Dejan Udovičić

Dejan Udovičić (Serbian Cyrillic: Дејан Удовичић; born 26 July 1970) is a Serbian professional water polo head coach.[1] He was named head coach for Serbia in June 2006, after the dissolution of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro. As a senior, he played for Partizan Belgrade and VK Beograd, while his coaching career started with Partizan where he stayed for nine seasons (2000-2009). His most notable achievement with the club was third place at the 2007 Euroleague Final Four in Milan. As its head coach of the Serbia national team, they won gold medals at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships and the 2006 Men's European Water Polo Championship, as well as the 2012 Men's European Water Polo Championship. He has also steered the national team to a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Dejan Udovičić
Personal information
Born (1970-07-26) July 26, 1970
Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Medal record
Men's Water Polo
Head Coach for  Serbia
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place2008 Beijing
Bronze medal – third place2012 London
World Championship
Gold medal – first place2009 Rome
Silver medal – second place2011 Shanghai
European Championship
Gold medal – first place2006 Belgrade
Gold medal – first place 2012 Eindhoven
Silver medal – second place2008 Málaga
Bronze medal – third place2010 Zagreb
FINA World League
Gold medal – first place2006 Athens
Gold medal – first place2007 Berlin
Gold medal – first place2008 Genova
Gold medal – first place2010 Niš
Gold medal – first place2011 Firenze
Bronze medal – third place2009 Podgorica
FINA World Cup
Gold medal – first place2006 Budapest
Gold medal – first place2010 Oreada
Mediterranean Games
Gold medal – first place2009 Pescara
Head Coach for  United States
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place2015 Toronto
Gold medal – first place2019 Lima

Early life

Dejan and his twin brother Darko began playing water polo in primary school, after a friend of their father's recommended that they tried it out. Both were attracted to other sports as well, but in the end decided to stick with water polo. At that time, Partizan had top level coaches who had emerged from the famous Yugoslav water polo school headed by Bata Vlaho Orlić (1934-2010). One of the top experts was Nikola Stamenić, who saw, early on, Dejan's potential as a player and even as a future coach. Dejan went on to play for Partizan with great success and became a member of the national team which he then captained for almost 15 years. On the other hand, Darko became the record holder for most games played in of the most successful national water polo teams of all time. While Darko ended his career as a player, Dejan decided to try himself as a coach.

Club career as a coach

VK Partizan (2000–2009)

Udovičić left the club on April 23, 2009, after his team's defeat against Jug in the Euroleague quarterfinals, which meant the Serbian champions failed to qualify for the Final Four.

Career as a Serbia national team coach

2012 Olympic Games in London

At the first training session before the 2012 European Championship, Udovičić showed his players an image of the golden medals which were to be awarded to the winners of the Olympic tournament in London. He told his players, When you start feeling like training is taking a toll on you, these images should remind you to keep working as hard as you can!"[2]

Honours

As a Coach

VK Partizan

  • National Championship of Serbia (4): 2001–02, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09
  • National Cup of Serbia (4): 2001–02, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09

Individual

Public Engagements

In 2011, Udovičić - with his fellow countrymen Vlade Divac and Slobodan Soro - appeared in a TV commercial for a Quit smoking campaign.[3]

References
  1. "Dejan Udovičić" (in Serbian). Serbia Water Polo Federation. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
  2. "Udovičić igračima podelio slike olimpijske medalje!".
  3. "Ostavi pusenje osiguraj zivot - Dunav Osiguranje, Dejan Udovicic, Vlade Divac, Slobodan Soro". 24 November 2011.
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