Croatia Coach and Captain Speech
7/17/2010

The Republic of Croatia is honored to be apart of the 23rd Olympics games here at Owego. Although we come from a small country, us Croats were not surprised by our selection to partake alongside the highly qualified athletes here tonight. Both Schneiderman and Schwartz are two names that can be seen on the Croatian roster but they are more commonly recognized as Velik Crven and Malen Crven or “Big Red and Little Red”.

Our Croatian future only looks brighter with the addition of Thomas Gelman to the roster this year, but you Americans will soon refer to him as a young Michael Phelps.
However, Croatia holds a dark past devastated by political confrontation and disagreements over territory. After 5 years of brutal fighting, the Communist Kingdom of Yugoslavia refused to give us our freedom. As our dignity continued to be knocked down, Croatian nationalism remained strong. By May 19th, 1991 we finally had our freedom.
Tonight, Croatia, our small nation stands as a giant before you. Years ago, to appear here and compete would only be an ambitious dream in the hearts of our athletes. But as one unified and determined country, we Croatians can safely shout, “san izvršiti se” meaning, “Dreams do come true.”

When you’re caught up in the spirit of the games, it’s easy to forget to be a waiter. You may not always remember to bombard Kyle and Andy about whether it is a canteen day or not. Yet, you will always have each chant stuck in your head well into August. “Ohhh yeah, uh huh, Ecuador is number one, number one is Ecuador….” I will admit Teddy; it’s pretty catchy.

But along with memorizing each chant, all of you will collect a library of songs for your Ipods, your PSPs, or whatever it is you kids have these days.

Just 8 years ago, I was grateful to be apart of Japan’s winning run led by Head Coach Brian Platzer. Besides, the constant screaming of Japanja Japanja, most of my memories take me to Brian making everyone on the team laugh when we needed it most. Today, I see those same qualities in each of the head coaches in front of me tonight. We are all tired, we are all grumpy, Kaplan’s even losing his voice, but yet you still all find time to be creative natural leaders; skills that you have all developed over your extensive time at Owego.

Before you know it, Owego will be preparing itself for it’s 60th summer and it’s 33rd Olympic games. The boys of bunk Boone and Bridger will all be 18, 19 and some of them even 20. Many of them will stand on this very upper field and deliver speeches as head coaches for their respective countries. There will be 60 more deserving captains, 60 more songs to listen to, 60 new countries, and 10 new plaques with lucky names painted in Owegan history forever.
I hope that you all cherish these moments of the upper field. As the great Ferris Bueller once said, “Life moves pretty fast, If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

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