106 | Vaterpolo » Water polo sport / sports Montenegro, which should remind all generations of all those legends from the Škver who contributed to building its reputation as a cult venue of world water polo. That’s because the best athletes have always come here with a special reverence and sense of awe, with anawareness of just how difficult it is to secure points in Herceg Novi, even when you arrive as European champions. Mračević and his collaborators have also built an impressive trophy hall at the Škver, collected all documents of the club and compiled an inventory of all the players who’ve ever played here – many of whom will return to the Škver and dive into the pool for the celebration of this great jubilee on 8th July. That will also provide an opportunity for all of you who happen to be inHercegNovi this summer to attend this gathering of the best of the best. “We will have a game of Jadran’s legends; we’ve invited all the players, while those from the oldest generations will be coaches – two teams with five coaches each. From 87-year-old Boris Čukvas on the one side, to a former water polo player who’s two years his junior on the other. We will start the ceremony with pictures of the decades of the club, a parade of hundreds of Jadran clubmembers, with the oldest taking the youngest by the hand and forming a ring around the pool while singing the anthem. Following the end of the game, our children – of which there are around 250 – will leap into the pool to symbolically announce the future of Jadran and the start of a new century,” says the president of the club’s assembly, who has dedicated his entire life to Jadran. And that long gone date of 8th July, 1922, is inscribed ingolden letters in the history ofHercegNovi. It was then that a group of prominent citizens, including a doctor, a dentist, the president of the court and the director of the then avant-garde Boka Hotel formed a water sports club. It was three years later that water polo began being played by the beaches, and then the ‘Novljani’ took on the players of the English and French fleets. It has remained recorded that in the year 1927 Jadran defeated the English, who inventedwater polo andwere unbeatable in the sport for a long time. “We cooperated the most during that time with the Dubrovnik clubs, Jug from Dubrovnik was founded after us, thoughwater polo was played there before it was played in Herceg Novi. Then came Primorac in Kotor, and that rivalry has so far lasted for 92 years. I like to say how we beat them in 1930. I also like to remind people that in 1958 a city that was then home to only around 3,000 inhabitants became the champion of Yugoslavia, the first champion in team sports fromMontenegro.That was really euphoric. Herceg Novi lived for Jadran. It was that year that we won first place in Brussels, where the forerunner of the champions league was played, and the following year we took all the titles, but then water polo started to emerge in Belgrade, causing Jadran’s glory to fade slightly. The best players went to Partizan, then out into the world, so to this day Jadran has always had to play against some of its own players,” we are told by an enthusiasticMračević, who has spent his whole life at the club. “I have two sons and three grandchildren and they all train. Jadran is my second family and nothing in the world is more important to me than Jadran, except my family, of course. I have been everything - from a pioneer to the president of the assembly, for 60 years already. My life is sport, the sea, water polo, Jadran. If I hadmy life over I’d do everything in the same way,” says Boro in conclusion. Jadran has won 33 national championship titles and has been at the same address since it was founded. It has changed its country of origin six times, but never its flag or name. National teams from all over the world have been guests of Jadran’s pool, while thewater polo cult has never faded and continues to be passed down from generation to generation…On the Škver, in Herceg Novi. Davne 1904. godine vaterpolo se na Olimpijskim igrama pojavio kao prvi kolektivni sport It was way back in 1904 that water polo made its debut at the Olympic Games as the first team sport Foto: Vuk Ilic
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