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2008 was a great for FDKZ. Darija asked me to offer some thoughts to sum up as a head coach and, as everyone knows, I am happy to oblige
I am most proud of the development of our women’s program, which has seen leadership and increasing recruitment under the steady hand of Marina ‘Sticky hands’ Djurkovic.
We must also show great respect to the success of the initiative of our recent former president Verno the Inferno - his goal was to have games of ultimate happening around Zagreb on a regular basis, open to everyone. In his term as president Verno succeeded in this goal, and turnout for organized trainings as well as pickup games (not to mention nighttime Zlocko league) is through the roof.
When I arrived in Zagreb in February 2006, we played winter ultimate in a gym so small it is barely suited for the current team’s warmup laps. We struggled to field a full roster for tournaments, borrowing players on a regular basis. By now we are in the rewarding (if challenging) position to make selections for tournaments, fomenting a drive among players to ‘earn a spot’ on the roster. This surely is a competitive sport, but what makes it special is that this is friendly and spirited competition, building on the legacy of our founders, Ogi Livada and Marina Piria. (And congratulations to them on the birth of their baby boy, Vilim Livada!)
In the past year we not only hosted the best tournament in this region’s history, one of the teams we sent emerged as tournament champions and another of our teams won the spirit award. At the same fields near Sveta Nedjelja, we later hosted the third annual players and coaches camp, Scoops Camp, featuring our good friend and recently named coach of Team USA, Greg ‘Scoops’ Connelly.
One trend I would point to also is the development of the intellectual side of the sport in Zagreb. Though in the past we had truly relied on guest players to power our offense and call our plays, we now are in a position that players who grew up playing here in Zagreb are the engines, the play-callers. Yet we maintain a truly welcoming attitude and we capitalize on the experience of our guest players and coaches, whether it be learning from Coach Scoops, our friend Matt Roeder who passed through Zagreb, or friends like Veu Sedova and many players from neighboring Slovenia or Austria who join us from time-to-time.
There is no substitute for home-grown players, but our athletes in Zagreb have set a trend of being absolute sponges when it comes to learning the game from experienced veterans. We have also sent players to the regional select team (BASE) and to various other teams (including Switzerland’s Freespeed), in order to gain new and different perspectives on the game. This is always growthful.
To sum up the year, I would say that 2008 was a year of transition, a year of change. Perhaps every year is that, since we are such a young and dynamic club. But 2008 was special in that we began to see a few factors emerge in a noticeable way:
(1) A smooth and organized leadership transition from the administration of Verno the Inferno to the new hotness Marko Miljevic, with much of the ‘civil society’ leaders in the club remaining in their positions
(2) A level of media coverage and sponsorship effort previously unparalleled, under the watchful eye of Darija Krasevac
(3) Not only a new level of athletic ambition (through our monthly Dinner Club workout plans) but also a general growth of the club in the form of different people who are into ultimate for different reasons.
The third factor gives us a glimpse into the future. The club is absolutely open to anyone and everyone, and I think that we are beginning to see the formation of clusters of people who share certain common interests. Some are into ultimate for the blend of competition and sportsmanship; some folks love the parties best; some want to play disc in Zagreb with their friends, while others can’t wait to pile into cars and travel to organized competitions in countries far and wide.
I see these various interpretations of the game, and these various creations of meaning through the sport, as a strong suit of our organization. Some might fear the emergence of such diverse dividing lines but I think we are in a position to embrace it - within a matter of months or maybe a few years, we will have a number of teams in Zagreb, hopefully some Croatian clubs outside of Zagreb, and an enhanced range of ways for people to be involved in the sport. If there are still any doubters out there, I respond, yes we can.
Josh
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