“I can’t wait to be at HaBaWaBa”Waterpolo Development World

Many waterpolo stars have passed through HaBaWaBa over the years, but few can boast the palmares of Branislav Mitrovic, former goalkeeper and two-time Olympic champion with Serbia, in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020, and also winner of one World Championships gold medal and four editions of European Championships. Having retired last year, Mitrovic is now part of the coaching staff of Vasas, the prestigious club from Budapest that has been taking part in the Lignano Sabbiadoro event for years: Mitrovic will coach the U13 formation of the Hungarian club, which is taking part in HaBaWaBa International Festival PLUS 2025 starting on June 22^nd.  

Mr. Mitrovic, why did Vasas choose to come to HaBaWaBa?

Branislav Mitrovic playing for Serbia: he won 2 Olympics, 1 WC, 4 EC, 6 World League, 1 University Games and 1 Mediterranean Games (ph. European Aquatics).

I heard a lot about HaBaWaBa before, this tournament is very popular, and as a coach I made some research, discovering that is a very good tournament, with a lot of teams and kids. One of the coach of our club is Ildiko Sedlmayer, who has an old relationship with HaBaWaBa, and she asked me if I wanted to participate in the event and I had no doubt. After, she told me a little be more and now I’m very excited, I look forward to go there: I call HaBaWaBa the waterpolo world fair, with a lot of kids in one place, plenty of games, and the chance to meet other team, coaches and cultures.

The importance of involving kids in waterpolo is the concept behind HaBaWaBa: do you share the same idea?

Yes, I am. It’s very important because kids are genuine, they play with their hearts and give them free time to play with the ball in the water is a very good idea to make them know waterpolo.  

What do you think about HaBaWaBa rules?

I’ve studied a little bit, for me they are ok: we can see that they’re trying to reach the same goal in senior waterpolo. I thing that we need to make waterpolo more interesting for kids. When my children play football, they can score every time. We need to manage that for kids playing waterpolo, to have the same feeling, to have fun playing. And also, on the other side, these rules help to develop basics of the game, swimming and legs.  

Let’s talk about you: how did you fall in love with waterpolo? 

I was in 3^rd grade and some of my friends pushed me to try a sport in the water along with them. After 3 days of training the coach put me in the cage as goalkeeper: I never knew why, maybe because he saw my height and the size of my hands. You know, waterpolo could be not nice at the beginning: the water is cold and the game is tough. So playing with my friends and having a good environment in Novi Sad, at Vojvodina, were very important for me. Waterpolo is playing together: if I’m still in waterpolo is because it’s a collective sport, that is much better than individual sport. In team sport you don’t train just for your goal, you are not alone, you fight, cry and cheer with your friends. And I had great teammates: I played with Nikola Radjen and Dusko Pijetlovic since we were kids. 

To be a goalkeeper is a very hard job: have you any suggestion for little HaBaWaBa goalies? 

Just have fun. And make it personal: “You’re not going to score a gol against me!”, that’s the thought they should think in the cage.  

Will you coach the kids in Lignano Sabbiadoro?

That will be a very good experience for me as well as for the kids. They’re going to travel abroad without parents and that’s important because nowadays kids are often too attached to parents. It will be good for kids to be a little bit away from them, to see other place and other athletes in the village, as it happens at the Olympics or University Games, feeling just the competition. And it applies also to me: also adults need to explore.

Before you, other famous waterpolo goalies came to HaBaWaBa, as Stefano Tempesti, who announced his retire at the end of the season. Can you tell me which are the best goalkeepers you’ve seen in your life?

During his career, Mitrovic played for Vojvodina, Partizan, Ferencvaros, Debrecen, Eger, OSC and Vasas (ph. European Aquatics).

As first I say Jesus Rollan, one of the greatest person and goalkeeper in waterpolo: he made Spain so good at that time. Then Denis Sefik, who was born to be the king. And now I like Some Vogel, he had a very big impact in Ferencvaros and Hungary national team. 

What about the new generation goalies? Who do you like?

Croatian Mauro Ivan Cubranic could be one very good goalkeeper at international level.

You were part of the gold generation of Serbia, who won 2 Olympics. After Tokyo 2020 most of you left the national team, however Serbia triumphed again in Paris 2024, against all odds. Will they win also the next Singapore 2025 World Championships? 

In Serbia we have a very good organization about coaching and this is why we keep winning so many medals. The players of the “new” Serbia were good prepared, they didn’t win the third gold olympic medal accidentally. After Tokyo Serbia needed few years to get that level we have before. In the next 4 years the team is going to change less players, has already started a new cycle ahead of other national teams and will play 4 years more with these players. I’m sure Serbia will reach the top 4 in Singapore. 

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