Legendary handball coach from Kaštela Ante Jureškin (69), better known as Jure, is taking a well-deserved break from his sport, which he started playing in the old playground in his Gomilica exactly 50 years ago, playing and then coaching the club, which changed names, but remains in history for its greatest results. And as the European Handball Championship, in which our team will compete, approaches, it was an ideal moment to talk to the man who, as the awards show, has done Kaštela, Dalmatia and Croatia a great service.
Memories of the beginnings
He follows everything and knows how to recognize which direction things are going, and how could he not, with so much experience as a coach who came to a well-known address in Gomilica, he recalled the golden moments he built in Kaštela and Split and offered his view of the current moment of the Croatian national team...
Did any memories come back to you now that we organized a photo shoot near the playground where it all began?
- Well, of course they are, it all started in 1976, it's been 50 years since I started playing handball. I can admit that I haven't been to the playground in a long time. I was only recently, maybe two or three months ago, to visit the new premises that they have renovated under the leadership of Željko Bujas. And so I took a little peek at the playground and it always brings back some memories.
What results are you most proud of? There was everything - a place in the Premier League, the Cup final...
Proud moments and successes
- Well, listen, I was there practically my entire career, except for four years in Split where I led the women's team. Maybe you're less interested in that. Last year we were fourth in the Premier League, we played in the European competition. I'm certainly most proud of the success we achieved in 2010 when we played the Cup final with Zagreb. In history, until last year, we were the only B-league team from the second tier of Croatian handball to play in the Cup final. So we played the B-league the next season, from which we qualified for the Premier League. For the first time in history, we played in Europe, that one round. Actually, it was the third round because we as a country were the seeded team. We played against the Ukrainian team Budivelny and were eliminated in the third round, but that's history. The following year, we were first in the Dukat First Handball League and achieved a place in the Premier League. And we lasted there for six seasons.
I remember that time, when I worked for Sportplus in Rijeka, when they talked about the great defenses of fellow journalists. Zeljana Bosnića and goals Mother of BujasThat was a really nice story in Makarska.
- That's right. Bujas is our top scorer. He and Lazarov scored 11 goals each. But the best player was declared Lazarov. Bosnić wrote an excellent article then, a bit humorous at the time, but firsthand. I remember that.
Coaching path and rewards
I remember that it affected his defense in the final, that he didn't do well against the super strong Zagreb, right? He was a great journalist when he worked. And a great goalkeeper.
- Well, he was a good goalkeeper. He didn't look like he could be a goalkeeper. But he had terrible reflexes. He wasn't particularly tall, which is what is required of modern goalkeepers. But he was an excellent goalkeeper with great reflexes, he knew how to position himself to save a shot.
He'll be glad to read this, right?
- Yes, yes.
(we both laugh)
You were the coach not only of the Kaštela club under various names and the Split women's team, but also of the cadet national team? And there are also numerous awards...
- Professor Canjuga was the selector of the cadet national team, and I was the coach, that was the generation of players born in 1986. We had Kopljar, Ćupić, Blažević, Duvnjak, and Mate Šunjić in that generation. Duvnjak was born in 1988, but he was also with us at the World Championship in Qatar when we won the bronze medal, and in Belgrade we won silver at the European Championship. And as for awards, I have three for the best coach of Kaštela in 2004, 2005, and 2010. The city of Kaštela also gave me an award for lifetime achievement. Then I commented on it a little, 'with this award, my end is clearly approaching', ha, ha. There is also an award for contribution to handball from HRS in 2017.
Monitoring handball and the future of the national team
How much do you follow Kaštela handball today?
- I'm not deeply into it. I follow the news. I see the result. I talk to Željko and we comment a little on what happened with coach Davor. We talk more, but I don't go to the games. I'm not as deeply into it as I used to be, but I follow it.
If you were to make a list of the best players you have coached, who would be on it? It is a lesser-known fact that Ivano Balić played for Kaštela..
- He played with dual registration. He played two games. I don't know exactly which ones, but I know he played. I don't even know what year it was, because it was probably around the time I was in Split. It's hard for me to single out anyone, but when you ask, the national team born in 1986 was promising. Great players came out of that selection, who later became top handball players, like Duvnjak. I remember that we beat Denmark, their generation with Hansen. Duvnjak lasted the longest and was the best player. I say that for the national team. Then there was Ćupić, he won a lot of things as a player. And then Blažević, Mate Šunjić... I can't even list them now. They were all top players. To this day.
Now we have reached the national team. This match with Germany is cool. How much did you watch the preliminaries?
- Well, I didn't really watch it except for the last one that was broadcast. You can't judge based on one match with Germany. The Croatian national team must always strive for the highest goals. There's nothing wrong with that. We had an excellent result at the last World Cup, winning the silver medal. We know that after that World Cup, Duvnjak, Pešić and Karačić left, and that there was a generational change that was quite successful and there are a lot of new young players. We just need to continue to ensure that the results are continuous. So that it doesn't happen that we won silver and now we have another drop. And we have an ideal opportunity. All these stronger national teams are in the second part of the draw. We have Sweden, the Netherlands and Georgia in the group. In my opinion, the key is in the match with Sweden, it will depend on how many points we carry over to the second round. And then we will most likely meet the group of national teams that includes Hungary, Slovenia and Iceland. And we beat them all a year ago at the World Cup. So no France, no Spain, no Germany, no Denmark, no Norway, no Portugal, they're all on the other side of the draw. The path to the semi-finals is open to us, that's my opinion, and anything other than that would be a failure. Because I think we have good players. Now the question is what will it look like. There were good things in the first game against Germany, but there's a lot to improve. And there's not much time left, the first game is on January 17th.
New generation leaders
Who do you think can be the leader in this new national team without the players you listed?
- Now Martinović has imposed himself here, he is also the captain and I think that is justified. There are a lot of young players. There is also Cindrić, who is also experienced. And the other ones are all players who play in proven European clubs. We have four players from our league - Glavaš, Klarica, Raužan and Lučin. And the other ones are all internationals. And now the question is, how many of them play in clubs, I don't really follow that, but it is very important. Klarica was injured a bit, Martinović too, Srna is suffering from some injury. It caught my eye against the Germans that we had outside shooting, so Srna, Lučin and Martinović, only 12:27. Srna had one of five, and the others were at 50%. So we have to be a lot better in that area. And as far as transition is concerned, we need to be a little careful, we conceded a lot of goals from transition and through the middle of the defense. I haven't seen Mamic here yet, who was a revelation at the last World Cup, especially in the 5-1 defense, that everyone else was a little surprised. He can play well in the middle of the defense as the third. Glavaš and Jelinić didn't enter the game at all, we'll see more on Sunday.
The work of the menu and the future
How do you evaluate the work of coach Sigurdsson? We searched for him for a long time and the choice fell on a foreigner who took silver at the World Cup?
- He came here as a newcomer, he's probably independent. He has some of his own ideas, which came in handy and he was second at the World Championship, which is a great result. And now we just need to follow up. As I said a little while ago, that we need to continue that now. And we have the players for that, we have a good selection for continuity without falling. We have to admit that we were a little lucky at the World Cup, but as they say, luck always follows the brave. And I think he's created a certain amount of credit for himself and that he needs to be given some space to work. It would be good if the result coincided with his, because he has an ideal chance of qualifying for the semi-finals, because we're not going to lie, our side of the draw is much easier than the other.
Photo: Ivana Topic
