Nebojša Čović – Industrial Magnate / Basketball Fanatic

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Arena #2, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

For those of you following my blog, our team won the grand final game against Gimnasium Milos Crjnanski by 2 points and were crowned CEESA champions for 2009-2010. More on this later. I am blogging about today is the basketball machine called FMP.

Saturday we played the final games of the CEESA basketball tourney at “Basketland” which is a wonderful basketball/steel factory facility. Above is one of the two gymnasiums on the basketland grounds. We took the tour of Basketland and between the two gymnasiums are the assembly lines and warehouses for making metal products like aluminum cans, silverware, etc. This combination of factory and basketball training center is the vision of the owner of FMP (Fabrika Metahl Proizvoda), Nebojsa Covic.

When Covic bought the basketball club ILR Zeleznik in 1991, they had folded due to the increased cost of competing in the higher leagues in Serbia. They started out as a neighborhood (Zeleznik is a large suburb of Belgrade with about 20,000 inhabitants) team that played their games outdoors in the 1970’s. They eventually got better, but could not afford the costs of maintaining the team in a higher division.

Covic has made KK FMP into the third Belgrade basketball team after Red Star and Partizan. They do well in the NBL, or Adriatic Basketball Association. Note that the KK stands for kasorka (Serbian for basketball) klub. The strength of the club is its youth program. Covic has several basketball complexes in Zeleznik and they really develop great players. On Saturday, a group of 14 and 15 year olds were practicing in the other gym. One of them had to be close to 7 feet and was dunking with ease.

FMP is represents for me, Serbia’s serious approach to basketball. I can see why there are so many Serbs in the NBA and European leagues. They just play a lot and many of them are very tall. The neighborhood also has a lot of Communist era block apartments. This combination of beautiful basketball facilities surrounded by industrial and grey ugliness impresses me.

The Factory Grounds of "Basketland"

All of the CEESA teams had a fantastic final day at Basketland. With four games, it was an orgy of basketball and the great facilities. Thank you Mr. Covic.

Friendships

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Nadia, Josh, Jani, Ollie, Owen, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

One of the nicest things about these CEESA events are the opportunity to make new friends. The visiting student-athletes are traditionally billeted with our students’ families when we host an event. This is a great way to forge new friendships and get to know people from a different cultures.

We are hosting two young men from the International School of Helsinki. They are shown above yestrday morning in the school parking lot with Nadia and the boys. Owen and Ollie have been so excited to have the “Husky” basketball players staying in our home. They will not leave them alone. They were so excited the first night, that we had a difficult time putting them to sleep.

Both Josh and Jani are very nice gentlemen and we have enjoyed hosting them. We’ll be sad when they have to leave on Sunday for Helsinki. These are just two of the many friendships that form over the years in CEESA. When we travel to the various events, our students are billeted with the various host families. The players get to know one another and make lasting friendships. It is all about bringing the nations of the Balkans and eastern Europe a little bit closer to each other.

It was nice that yesterday’s game between the International School of Belgrade and the American International School of Zagreb was about the students and no politics involved. All of the teenagers in the game yesterday are great examples of products of international schools. They was a strong spirit of camradarie and athletic competition.

We had the coaches dinner last night and that again, is an opportunity to make friends. We had a lot of laughs and this season, Nadia and I have gotten quite close to several of the other team’s coaches.

It has been a very rewarding basketball season. Our final game is this afternoon. It will be our 20th game of the season. We have 12 wins and 7 losses. We’ll see what the end brings us.

ISB to the Finals

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ISB versus Pechersk – March 12, 2010, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

It was an emotional 58-56 win today in the semifinals for the International School of Belgrade against the American International School of Zagreb, Croatia. A tight game throughout, but the Dragons prevailed in the end. Above is a photo from the an earlier game today at the Pechersk International School of Kiev, Ukraine. The Dragons also won that game 53 – 37.

We will now play in the finals against cross-town rival, Gimnasium Milos Crjnanski. We split games with them this year, winning by 5 the first time and losing by 2 the second game. They have been the dominant team in the tourney, so we’ll see how it goes.

Day One CEESA Tourney

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Official Team Photo, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

We had a successful day number one of the CEESA “Blue” Division tourney. In the first game we defeated the Anglo American School of Sofia 50-20. In the second game, we came back from a sluggish first half to beat Nova School from Skoplje, Macedonia 55 – 38.

We now complete the round-robin schedule with a game tomorrow morning against the Pechersk School of Kiev, Ukraine.

Note the big fellow in the back right. I wish he was playing for our team!

All of the results for Day One of the Tourney are below.

Pool A
Belgrade 51-20 Sofia
Pechersk 46 – 33 Skopje
Belgrade 55 – 38 Skopje
Pechersk 52 – 34 Sofia

 Pool B
Latvia 45 – 13 Helsinki
Zagreb 43 – Crnjanski 59
Latvia 42 – 50 Crnjanski
Zagreb 42 – 22 Helsinki.

CEESA Basketball Tourney Begins Thursday

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It will be a busy weekend of basketball as we are hosting the annual CEESA (Central and Eastern European Schools Association) Boys’ High School Basketball championship. This is the “blue division” or small school division of CEESA. We have a high school of 100 students. Teams are coming from Bulgaria, Finland, Ukraine, Latvia, Macedonia, and Croatia. One team pulled out of the tourney at a late date so we have another Belgrade team, Gimnasium Milos Crjnanski participating also. We will play at least 5 games in three days and it will be quite tiring and exciting.

Our family is also hosting two players from the International School of Helsinki. That is one of the nice things about these CEESA events, is that the players stay with host families. It cuts down on expenses for the players and helps them form friendships with families from other countries. Above is a picture of the team during practice last week. I’ll keep you posted with how we do.

Owen and Oliver Join Atacante F.C.

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The Logo of Football Club "Atacante"

Owen and Oliver the past few weeks have been practicing with a new football club, Atacante. Click here to see the boys’ photos on the club website. The boys practice on the weekends and they quite enjoy it. Oliver is a bit too young for the club, but the running around is good for him.

The club is run by Mihailo Jovanovic, a former professional player. The Belgrade native played first division soccer in Finland and Hong Kong. He speaks English and caters to the international community of Belgrade.

USA Stays Alive in Davis Cup Tie

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Janko Tipsarevic & Nenad Zimonjic, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Update: John Isner lost in five sets last night to Novak Djokovic. He made Novak work hard and we have a new favorite player from the USA. Good on ya’ John. Serbia advances to play Croatia

This weekend Serbia is playing the USA in a Davis Cup Tennis round of 16 “tie.” Tie is Davis Cup speak for team match. Nadia and I attended the “rubber” yesterday, which was the middle doubles match of a 5 match series. A Davis Cup tie consists of 4 singles matches and 1 doubles, and the country that wins three, wins the tie.

We really enjoyed yesterday’s game between the Serbs (shown above) Janko Tipsarevic and Nenad Zimonjic and the USA team of 6’9″ John Isner and Bob Bryan. Nenad is the number one ranked doubles player in the world, but he usually plays with Daniel Nestor, a Serb born in Belgrade but Canadian-raised. Instead of Nestor, who can’t play for Serbia because he represented Canada in Olympic and Davis Cup play, Janko played with him. Tipsarevic is currently ranked #36 in the world and is the third ranked Serbian tennis player behind Novak and Victor Troiki. Isner was playing for the US in place of Bob’s twin brother, who contracted food poisoning. (I wonder where he ate?) Isner looked really good and should be playing more doubles tennis. He is suited for doubles with his powerful serve and quick reactions at the net. His mobility is not a factor in doubles and I hope he takes my advice and plays more doubles.

John's brother Patrick gives instructions to his team.

The US duo were clearly the stronger team and won in four sets. This gave the US their first win after losing the two singles matches American Sam Querry takes on Victor Troiki (#35 in the world) if necessary.

Whoever wins this tie will advance to the quarterfinals to take on Croatia in Croatia. A Serbia – Croatia will be a fascinating match and the first time the two nations have met since the breakup of Yugoslavia in the Davis Cup.

The Davis Cup is great and it has created a buzz in Belgrade. They even made a clay court in the Belgrade Arena to give the hosts an advantage. But what is lacking however, is a world buzz for a world championship event. I propose big changes in the event to make it better.

First, I would play the whole tourney in a two week Grand Slam format instead of stretching it over the year. Currently, they play Davis Cup weekends during lulls in the over crowded ATP schedule. It would be like the World Cup of Tennis and the top 8 teams in the world would be invited. You could have a playoff to determine teams if there are several closely rated countries. It could become the fifth Grand Slam on the ATP Tour.

The current Davis Cup is to determined by surface and host. Usually, the home nation wins because it has the crowd behind them and they choose the surface that best suits their players. In my Davis World Cup, I would have the surface selected randomly for each rubber, then the teams would have to find their best on a variety of surfaces. To make it even more interesting, lets select the surface AFTER the players have been selected to play. The four surfaces would be clay, grass, two hard court surfaces, perhaps one indoor and one outdoor.

It think if they select a good time, it would really take off and be a big event. I think the best players would play and there would be more worldwide fan interest.

We had great seats in the US Section

Family Journal: Surprise Snow in Belgrade

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Video of “Grumpy” Morning Walk, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Yesterday morning we awoke to a winter wonderland. We had a wet snow overnight. Everyone is looking forward to spring and the recent warm weather had me watching my tulips. Instead, winter gave us one last show. I am a morning person and as you can see by the video above, am the only one who was happy. Our car came back from the shop yesterday afternoon so we had one last walk to snow.

That is one of the nice things about working at an international school. The school maintenance department took care of all of the car repair. They found a good mechanic, ordered a tow truck, explained everything, and picked it up. I could concentrate on my work and family, and magically on Friday afternoon, Eidelweiss (we named our car after the sticker on the front hood), was as good as new.

The snow was melting a bit in the afternoon and I think it will be gone by Monday. We cancelled our hike Sunday, so I’ll have a day around the house. It is the big Davis Cup weekend, with Serbia playing the USA. Nadia and I are going to the doubles match today with free tickets from friends. I’ll have a full report.

Unhappy Faces Walking to School

Family Journal: Walking to School

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This week our car has been in the shop and we’ve been forced to walk to school. It is very nice. The boys walk much faster as they are now older and it is easier for us to go. It is also a good family time and we can talk and laugh. When the car comes back today, we might decide to walk instead of ride for now on. The only advantage is that it gives us 10 minutes extra at home. Nadia is shown above on the road to school. Behind them is one of the typical old mansions that fill the neighborhood. 

Monday I took a rare sick day. I had a fever and felt miserable. It was nice to watch Ocean play in the yard with the nanny and later the baby sittter.

Ocean with Ivana in the Yard

Third Place in Sofia, Bulgaria Tourney

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Showing Off the Medals

This weekend the ISB basketball team finished third out of six teams in Sofia, Bulgaria. We were short-handed as you can see with only 7 players making the trip. We also had 4 freshman on the tourney squad. The kids really played well and we lost to the eventual tourney champion in overtime. They played five games in two days. They used the same format as in CEESA events with a running clock, only stopping for free throws and dead balls in the last minute.

We all had a great time. It also gave me a chance to see an old friend from my village in Michigan who lives in Sofia. Overall a fantastic weekend.