By Peter Toth
This is Sabac, a little town in Western Serbia, where I stop on my way back from Sarajevo to visit the local basketball team, OKK Sabac. It is especially the women’s basketball team for which Sabac is famous, but what I want to see is the kadets’ team, that of the boys under 17. The team is, as I expected, tall and dynamic, but their pointguard somehow stands out. He is exceptionally young, but still a leading figure of the game, scoring fearlessly with energy that eradiates and invisible pushes his teammates to do more and more.
The young fellow, I am told, is Lazar Zivanovic (19. 01. 2001), who has just turned fourteen and, as standard practice in Serbia, is “playing up”: practicing and playing with the older generation of 1998. When I approach the kid, my first impression is his size. Lazar is 6’ 5”, long hands, large palms and a thin, but athletic frame of 156lb that provides him with a striking speed and felixibility for his height. Looking up to the kid from the average guy’s littleness, I ask him to tell me about himself, his background and plans. I am surprised at his nice English as he tells me that, in contrast to many of the Serbian players, his is not a basketball family. Lazar’s parents are all intellectuals with very little interest in sports and especially in basketball. So the love of the game came not from the genes or the family, he got “lovestruck” by accident.
- When I was nine years old, I got an NBA game set during the summer holiday. That was the first time I saw real basketball, but I was deeply impressed. From that time on, I was on the court every single day. Although it was holiday time, I got up earlier just to try and practice what I have seen. Once a coach was passing by the court I practiced on, he saw my struggles and invited me to the local team to try it for real. I went there and stayed with OKK Sabac ever since.
- I have always been a tall kid, taller than anyone else around me, so finding my place in the team was not a problem. But it wasn’t easy at the beginning. I did not get enough time and attention, but my first love of the game always stayed with me, somehow, I felt free and totally myself on the court, so I could constantly give 110% and the reward did come. The next year I was already playing with kids one year older than me. I was growing fast. Having reached 5’11” at 12, I made my first dunk ever but I kept on working hard, so my coaches, Dusan Markovic and Radovan Curovic gave me the opportunity to “play up” with 17 year old players.
Last year my biggest dream has come true when I was selected to U15 National Team of Serbia as the youngest guy ever to play in that selection with my 13 years. We went to an international cup to Hungary and although we got only the 6th place at the tournament, I got a great chance to play, and scored 18 points at our last game and was nominated the best player in generation 2001 in Serbia.
It was right after this that Real Madrid has contacted and invited me for a trial to Madrid. I have just got back from Spain to Sabac when the great news came that they liked me, they liked my game, my enthusiasm and devotion and selected me for their U14 team to play in the Copa del Rey this month.
I will try, as I have always done, to give my best and I am sure hard work and perseverance will have its reward and I can develop into a useful member of my team and gain experience to fulfill my big plan of becoming a strong player at an international level.
