Fifteen-year-old from Podgorica Pavle Bulatović in his collection he has a large number of medals that he won in judo tournaments.
He is a judoka of the "Milenijum" club from Podgorica, but also a member of the Montenegrin national team in the cadet age category in the 90 kg category. He is a multi-year state champion, last year's cadet and junior state champion for 2022, vice-champion of the Balkans in 2019, and even though 2023 has just started, Pavle has already won one medal, the one for cadets up to 90 kg.
However, this fifteen-year-old high school student does not link his sporting beginnings to judo, which brought him great success, but to football.
"As a seven-year-old, I played football at FK Montevideo under the coach Belig Radović. I was always bigger and taller than my peers and while I was playing football my friends fell around me because I pushed them. Coach Beli always told me: 'Take it easy Pavle, you're not good at judo'. I didn't understand what that meant then, until one day my father took me to a judo club for training and told me that I'm not for football, because my constitution is not for a football player, that I'm selfish because I don't throw balls to my friends, and that football is collective sports. Again, I didn't understand what my father was trying to tell me, so I begged him to take me back to football. My plea didn't help. Father was decisive. And that's how I start training judo", he says in an interview with Magazin Bulatović.
He does not hide that the first days were interesting for him in training.
"The kimono I put on, the falls and flips I learned on the tatami mat, all of that was interesting to me. After the first mastered techniques, fights begin where you learn to apply them to your opponent. This is where my troubles begin. Although I was bigger and taller than my peers, maybe even stronger, I was thrown by younger, lighter and weaker players because they were more experienced while I was a beginner", recalls Pavle and admits that it was difficult for him.
"I cried after every training because I couldn't compete with any of my friends, and I thought I would do anything to beat them. My tears and pleas to my father to return me to football were in vain. He just told me that I'm a man and that men don't cry and that I have to fight," adds the young athlete.
Pavla's first year was marked by a struggle with himself as he tried to persevere and learn how to overcome his relentless friends.
"Some spite worked in me and I started to learn techniques and apply them and slowly climb the ladder of better competitors. With further work and training, I applied for the belts and then I got the opportunity to participate in the first tournaments and win medals", says Pavle, who won his first medal in the pole vault.
"All this was an incentive for me to work better and to love judo. I have to point out something else very important that encouraged me to go further, and that is my family and coaches. My father is a former military person, he served in special units and trained special forces, so I accidentally fell into his 'work system'. He kept telling me, 'work, order and discipline' and that I was far from the Spartans. Again, I didn't know what Spartans were even then, until I grew up a bit and watched the movie '300'. All this fit with the work system of my trainers Zorana i Bogoljub Prelević who were champions in the former Yugoslavia. In particular, my father's system fit well with coach Zoran, who is also a former special forces officer. The coaches relentlessly imposed and passed on their knowledge and asked us to be better. They did not regret either the time or the effort to work with us and guide us to tournaments. In such working conditions, half of our group with whom I started dropped out", claims Bulatović and reveals what judo has compared to other martial arts:
"Judo teaches us to fall and get up. It's the same in life. In judo we develop physically and intellectually. In Japan, judo is a philosophy of strength and cleverness. Because of all this, this sport is not popular with my peers, and those younger than me. It is easier to train a team sport than an individual one. In collective sports, the successes and failures belong to the entire team, and in individual sports, you are the bearer of everything and you need to have the head to bear the ups and downs. So, team sports are more popular than individual ones, and even more so compared to martial arts, where you need to have heart and courage", notes Bulatović, and he does not hide that if a child decides to develop himself through sports, it is important that he has the support of his family. , but also a trainer who will know how to transfer knowledge.
"Perhaps one of the most important things is to have role models, first in the club like I had - champions Lazar Ćupić, Nikola Bebe Vulević, Stefan Prelević, the Čađenović brothers, with whom I grew up, learned from them and, of course, in slang terms, 'got beaten' in the fights. That's the only way I could progress when everything came together. I'm glad that there are more champions in our club whose time is coming", Bulatović proudly points out and does not hide that everyone who wants to practice this martial art must be ready for willpower, work and great sacrifices.
"While my peers are having fun, going out, going where they want, filling their lives with some other usual things, I have to train. On a daily basis, I have two training sessions, and in the period of preparation for bigger tournaments, I have more training sessions during the day as well. In addition to all this, I also have responsibilities at school in order to be a good student. Of course, all this is exhausting both mentally and physically, but I have set a goal for myself and I am finding a way to balance my obligations," reveals Pavle, who is in the first grade of the "Slobodan Škerović" Gymnasium in Podgorica, and claims that although he brings medals, he has no privileges.
"In the gymnasium, we in the sports department have extenuating circumstances regarding justifying classes and absences from classes when it comes to obligations regarding training, competitions and everything else, but the professors are also demanding that they transfer and extract a lot of knowledge from us", claims the young judoka who became the new/old national champion at the 2023 cadet championship a few days ago.
"Precisely the victory in this tournament allows me to participate in prestigious continental and world competitions where I will represent the club and the country of Montenegro. My first next competition is the European Cup in Naples (Italy) on February 11 and 12, where I expect to get a medal and collect the points I need as an indicator and recommendation to the Judo Federation of Montenegro, that I deserve to be taken to bigger, prestigious competitions such as the Balkan, European and World Championships.
Since judo is an individual sport, it requires much more financial resources.
"All these tournaments and championships of mine require financial resources, and for now that burden is on my father and the Millennium Judo Club. If not, all the effort would be in vain. I know it's hard in the country and it's hard to live, but some sports like water polo, basketball and handball are sponsored, while martial arts are not. I need two kimonos, the price of which is between 400 and 500 euros, not to mention how much is needed for food, travel to tournaments, accommodation in official hotels, participation costs, and there are mandatory camps that also require a lot of money. Despite all this, my father and coach do not discourage me from taking me to tournaments and also me from being the first best", emphasizes Pavle and says that all the "torment and problems" he faces give him an even greater will to work on himself. and improves year after year.
"I would one day like to become a World Champion, and therefore an ambassador for my country, to pass on my experience to younger generations and promote judo," concludes Bulatović.
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