It must
have been a very difficult awakening for Aleksandra Crvendakic on Sunday
morning.
Serbia's
top scorer and the third-best scorer overall of the U16 European Championship
Women will compete in the difficult Classification Round for 13th to 16th place
after Saturday's defeat to Greece.
Surely this
was not the plan of the 16-year-old who plays, in Miskolc, her third
consecutive U16 European Championship Women.
In the past
years the 1.87 m forward left no doubt there are great things to be expected
from her in the future.
This year
she has underlined her status as leader of the team, making 19.0 points and 7.7
rebounds in the first three games of the tournament.
She is the
player her teammates look for in crunch time.
But this is
not a problem for Crvendakic, as she has grown as a player and a person.
Conscious
of her role in the team, she uses her personal experience to guide the team
both on and off the court.
"I'm
not scared like I was before. To have good results we need to always play at a
very high level," Crvendakic says.
"With
my experience, I am ready to show my teammates how to react and to solve the
new problems we're facing, and I believe we'll have success in this U16
European Championship Women."
Finishing
in last place of Group B was an unexpected result for a team that started so
well in this tournament, beating the Slovak Republic in their opener and
causing many difficulties to a strong Russian team on Day Two.
But for
head coach Milos Pavlovic, this is part of the team's growth process.
"Last
year we had a lot of injured players, mainly starting five players, and we
struggled to stay in Division A.
"I
really believe in this generation of athletes, but we are a very young team,
with five players born in 1997, and our main goal is to develop our players to
make a run for a top result next season.
"That's
why we're all doing our best to stay in Division A."
OFF TO NEW
SHORES
For
Crvendakic the summer action should not stop here, since she is expected to
also be on the Serbian roster for the U18 European Championship Women in
Bucharest.
"She
excels in Serbian youth programmes, and is one of the best players we have had
in recent years," confirms Pavlovic.
"She's
a great worker, very ambitious and has a natural leadership mindset."
This was a
year of changes for Crvendakic, since she left her hometown Loznica to play
with Red Star Belgrade.
"The
adjustment was easy. I already knew the other players and coaching staff from
the national team, and I also had no problems with being in a new school.
"I
knew that was what was planned for me and I was ready for the situation,"
Crvendakic confirms.
Loznica has
produced excellent prospects for Serbian's women's basketball, like 1991-born
Tina Jovanovic, who has been on Serbian youth national teams since 2005 and
Snezana Colic, who is expected to play at this year's U20 European Championship
Women.
These
players reflect the good work done by local coaches developing women athletes.
For
Crvendakic and her teammates, it is now time to prepare for the Classification
Round for 13th to 16th place, where Serbia will face Turkey, Germany and England
two times each.
Only the
best of these four teams will end up smiling, as starting from this year three
teams get relegated.
The
short-term goal for Serbia is to stay in Division A.
Aleksandra
Crvendakic is also thinking further.
For now,
she wants to stay in Serbia, where she plans to finish her studies and also to
gain experience as a player in the senior women's team of Red Star Belgrade.
But her
main ambition is to play in the EuroLeague Women and play professionaly in a
foreign country, preferably in Spain, where she expects to evolve into a
well-respected player.
The U16
European Championship Women is just the start to a promising career.
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