{"id":241097,"date":"2017-02-17T12:00:03","date_gmt":"2017-02-17T19:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=241097"},"modified":"2017-02-17T05:37:04","modified_gmt":"2017-02-17T12:37:04","slug":"water-polo-profile-dragan-jovanovic-of-haba-waba-north-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/water-polo-profile-dragan-jovanovic-of-haba-waba-north-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Water Polo Profile: Dragan Jovanovic of HaBa WaBa North America"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>One of the most influential thinkers about the future of American youth water polo is a Serbian native who lives in the northern reaches of Canada. <strong>Dragan Jovanovic<\/strong>, formerly a top goalie for Yugoslavia and Serbia, is the CEO for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.djglobalwave.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>DJ Global Wave<\/strong><\/a>, a Calgary-based sports management company seeking to revolutionize the sport.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2015 DJ Global Wave has staged <a href=\"http:\/\/www.djglobalwave.com\/haba-waba\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>HaBa WaBa North America<\/strong><\/a> in Montreal. More than 30 youth teams from all over the world are expected to attend the annual event that Jovanovic and his partner, <strong>Tony Azevedo, <\/strong>will host from July 5 \u2013 9.<\/p>\n<p>HaBa WaBa North America is an offshoot of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.habawaba.com\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\">youth festival<\/a> <strong>Bartolo Consolo<\/strong> launched 13 years ago in Italy, which legendary Olympic water polo coach <strong>Ratko Rudic<\/strong> has described as \u201cthe best water polo project in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jovanovic <a href=\"http:\/\/www.waterpoloplanet.com\/interview-with-dragan-jovanovic-we-need-north-american-water-polo-professional-league\/\" target=\"_blank\">spoke recently<\/a> to <strong>Water Polo Planet<\/strong> about the challenges of growing the sport in Canada, his partnership with Azevedo, a five-time Olympian for USA, the values HaBa WaBa North America seeks to promote and how Canada, Mexico and the U.S. can ensure the sport\u2019s long-term health by launching a professional water polo league in North America.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Can A Pro League In America Save the Sport?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jovanovic believes water polo&#8217;s future is tied to a men\u2019s professional league on this continent.<\/p>\n<p>Citing the sport&#8217;s decline in Europe, he said over the past decade men\u2019s volleyball has leapfrogged Italian polo in popularity as well as the value of player and coaches\u2019 contracts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWater polo has stayed at the same level or even declined [while] volleyball has expanded and it\u2019s now 10 steps ahead of our sport,\u201d he lamented.<\/p>\n<p>Jovanovic believes that water polo \u2014 currently dominated at the highest levels by former Yugoslavian provinces Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia \u2014 desperately needs to expand in North America. The U.S. has more youth players than anywhere else in the world, but, despite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/water-polo-one-of-fastest-growing-sports-in-u-s-according-to-nfhs\/\" target=\"_blank\">recent growth<\/a> at the high school level, has yet to capture Americans&#8217; imaginations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNorth America needs a <strong>Michael Jordan<\/strong> of water polo,\u201d he said, pointing to Tony Azevedo\u2019s relative anonymity as an indicator of why an American professional league is necessary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTony went to five Olympics and won the silver medal [in 2008] but never played professionally in the U.S,\u201d Jovanovic said. \u201cYoung players didn\u2019t have much chance to see him, to talk to him.<\/p>\n<p>Acknowledging that NCAA women\u2019s water polo is the best league in the world \u2014 \u201cThere\u2019s nothing better than that \u2014 coach-wise, training-wise\u201d \u2014 he believes it\u2019s imperative to spur improvement on the men\u2019s side by developing a pro league with teams from Canada, Mexico and the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomeone needs to inspire players to continue to improve, to go to practice, to play more games,\u201d he added. \u201cIn my mind, a professional league in North America is the only solution for the issues that water polo is facing. It\u2019s a way to save our sport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Water Polo Revolution Will be Televised in Canada<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Moving to Canada in 2001 after a stellar playing career in Europe, Jovanovic embraced his new home \u2014 except for the weather and Canada\u2019s continued failure at international water polo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy going from a country where anything but a gold in water polo is a failure to Canada, which is anywhere from 16 \u2013 20th place in the world at any time,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a sporting cultural shock.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Named head coach of the national team in 2004, Jovanovic quickly found himself in a position to change the fortunes of Canada\u2019s Olympic water polo program. His team beat a favored Romania squad in the 2008 Men\u2019s Water Polo Olympic Qualifications in Bucharest to make the <strong>Beijing Games<\/strong>, where Canada finished 11th.<\/p>\n<p>After stepping aside in 2013 as the Canadian Water Polo Association\u2019s program director, he launched his own company and began working with Azevedo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most important thing is that Tony\u2019s and my vision have matched from day one,\u201d Jovanovic said. \u201cWe agree on the issues affecting our sport \u2014 not only in North America, but all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_241115\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-241115\" data-attachment-id=\"241115\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/water-polo-profile-dragan-jovanovic-of-haba-waba-north-america\/ad-for-waterpology-final2-300x240\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/ad-for-waterpology-FINAL2-300x240.gif\" data-orig-size=\"300,240\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"ad-for-waterpology-FINAL2-300&#215;240\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;02\/15\/17&lt;br \/&gt;\nad-for-waterpology-FINAL2-300&#215;240&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Photo Courtesy: HaBa WaBa North America&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/ad-for-waterpology-FINAL2-300x240.gif\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/ad-for-waterpology-FINAL2-300x240.gif\" class=\"size-full wp-image-241115\" src=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/ad-for-waterpology-FINAL2-300x240.gif\" alt=\"ad-for-waterpology-FINAL2-300x240\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-241115\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Courtesy: HaBa WaBa North America<\/p><\/div>\n<p>HaBa WaBa stages an Olympic-style festival where young athletes from all walks of life can meet, compete and develop friendships for life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re experimenting, we\u2019re analyzing \u2013 all of that,\u201d he said. \u201c[We want] to make it fun for kids, of course, but also to apply or analyze those results to understand what\u2019s possible to change the game [for the better].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>DJ Global Wave\u2019s mission aligns with <strong>USA Water Polo<\/strong> \u2014 which oversees all levels of the sport in the U.S. \u2014 but the two organizations have yet to form a partnership<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think that we overlap at all,\u201d he explained. \u201cThey have their own vision and goals [while] we have ours. They are huge; we are not. We\u2019re trying to develop programs where we can.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For water polo to prosper Jovanovic believes an integrated approach spanning youth training to a North American pro league is necessary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can grow the sport from the bottom and expand the grassroots, which is important, but if the sport doesn\u2019t have something on top, something that kids can aspire to, it\u2019s hard to keep them playing after high school.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor. One of the most influential thinkers about the future of American youth water polo is a Serbian native who lives in the northern reaches<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4875,"featured_media":241112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[58097,47359,60381,60383,60382,9787,60192,5857,3671,3613,60384],"class_list":["post-241097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-water-polo","tag-2008-beijing-olympics","tag-bartolo-consolo","tag-dragan-jovanovic","tag-haba-waba","tag-haba-waba-north-america","tag-michael-jordan","tag-michael-randazzo","tag-ratko-rudic","tag-tony-azevedo","tag-usa-water-polo","tag-water-polo-planet"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- 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