Jovanovic: “I am proud to be on the bench of National”

The “present” at the two-day Sports Medicine 360 ​​Athletics Congress held 14-15/3 at the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center Lighthouse, in the presence of distinguished international speakers, scientists and professionals in the field of Medicine and Sports. Ivan Jovanovic.



The Serbian technician, who talked about “what the coach is waiting for from the doctor” and was predicted by the phrase “to thank him for the honor of us with us but also for the morals he teaches and is above and from the coaching herself”, he began his speech, stressing the following:

“First of all it is a great pride for me to be on the bench of the national team. Thanks to the conference organizers who gave me the opportunity to talk about a collaboration with great interest. Coaches always have a special relationship with doctors and it is my duty to be close to you”

After explaining who the coach’s role in football is overall, he continued saying:

“A coach is never alone. He has a team behind him, what we in football say ‘the team behind the team’. I have a huge respect for doctors working on the stadiums. They are scientists with a huge love of sports and moving in a zone that is not as “comfortable” as the clinics.

Football is an emotional sport and their work is complex. With doctors we have very good relationships. We are friends and the mornings who tell us that there are no problems … they make the day! As for the afternoon it is true that you do not want to see their phone because it is usually … not for good.

The doctor is a very important factor in maintaining the health of players, giving the right price that has made a lot of weight in prevention and rapid rehabilitation. It provides up to psychological support to athletes even to their families”

Ivan Jovanovic also stood in the use of banned substances, stressing the following:

“There is also the scourge of doping. The doctor should be up -to -date, watching the last supplement used by an athlete, so as not to become a fatal one for his career, wrong. All this through the building of a relationship of trust. ”

Continuing his speech he stood in the part of the rehabilitation: “Football today is characterized by a very increased number of games and the time of real rest is decreasing. We used to say that it is a normal 5-6 weeks recovery for the summer. Now this time does not exist, it has been very reduced. The problem a doctor faces is also communicative as it has to do with coaches, players and administration. There are also multiple doctors’ opinions. Many footballers today are used to gaining a second opinion, mainly abroad, from their homeland doctors or choose to do the surgery there as there are state -of -the -art centers”

By highlighting the “relationship” coach-doctor, he stressed: “Doctors are our best friends. I respect their mood to help us and their presence is very important. They work in conditions of permanent pressure, with children who do it will do it from their 18s to 35 and every day hides danger to their careers or even their lives. With my presence here I want to thank all the doctors who worked on my side, their help was and is incredible”

In the epilogue of his speech, the “blue -white” coach said: “I am one of the privileged I have worked for so far in my career with groups who were able to have full medical staff. I’m talking about the safe position of the coach who works in high -level teams. And today Glory to God with the National we have everything in terms of medical support. But things are not always like that. There are not only high -level groups. There are teams in many sports in which there is no possibility of the whole staff. Personally, I say that to scientists involved in sports I give great value. They have fought for years, have read, spent time and even working in sports that have no particular promotion because above all they love what they do. A good doctor and a good medical team gives us really too many solutions“