By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The head coach of Crvena Zvezda, Dusan Alimpijeivc, wrote in the official EuroLeague site about his coaching path and how he is handling the fact that he is the youngest coach in the competition.
This is my fifth season as a head coach. I was previously the head coach of three other Serbian teams. I worked two full seasons with Vojvodina Novi Sad, the last two with Spartak Subotica, and I finished last season as a head coach of FMP Zeleznik. It feels nice to be given this brave opportunity by a EuroLeague team and a big club like Crvena Zvezda to be appointed as head coach at age 31.
Being young and a head coach leads to facing some double standards as far as hearing opinions on the ages of coaches. People see it as they feel it. When you win games and manage to beat opponents like Real Madrid, FC Barcelona or Maccabi Tel Aviv, then it is great that you are young and they tell you how you are the most talented. But when you lose in the EuroLeague, your age becomes a problem and suddenly there is a lack of experience.
…And age is not a factor in building relationships in such a way, as it is not a factor on our team. We can even joke about it, and I have no problem whatsoever joking about my age with my players simply because I don’t have any problems with my players during practices. The feeling is that me being younger than three of my players this season is weirder to everyone around the team than it is to us on the team. That is not even a topic among us.
Read more of his thoughts about basketball and Crvena Zvezda in Euroleague’s coaches corner.