Slavoljub Gorunovic
Our interview is a Serbian coach, Slavoljub Gorunovic. He was, until recently, the Head Coach for female section of ASE (Amal Sportive Essaouira), current champion of Morocco and Winner of Throne Cup in 2015.
1. Mr. Gorunovic, you were a coach of ASE from Essaouira. What is your experience that you brought from there?
-I took over the female section of ASE at the end of March. The team was pretty shaken. After the great results they had last season, in this one they were in the bottom part of the league, with win-lose ratio 3-3. I woke the team up, we started to practice intensively, I brought some new things in the team's defense, I rise their aggressiveness, which all together resulted in ASE playing modern basketball. Reaction from the players was excellent and already in the first game we demonstrated that on one game, away against a strong team Etudiant in Tetouan, which we won with 97:62. We continued in the same light on another away game against CCH in the cup, which we win 64:43.
2.What happened then?
-To my great sadness, the team was already getting into some troubles. That reflected on general atmosphere, players started to go to practices less often and their commitment wasn't on the same level. In that state, we played against a leading team FAR in Rabat, which was dominant in the whole league at the time. That was nobody's game right up until the end when we had a clear situation to score and to come to -3. But we made a mistake and we paid for it and result was -7. After that the game ended FAR-ASE 75:64. If we didn't have the problems that we did I am convinced that we would have won that game too.
3. Did ASE find a solution to those problems?
-I continued to pull out the maximum from the team. We won the second placed team Kenitra 52:39 on their court. Kenitra won the first game in Essaouira with 27 points of difference. Then we went into the semifinals of the Cup by winning against WSS 61:44, and then 45:30. On both of these games Tierra Henderson and Krystle Henderson, the best players, were not in the roster.
4. What was the epilogue of these events?
-Team's management offered me an amicable termination of the contract in a situation where they could not guarantee a normal functioning of ASE, and I had to accept. I am proud of everything that I did for my short time as the head coach of ASE in those hard times. Statistically, I had a win lose ratio 5-1, of those 6 games only on was on our field, we had an average +15, and we received average 49 points. I am convinced that we could have won both the championship and the Cup if we had the conditions to fulfill the coaching plan. I want to wish a lot of luck to my former club!
5. What are your plans?
-In Morocco as well as some Europeans countries, I made some contacts for my possible job in a male or a female team in the next season, because I deserved respect for my work in Morocco. I only want for my future team to have the conditions that are necessary and players that are willing to work hard and achieve the greatest possible goals and further develop their own quality of basketball.
6. How important is individual work to you?
-I am convinced that hard work during the season and especially during the off season, is the key to success of every top player. That is what the EX Yu is famous for and Serbia specifically. Multi-hour practices focused on speeding up and automation in doing all the technical elements prevail. From my experience the individual work that I did in Serbia, Russia, Montenegro, Turkey, always rise the efficiency of my players. I am already looking forward to working with those players that are willing to spend their summer working individually with me. I don't want to sound pretentious but a good example of that devotion is my son Mateja Gorunovic. Imagine a kid that spends his time at the variety of multi hour practices for a few years, that just now turned 14 years old. That is all possible and you can check that out on Youtube on his videos. This is not an advertisement, this is a call, especially to younger basketball players, to realize that only hard work can bring top notch results.
7. What is your opinion of Eurobasket.com ?
-I want to compliment Eurobasket.com as a great treasure of basketball knowledge in just one place. I use it daily, and there isn't a day where I don't visit that site. I use it primarily as a basketball news outlet for any country and any club that I am interested in. Keep up the good work!
8. Do you have something to add at the end?
-Basketball has no limits. The language of basketball is the same, no matter the continent, sex, country. If someone truly wants to devote to basketball, only limit is the sky.
Let me thank to Coach Slavoljub Gorunovic on his time and for this interview and wish him a lot of luck in his career.
