slobodan Soro, until recently the leader of New Belgrade, began his mandate in Water Polo Federation of Serbia.

– All this does not look good to me. Selector Stevanović has worked well all these years. With the last two competitions, he and the players brought two gold medals, Olympic and European. There were some championships where, under the signs of allegations, we messed up, but that does not diminish the quality of his work. Sora’s statement that these awards are the result of a moment of inspiration does not hold true, because that is not the right way to assess the work of many years, not only of Stevanović, but also of all those guys. The effort and everything they have done in the past period is rather lightly overlooked. Soro’s statement was a bit rushed. Stevanović resigned, because as a coach, he does not like someone’s work to be devalued. It may be somewhat unexpected, but from the point of view of a man who has played water polo for a long time and I am the current president of the Assembly of the Association of Water Polo Coaches, I think that statement does not hold – explains Gočanin for Today.

Are you surprised by Stevanović’s quick reaction?

– There came a moment when, first of all, the club’s interests tried to overcome the national team’s interests, which is wrong, so Stevanović’s step did not surprise me. To tell you the truth, I have no intention of being the president of the Association of Water Polo Coaches any more, because I have a feeling that what is ahead in our water polo will not be very great after the recent events.

You criticized certain actions of the leaders of the previous leadership in an argumentative manner before. Was a change in the head of the Supreme Court necessary?

– I honestly don’t even know if a new Board of Directors has been constituted. He should verify the resignation of the selector. There must be a certain procedure for that, even though the resignation is irrevocable. Of course, the role of the president of the Water Polo Association is crucial here. The way in which Slobodan Soro presented his program is not difficult. “I want the clubs to get stronger, I want the national team selector not to work in the club because it is an old practice and brings an unfair status to other clubs and so on”. We knew all that a long time ago. But a strategy should be made and clearly stated how it will be implemented.

You presented specific proposals before, but they did not come to fruition?

– I submitted the initiative to declare water polo a sport of national importance. I’m not the first to do it, some clubs did it before me, but I, as they say, rolled up my sleeves a little more. The association of water polo coaches, which counts between 150 and 200 current coaches in Serbia, is behind that idea. Former president Viktor Jelenić presented my proposal at the penultimate Assembly of the Water Polo Federation of Serbia, where the proposal was adopted, but I don’t know how far it has come in terms of implementation.

I think that most of the problems we have in water polo can be solved by granting that status. From the problem of strengthening clubs and their financing, to the status of clubs, primarily in relation to local self-governments. Then, the status of women’s water polo is quite poor. All of this is related to the poor infrastructure we have. We are handicapped by the fact that we are a water sport. Swimming pools are a bit more expensive toys, but a better strategy should have been made years ago, and especially the training center in my Vrnjačka Banja should have been completed, which prompted me to deal with the issue more seriously.

If water polo had a status in the Republic of Serbia in accordance with all the medals it has brought to the country, there would not be these problems that we have now. If you don’t have good infrastructure, you can’t work on massification, you can’t bring school children closer to swimming pools, swimming or water polo sports and so on. I’m not talking about the profession and training, I’m talking about the base. And we will not solve that until we improve the infrastructure and the status of water polo in Serbian sport – explains the coach at VK Goč from Vrnjačka Banja.

Wasn’t much work done on trying to bring water polo as a sport closer to new generations?

– We cannot escape the fact that we are a water sport, that we are not as popular as football, basketball or volleyball. A little more people follow us during the summer when the weather is nice and the pools can be fuller, when the national team plays and that’s all. However, work must be done regarding the presence of our sport in the media. Where are we in the media space, why are there so few matches on public service? The status of sports of national importance would change everything from the roots. What are the main problems and how are they solved? I wanted to hear that in the introductory presentation from the new president of the Supreme Court, to offer solutions. As for the bad status of Serbian water polo, we talked about it and knew it, and I specifically stated it at one time in my open letter.

Do you seem disappointed after these changes in the Supreme Court?

– I am disappointed. Not a little, but terribly. I also voted for Sora from the position of President of the Assembly of the Trainers’ Association, but there are many things that are wrong in his presentation and that cannot be decided by one person.

I thought that certain changes should be introduced in our sport and that certain changes should come with new people. Specifically, I was referring more to that status of water polo as a sport of national importance. It never crossed my mind that the competitive rivalry between Novi Belgrade, Radnicki or any third club could lead to someone’s “head falling off”. Some of Sora’s statements at the start were not worthy of the position of president of the Water Polo Federation of Serbia.

Has there been a serious polarization in Serbian water polo between Novi Beograd on the one hand and Radnički from Kragujevac on the other?

– Aleksandar Šapić, as the first man of New Belgrade, has the right to appreciate his work, effort, dedication and investment he had in the club he founded. He is publicly engaged in a political function, and it is not clear to me how anyone can assess the conflict of interest of coach Radnicki, who is also the national team selector, and not assess his own. Šapić is a public figure from the world of politics, one of the people from the top of the ruling party. He is the mayor of Belgrade. It is more logical that as such, if he sits on the bench of his club, he can put pressure on a domestic referee rather than a selector. I don’t know if it is according to the statute of the Water Polo Association of Serbia, but Šapić’s presence on the bench can also have a negative effect on a referee or player, a future or current national team member, and so on. Therefore, as far as that conflict of interest is concerned, it has always been there. Soro also listed all the coaches who were in that conflict, but if something is in the interest of Serbian water polo and brings medals, why change something like that. In that case, a precedent can be set and a successful selector should not be dismissed.

Are you afraid that there could be a chain reaction to Stevanović’s resignation, so that certain players would make certain moves?

– Of course, of course… You yourself know what New Belgrade’s attitude was towards Dušan Mandić and Nikola Jakšić. They had an adventure there that ended badly, especially Mandić’s. There were coaches who also did not leave New Belgrade satisfied.

I don’t know how it will all look now. That’s why I told you that I will no longer be the president of the Association of Water Polo Coaches, because now we are obviously in some murky waters that I don’t like. I would not like to mix profession with moments of a political nature. Stevanovic should have been respected until the end of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, so as not to affect the position that was made when he signed the new contract.

How satisfied are you personally with Stevanović’s work as the coach of Serbia?

– Uros has passed all junior national selections. He participated in the work of the national teams in both the junior and senior categories for 10 to 15 years. He is one of the creators of these players who brought us success. He worked both with the ladies and with the youngest selections. He followed the development of all these players. He was provoked to resign and I am, I repeat, deeply disappointed.

Finally, is there any reason for optimism?

– I hope that this story about the national team will end positively. We have a good national team, but I fear that there may be an exodus of players or that the players may not be satisfied. We have coaching figures who can replace Uroš Stevanović with their knowledge. It’s not that questionable, but it won’t be that atmosphere anymore. That’s for sure. We have a good chance to win the fourth Olympic gold in a row, which has not been achieved by anyone in the history of water polo and it would be a shame to waste it – concluded Gočanin.

Bonus video: Uroš Stevanović, guest of Sport Club