Like for any parent that has undergone the tragic loss of a son, Marcos Milinkovic’s life turned upside down after the death Luka Milinkovic, his son of only 13 years of age, on July 31. Luka, who lived in Serbia and was considered a top young prospect for the Serbian team, died while vacationing on the Croatian island of Brac. This deeply affected Milinkovic, who then went on to spend some time away from the volleyball courts.
He now decided to return, not as a coach, but as a sports manager instead, on the same team where he last worked, Argentina’s UNTreF, according to voleyplus.com. When he last worked with the team, they won the 2016 Argentinian Cup. The team announced it on its official Instagram page:
When asked by Diario Olé why he returned to volleyball, he stated:
It’s important to think about something else and not to stay at home beating your head”
Milinkovic is Argentina biggest volleyball hero, and one of the world’s best players ever. Of Croatian descent, he started playing the sport at age 17, a relatively late age, which did not prevent him from developing into one of the best players of his time, even going so far as being honored by the FIVB as one of the best players of the 20th century.
On the court, the 6’5″ opposite hitter is best remembered for his blond hair and superb vertical jumping ability. He had the most success with Italian clubs Treviso and Milano, in which he played from 1999 to 2003. With the national team, he was 2000 Summer Olympics’ best scorer and the 2002 FIVB World Championship MVP.
Here are a few more tidbits from his interview:
Milinkovic, please tell us a little bit more about your return to the courts:
– I am happy about the possibility of working with volleyball again and with people I already know, in a really interesting League project.
What are you going to do?
– Help the coach with everything he needs to observe from an outside perspective while he is busy working with some other things, be it in attack, blocks, whatever he needs. And, obviously, social things outside of what is the volleyball team, more with the theme of the University.
It’s good to be busy …
– Yes, the truth is that this came at a time when I needed to be busy for much of the day. This possibility that the people of Untref give me is important, first because it is to return to work in something that I like, and secondly, because it is important to think about something else and not hitting my head at home.
It was seen that you received a lot of support from the people.
-Yes, it was a really nice surprise at a tremendous time. The truth is that when I began to look at the amount of messages and nice and supportive things that I received from the people, it was obviously a small signal at that moment that I had to continue. Obviously the feeling of pain is unmatched, but I have my whole life ahead with two beautiful children and a beautiful woman next to me, and they are the great reason to continue and make them happy.
After three matches of play, UNtreF is currently in 7th place in the Argentinian national championship.
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