Saturday brings first preparation game

The Cedevita Olimpija basketball team is facing its first test this summer after three weeks of preparation. In the Rogla Sports Hall, the players of head coach Jurica Golemac will face Oldenburg, in a match that will be closed to the public on Saturday at 19.00.

On Monday, the senior team of Cedevita Olimpija entered the third week of the preparation period. With the exception of Zach August’s center, which is expected to arrive in Ljubljana in the coming days, head coach Jurica Golemac has all the players available for training. At the beginning of the week, team captain Jaka Blažič joined the training, and during the week, Jacob Pullen also met new teammates. All the remaining reinforcements have been training with the team in the cone beauty for some time.

“Our team is slowly completing. We are currently waiting for Zach Auguste to arrive. The guys who are already in training are getting up day by day. Above all, I have in mind physical fitness here, as well as mental, as some players have had a long summer. We are already trying to introduce some principles and tactical ideas into our work, as the first preparatory matches are ahead of us. The boys are hardworking. During the preparation period, we always take the time to get to know each other and to get to physical fitness through work, which allows us to play matches. So far, we can be satisfied,” says the head coach of the current national champions, Jurica Golemac, after Friday morning’s training.

On Saturday at 19.00, the Dragons on Rogla will face Oldenburg in Germany in the first preparatory match of this summer, and the match will be closed to the public.

“As the word itself says, the preparatory match is primarily preparatory. We will try a lot of things and all the players will get a chance to play. The emphasis is and will be, as in the entire upcoming season, on the game in defense, that is, our principles, intensity and guarantee. We have to play for each other,” Golemac points out, adding: “We will run a lot in attack, but it is important that we do the basics well. We must not lose the ball, we must pick up the bounced balls under our hoop, and that when the moment comes when the ball is on the ground, we are the first to throw after it.”

“The three weeks of the preparation period are practically behind us. Our team is almost complete in practices. We are just waiting for Zach to join us. In spite of everything, we can hardly wait for the period of preparatory matches to begin,” said the young Luka Ščuka before Saturday’s test. Luka had a great summer in the jersey of the Slovenian men’s U20 national team. “Training is hard during this period, but it is expected, and the atmosphere in the team is great.”

FRIENDLY GAME

Rogla Sports Hall (Rogla, Slovenia), Saturday, August 28, at 19.00:
EWE BASKETS OLDENBURG – CEDEVITA OLIMPIJA