Two water polo teams from the United States visited Herceg Novi -the University of California from Los Angeles (UCLA) and Santa Barbara teams.
- Every year, the UCLA water polo team is a top candidate for the university championship in the United States. Their coach is famous American water polo player, Adam Wright, who after talks with our coach, Vladimir Gojković, decided to spend 6 days in Herceg Novi during their Euro tour - says Mračević.
The University of California team was delighted with what they saw in Herceg Novi and the Jadran hosts and hospitality they experienced. According to Wright, they will most likely return next year, because this was one of the most beautiful experiences in their water polo career.
The Santa Barbara team is staying in Kotor as the result of cooperation between the sister cities of Kotor and Santa Barbara, initiated by Herceg Novi born resident in this Californian city, Goran Milić. This collaboration includes that his famous Culinary Academy made a summer school, attended by children from the Resource Center for Hearing and Speech in Kotor, explains Mračević.
- In contact with Milić, we suggested they visit Herceg Novi, and they did, by boat from Kotor. They were welcomed by a tourist guide. First, they visited the Old Town, got to know the history of Herceg Novi and went down to Škver, to the Jadran pool."
On June 19, guests from Santa Barbara played a friendly match with Jadran, after which they visited the trophy hall and were introduced to the tradition and history of the club.
- They were impressed with photographs and our history, especially when they saw the documents of the players from distant 1926. They were amazed because they did not expect that there was such a big history of water polo here and that we cherish the memory of the things that happened 92 years ago - says Mračević.
He believes that this visit by the team from Santa Barbara, with the support of Goran Milić, will result in better cooperation in the future.
Source: Radio Jadran
