Croatia's U20 women's team competes at the European Championship in Portugal with three players from the cadet selection, and the head coach openly discusses the mass dropout of young players.
Croatia's U20 women's water polo team has been competing at the European Championship in Oeiras, Portugal, since Saturday, and head coach Mia Šimunić spoke ahead of the tournament about an alarming issue plaguing her squad. As many as ten players from this age group have openly told her they no longer want to play water polo.
"They just don't feel like it! Our girls who train water polo in Croatia, at 18, they just don't feel like it anymore. Because they're tired, because it's hard for them, they want a summer without obligations and they want to be free. I mean, that's what they tell me themselves," Šimunić said for Sportske novosti from Portugal.
The consequence of this mass dropout is that Croatia is fielding a squad at the Euros with as many as three players from the U16 national team. These are Mari Jadrešić, Karla Popović, and Iva Garić, with Popović and Garić born in 2012 and just 14 years old.
"Those two are from the 2012 generation. I think that says enough," said the head coach. "That's our reality."
The six-year age gap between 14-year-olds and 20-year-olds in water polo is enormous, Šimunić points out: "I don't want to say that any of our players are bad. Not at all, quite the opposite! These girls coming to us are exceptional, fantastic, but they're 14 years old! The difference in strength, muscles, mobility, centimeters-in everything-is huge."
"Ten girls from this age group have told me publicly, literally, 'Coach, I don't feel like it, I want to rest'"
The head coach made it clear that the reason is neither a small pool of registered players nor injuries. "It's not a small player pool, nor injuries, but... Please do write this down, even though some might get upset," she said.
According to her, an additional problem is the overly light training sessions in clubs. When players join the national team, they face a completely different intensity of work: "Too light training in clubs, while the national team involves serious work with 3-hour morning sessions, 2-hour evening sessions, plus an hour to an hour and a half in the gym, and then various games like basketball and volleyball."
Šimunić has been dealing with this issue for ten years, but she doesn't give up. The national team gathers only 40 to 50 days a year, yet they are making progress results-wise. The senior team finished sixth at last year's Euros in Funchal, just like the U18 team at the Euros in Malta. Last year, the U20 team finished seventh at the World Championship in Salvador, Brazil.
On top of all that, the head coach is also dealing with the absence of a key player. "Neli Janković hasn't completed a single full training session during the entire preparation period, over the past month. In fact, her first full training was only here on Thursday. First a knee injury, then a shoulder, then a thumb," Šimunić explained.
Of the 15 players on the roster, 12 arrived in Portugal on Wednesday, July 29, while the remaining three are coming from Zagreb on the day of the first match because they were competing at the U16 World Championship until Friday.
Croatia is placed in Group B with France, Hungary, and the Netherlands. They play their first match on Saturday, August 1, against France at 6:45 PM. A top-two finish in the group guarantees a direct spot in the quarterfinals.
The squad for the Euros includes: Lana Korać, Nina Jazvin, Roza Pešić, Jelena Butić, Karla Ružić, Ria Glas, Karla Popović, Nea Matičević, Iva Garić, Lucija Brkičić, Mara Jarešić, Alka Lulić, Sara Frketić, Tonka Rogulj, and Neli Janković.
