The strategy of developing young players in Serbia is a very complex matter and very often it is a process that does not take place until the end. For some reason, it is considered that young players are only those who perform in younger categories. The fact that young players develop and form in their early twenties is being forgotten. That’s why, for example, in France there are clubs that play TOP 14, ProD2 and National competitions that have teams up to the age of 23 where they develop players. They will definitely not send the youngsters to be hardened in Federal 2 or Federal 3, but will carefully plan their development with the aim of maximizing their potential.
We in Serbia do not have such a luxury, on the contrary. We can’t wait for the youngsters to mature to fill the holes in the senior team. Then we expect the young players to gain experience playing against players who are in their prime or against veterans, where apart from losing by a high score, they also get beaten. We often hear answers that players are steeled in this way and that this is how players grew in their time. That’s our favorite line. When you invest in the younger categories, and when after 7-8 years of playing in the youth team, a player goes to the seniors, your task is to ensure that he stays there for many years, that he develops and progresses and becomes the mainstay of your team.
Our reality is that we have very high-quality young players in Serbia up to the age of 23. And we can add that more and more young and educated players will come from the system of younger categories. That talent should be honed and directed in the right way. Motivate them to train individually and provide them with a quality environment where they can develop their potential. This can be done through development camps, formation of academies and various selections that can play test matches with teams in the region or national selections. A great thing was done with the U18 selection when the camp was made, and then the matches with Bulgaria and Croatia were played. We are of the opinion that it should be done with teams up to 20 years old as well as up to 23 years old. If they had two games each of all these selections, we think they would do the right thing. If they hired a quality coaching staff to work with such selections, the progress would be enormous. We would complete one whole cycle of player development. Just imagine a player who is 25 years old, who was educated in the younger categories, and who passed the U20 and U23 selections. Just imagine a player who is 25 years old, who was educated in the younger categories, and who passed the U20 and U23 selections. Just imagine a player who is 25 years old, who was educated in the younger categories, and who passed the U20 and U23 selections.
We in Serbia have quality, we are genetically made for a sport like rugby. We currently have a lot of quality players in the younger categories, so we are not worried about the future of rugby in Serbia at all. But we must mention that we also have very good U23 players. Some have taken over the primacy in the senior national team as well as in their clubs. We have to admit that the current situation was good for them because they really filled the space in their teams in a high-quality way. A large number of U23 players have become leaders of their teams. In selecting our ideal U23 players, we took players born in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 . These are players who play in Serbia, we did not take players from abroad into account. We could also include players born in 2004 in the list. But they already have their U18 list, which we will publish in a few days. A third of the team list of the season of the Serbian Championship is also on the U23 list.
U23 team of the season of the Serbian Championship
15. Ivan Vostić
Position: Fullback
YOB: 2003.
Club: RK Dinamo 1954
14. Aljoša Avramović
Position: wing
YOB: 1999.
Club: RK Partizan
13. Stefan Simović
Position: Center
YOB: 2002.
Club: RK Partizan
12. Nemanja Stošić
Position: Center
YOB: 2002.
Club: RK Rad
11. Dušan Gavrilović
Position: wing
YOB: 2001.
Club: RK Dinamo 1954
10. Nikola Stanković
Position: Flyhalf
YOB: 2000.
Club: RK Rad
9. Srđan Božić
Position: Scrumhalf
YOB: 2000.
Club: RK Rad
8. Stefan Dramičanin
Position: Number 8
YOB: 2002.
Club: RK Dinamo 1954
7. Nikola Advigov
Position: Flanker
YOB: 2000.
Club: RK Dinamo 1954
6. David Pal
Position: Flanker
YOB: 2003.
Club: RK Dinamo 1954
5. Vojin Karanović
Position: Lock
YOB: 1999.
Club: RK Rad
4. Relja Pećanac
Position: Lock
YOB: 2001.
Club: RK Rad
3. Aleksa Dobrosavljević
Position: Prop
YOB: 2001.
Club: RK Torpedo Mlava
2. Milan Trujkić
Position: Hooker
YOB: 2001.
Club: RK Rad
1. Luka Jojić
Position: Prop
YOB: 2001.
Club: BRK Crvena Zvezda
