Current:Home > BackFor the Slovenian school where Mavericks star Luka Doncic got his start, he’s still a hometown hero-LoTradeCoin
For the Slovenian school where Mavericks star Luka Doncic got his start, he’s still a hometown hero
View Date:2024-12-23 19:51:17
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — The laughter of schoolchildren at recess and basketballs ringing on the pavement echoed through the quiet streets of a residential district in Slovenia’s capital, the place where Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic got his start.
The phenom point guard has led his franchise to just its third appearance in the NBA Finals, where the Mavericks lost the opening game to the Boston Celtics despite 30 points from Doncic. Game 2 is Sunday night.
At 25 years old, has already racked up a raft of accolades that have him on track to be one of the greatest Europeans — or anyone else — to play the game.
But his road to a shot at an NBA championship started two decades and 5,500 miles from the bright lights of Dallas at the Miran Jarc primary school in Ljubljana, a city of around 300,000 nestled in a green valley of the Slovenian Alps.
“My first impression was that he was taller than all the guys at his age, and he really moved with the ball really great. You could feel that he’s really talented,” said Rok Dezman, who coached Doncic at the school from the age of 6.
Doncic’s precociousness on the court was evident from the first grade, Dezman said, so he immediately began competing with players several years older than him to even the playing field.
But that age disparity meant that Doncic, today standing at 6-foot-7 (2 meters), didn’t always have a height advantage, leading him to focus on sinking shots from a distance rather than measuring up against bigger players under the rim.
Still, Dezman said, Doncic sought ways to outsmart his age and size disadvantage.
“He took it as a challenge every time that he dealt with older guys,” Dezman said. “He was trying to find a way to finish also in the paint. The size didn’t matter to him.”
Hanging on a wall inside the school is a printed photo of Doncic with a quote attributed to him: “I never dreamed of success. I worked for it.”
According to Uros Rozman, Doncic’s gym teacher at Miran Jarc from fourth to seventh grade, that inspirational slogan truly reflects the single-mindedness Doncic always displayed for upping his game.
“Talent is important, but when you grow up and play with adults, talent is not enough. You must work hard, and he was a hard worker in our school already,” said Rozman, who today is the principal of the school. “The basketball was in his hands all the time.”
Shortly after starting to play on his primary school team, Doncic joined the youth league of the Union Olimpija club in Ljubljana, where he continued to practice with players several years his senior. Once he finished the seventh grade, he left his country and family to play for the youth academy of Real Madrid in Spain.
Only five years later, he’d be drafted into the NBA.
The reverberations of Doncic’s success are felt by all the students at Miran Jarc, said Aleksandar Drobnjak, a ninth grader at the school who plays for the same youth team, Olimpija, that Doncic did as a youngster.
Drobnjak said attending Doncic’s alma mater is “an honor and a pleasure,” and that he and other students have taken inspiration from his work ethic.
“Every single pupil at this school knows Luka Doncic went to our school and now is a world famous basketball star,” he said. “If we can do the same thing as him, we can be famous like him. With hard work, with focus, with listening, with honor.”
On the court, Doncic displays a swagger and confidence not typical of most European players, and is known for venting his emotions during games to both officials and opponents.
According to Dezman, Doncic’s first coach, it’s a competitiveness that he’s showed since his earliest days in the gym at his primary school in Ljubljana.
“He’s stayed the same guy. The main thing with Luka is that he lives basketball,” Dezman said. “He’s a born winner. He has to win.”
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
veryGood! (231)
Related
- Inter Miami's MLS playoff failure sets stage for Messi's last act, Alexi Lalas says
- Kevin Costner addresses rumored relationship with Jewel: 'We've never gone out, ever'
- Supreme Court upholds Trump-era tax on foreign earnings, skirting disruptive ruling
- Another police dog dies while trying to help officers arrest a suspect in South Carolina
- Stop What You're Doing—Moo Deng Just Dropped Her First Single
- Argentina fans swarm team hotel in Atlanta to catch glimpse of Messi before Copa América
- Want to build a million-dollar nest egg? Two investment accounts worth looking into
- Minivan carrying more than a dozen puppies crashes in Connecticut. Most are OK
- My Chemical Romance will perform 'The Black Parade' in full during 2025 tour: See dates
- Donald Sutherland, the towering actor whose career spanned ‘M.A.S.H.’ to ‘Hunger Games,’ dies at 88
Ranking
- Jana Kramer’s Ex Mike Caussin Shares Resentment Over Her Child Support Payments
- Kourtney Kardashian Details 3-Day Labor Process to Give Birth to Baby Rocky
- Traveler from Missouri stabbed to death and his wife critically injured in attack at Nebraska highway rest area
- Traveler from Missouri stabbed to death and his wife critically injured in attack at Nebraska highway rest area
- Michelle Obama Is Diving Back into the Dating World—But It’s Not What You Think
- U.S. soldier Gordon Black sentenced in Russia to almost 4 years on charges of theft and threats of murder
- Two environmental protesters arrested after spraying Stonehenge with orange paint
- Howie Mandel's wife had a gruesome injury while tipsy. Alcohol injuries are a huge issue
Recommendation
-
Princess Kate to host annual Christmas carol service following cancer treatment
-
How Can Solar Farms Defend Against Biblical-Level Hailstorms?
-
Tyler, the Creator pulls out of 2 music festivals: Who will replace him?
-
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fails to qualify for presidential debate with Biden, Trump
-
RHOP's Candiace Dillard Bassett Gives Birth, Shares First Photos of Baby Boy
-
Millions sweating it out as heat wave nears peak from Midwest to Maine
-
A DA kept Black women off a jury. California’s Supreme Court says that wasn’t racial bias
-
Aaron Judge returns to Yankees’ lineup against Orioles, two days after getting hit on hand by pitch