The women's basketball club Trebjesa has had a very successful season. The team from Nikšić reached the finals of the Cup and the finals of the Montenegrin Championship for the first time this season, and in both competitions the cup remained in the possession of Budućnost Bemax.
Trebjesa is a young club, created as a result of the cooperation between Nikšić's Olimp and Budućnost. Only one senior, Teodora Sarić, plays for the first team, while the rest of the team consists of juniors, cadets and girls born in 2009. And because of all this, the success of the team, on whose bench Lidija Krstajić sits, gains in importance.
"Of course we are satisfied. When we started the season, our goal was for the girls to play and develop. As the season progressed, we saw that we had a chance, we progressed, played in the Cup and Championship finals, which is a great success. Trebjesa is a club made up of basketball players from one city and I am very proud of that," team coach Lidija Krstajić told "Vijesti".
Six years ago, the Olimp basketball school was founded in Nikšić. Three years later, a collaboration with the Budućnost team took place, and from that collaboration, Trebjesa was born. It was at Olimp that Krstajić worked, and continues to work, on talent development with Nemanja Grabovica.
"We're taking it one step at a time. I'm thinking about playing in the WABA2 league next season, to raise women's basketball in Nikšić to an even higher level. First we have WABA2, then WABA, those are some of our goals. We need more money for that. But, in essence, the most important thing for us is the development of the players, for them to work, mature and be real seniors. The result will come by itself," explains Krstajić, a member of the champion generation of Budućnost, which won the title in Serbia and Montenegro in 2002 and a former national team member.
Trebjesa went step by step, not a single step was skipped.
"When we started, we had one selection. Now we have all the selections up to mini basketball, about 150 girls with a basketball school. It's easy to get a boy into the gym, but a little harder for a girl. We looked at how to get more people into it. We have a promotion, six months are free for the 2013 year. Let them come, see if they like it. Once they enter the gym, most of them stay. We have a healthy story," explains Krstajić.
There is also cooperation with the women's team of Buducnost.
"The girls have the option to go directly to Buducnost. They will accompany them. When the girls move to the cadet and then junior teams, Buducnost will provide all the equipment and travel. I hope that some of them, as they progress, will have the opportunity to play for Buducnost."
Trebjesa's results are an opportunity to focus more attention on Nikšić, on the development of women's basketball in that city, one of whose symbols was Roling.
"Nikšić has always been the center of women's basketball, a city of all sports. If we go back, the backbone of the national team was the women from Nikšić. I started and played in Nikšić, played for the national team and I am happy that the women's basketball from Nikšić is returning to where it belongs. In the younger categories, we have U15, U16 and U17 national team players, which means that we are on the right track. The senior national team was held by the women from Nikšić until recently. I would also like the city to recognize it, to see that it doesn't take long for girls to achieve success in women's basketball, to play serious basketball in the Sports Center, like in the past," concluded Lidija Krstajić.
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