Today the 80 year old "Professor" of basketball asked me a question. He works with the youngest kids at the camp. His question..."what do you think of how I am doing with the kids?" He asked my opinion of his coaching ability! I was speechless. Professor Illiech is one of the oldest, most respected coaches in Serbia and the Balkans. After I told him that I was the one learning from him while he worked, he told me that he respected the fact the US is the best basketball country in the world. I can't understand what he says, as everything is translated, but with what he has said to me and what everyone says about him....he is a great, great man!The Montenegro women's team came today. There are girls as well as boys at this camp, and the girls were highly excited. There was a girl on the team from the United States, Anna DeForge. She played at the University of Nebraska and is currently in the WNBA. We both were excited to talk to someone from "home".
I have been invited by the women's coach of Partizan, Marina Maljkovic, to go and watch the national women's team of Serbia play Montenegro tonight. The gym is a five minute walk from the camp.
Tomorrow morning, I head with my friend Tane Spasev to Skopje, Macedonia, then to Struga on Lake Ohrid to work the Junior basketball camp.
I had heard that Serbia was known as the "Indiana" of Europe, I believe it. The people I have met here and the area has made me fall in love with Serbia. I now consider it my second home. Next week in Macedonia will probably solidify that the Balkans are my second home.
The worst part of the trip is not being able to see my family....it's horrible....the best part of the trip is everything else.
