Arena

MILENA DELIĆ, HEAD OF THE ASSOCIATION, ABOUT THE RESTORATION OF SERBIAN HANDBALL
Waiting for the Old Glory
Our school of handball was the foundation of contemporary handball in general. Both club and national team tops belonged to us. Then came the years of disintegration of the state and system, years of isolation and destruction. The recuperation has to be long and thorough, patient, but it has obviously begun. Renewing the work with young people, renewal of the profession and infrastructure, strengthening clubs and leagues, are giving encouraging results. We can again confront the strongest ones, and younger categories, after so much time, started bringing first medals

By: Dejan Bulajić
Photo: Handball Association of Serbia and private archive

She knows how to confront challenges, however big they are. Her life taught her to, revealing her how difficult it is to remain on the scene that belongs to fighters resolute not to give up. However, she admits today that she unwillingly accepted the head position in Serbian handball.
– I was aware that something should urgently change, and that it implies difficult decisions. Aware of the environment I was in, I hesitated for a long time, but when I did accept it, I was aware that I’ll go all the way and not give up on the set objectives and my own principles.

You are used to being part of winning teams and know that without reliable associates you cannot expect long-term results. Can you rely on the support of people from your environment?
There are people around me whose support I don’t doubt at all, but not as many as I wish. Times have obviously changed. Enthusiasts have disappeared. There are no more people, or not enough people, devoted to handball without any personal interest, both in associations and in clubs. The power of sports used to be based on such people. Now everyone is forced to do something for a living, there is almost no space for action without personal interest. Pity. We miss such people so much.

Perhaps many enthusiasts were discouraged by the situation in Serbian handball which was very bad for many years?
Certainly. Individuals fought for years, mostly in clubs, to do something, but they couldn’t. The support they were waiting for was missing, and after a long time of patience they lost their enthusiasm and gave up on everything. I admit that I also thought at a time that we had touched the bottom and that there was no way out. However, an initiative came from the region for me to take over the Association and try to change something. I resisted for two years and finally decided to try my luck, but with an important note. I asked for patience and time to move things from the blind spot. The agony lasted for a long time, and it could not change overnight. We have to be persistent and patient, and things will start changing.

ENCOURAGEMENTS AND PERSISTENCE

Are the games and results of the national team already showing visible improvements?
Undoubtedly. Our boldest objective until a few years ago was to qualify for some big competition. We didn’t even think about anything more. Now we’re already ready to confront the strongest ones. Better results take time, but it’s important to restore the national team cult. Boys and girls are looking forward to reunions and willingly respond to invitations of national team coaches, and not so long ago we had many examples of players who didn’t want to come to preparations and even went to play for other countries. What’s more important is to renew the good work in junior selections, because they are our foundation. Everything depends on them. We again have our offspring ready to bite for the national team and that gives me confidence.

Does that mean that handball, regardless of bad results, never stopped being attractive to young people in Serbia?
We see something that encourages us: people in Serbia love handball. There are children, very talented, in different selections. We could select a few supreme players from each of them. It is also true that the basis of Serbian sports is not so wealthy anymore. Unfortunately, there are also less children, and, influenced by contemporary life, less and less of them in sports clubs. More popular sports naturally attract more attention, but we cannot complain. We have the potential to rely upon and we’ll do good things with it. I’m certain of it.

Perhaps it would be good to send a message to parents?
I advise parents to, before all, send their children to sports, especially if they show talent. They will learn much more than technical finesses in sports. They will learn their attitude to life, to other people, they will learn about honesty, fair play. Those really talented will find a way to prove themselves and perhaps make a successful career. One just needs to be patient and persistent, which should be recommended to parents rather than children. Let them mature and ascend in sports slowly. They have to pass certain stages. Not to push them and anticipate big money around their children. Perhaps it’s there, but let them reach it gradually, without rushing.

BASIC PROBLEMS, BASIC SOLUTIONS

What was the actual reason for such a decline of Serbian handball?
Many things weren’t done in the right way. One of the crucial reasons is the bad situation in clubs, which is difficult to change even now. Clubs are in a very difficult situation, in terms of organization, finance, infrastructure, profession and finally players. Many super league clubs have an unacceptably small number of trainings, with no prospect of changing. We are trying to gather talented players more often, to provide them more intensive preparations. It’s already bringing good results, but the problem with clubs remains and jeopardizes many of our plans.

Did the profession, which we were so proud of, also dilapidate, in line with everything else?
Of course it did. We lost strong and capable coaches. Our handball school served as a foundation for contemporary handball in general. We now have to adopt the way of working from those who used to learn from us. Our coaches are also not immune to bad working conditions. Many lost their wish to fight, to change something, some left sports. We are now doing what we can. We are gathering them, holding seminars, trainings, trying to initiate them not to give up, to invest additional efforts and continue developing talents, although they are working in conditions which are not on a seriously professional level. Unfortunately, not everything depends on us. We can’t do anything without the support of the society.

Do you sometimes have time for nostalgic memories of your glorious days as a player?
Such moments come, and I ask myself whether I was born at the wrong time. It seems to me that today, with such talent, such way of working and trainings, such team members, I could overcome any challenge. Of course, I am aware that every time has its standards and conditions. We knew how to reach the top and there was no exception. I was playing in ”Radnički”, our best club, incomparable in many aspects even with European standards. I worked with serious and demanding coaches. Finally, I was part of the generation with the best handball players of those times. Today I am aware that that itself is a privilege. Truth is, we didn’t have financially strong contracts, we didn’t have so much money or run after it. We loved handball and gave our best. We enjoyed it with all our hearts and were happy. What I achieved in handball cannot be expressed in money. It is an emotion, pure and sincere. That’s why we were good, the best.

DIFFERENT TIMES

How can we explain the fact that, due to certain circumstances, in national team competitions you couldn’t achieve everything you have achieved in club competitions
It’s a great emptiness in my career. Everything developed well, but expected joys were lacking in the national team, without our fault. Simply, when I entered the national team, we were under sanctions and banned from playing at the Olympic Games in Barcelona. I know we could have achieved a lot, we were one of the best national teams in the world. We’d win medals, but we were denied all that. When the embargo was lifted, it was difficult to come back. We were always in the worst hat, played with the best teams already in qualification games, wasted much of our energy and slowly lost the national team cult. We didn’t manage to come back, so our wishes disappeared as well. Perhaps that’s why I ended my career so early. Today it seems that I should’ve waited a bit more to add a part of my club successes to the national team jersey. This way, many things happened except for the national anthem on the stand, which we were longing to hear so much.

What you hadn’t achieved in the national team competition you are trying to provide now, for new generations, as president of the Handball Association?
I am particularly happy because our young national teams are waking up. There are already good results and some of the players from younger categories are seriously considered for the senior team. It makes me believe that we shouldn’t worry about the future of Serbian handball. Besides, I’m certain that we have already changed it, because girls born in 2004 have returned the year before last to the A division, while boys born in 2002 won bronze at the European Championship last year. All of them will certainly shine in full splendor in national team selections.

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Path
She started playing handball in Kočevje, Slovenia. From there, through Koprivnica, Croatia, at the age of sixteen she reached ”Radnički” in Belgrade, one of the best female handball clubs in Europe at the time. She was part of the generation in which the greatest stars of then female handball played – Svetlana Kitić, Mirjana Đurica, Stanica Gole, Dragana Pešić, Tanja Polajner, Ljiljana Knežević… She won many titles in the domestic league with ”Radnički” and won the European Cup of Cups three times. Later, she spent two seasons in ”Dinamo” Pančevo and one in ”Sombor”. She was a standard Yugoslavian national team member and since 2020 president of the Handball Association of Serbia.