<< Front page Sports March 5, 2004

Tomasevic takes unusual path

In the locker room, literally: Senior Bosko Tomasevic hangs out and answers questions in his athletic home away from home.
 

Bosko overcomes many hurdles for successful career

By Matthew A. Kaplan

Senior Bosko Tomasevic will graduate Oberlin after amassing 700 points and more than 300 rebounds in three years for the Yeomen basketball team. But that is only a single chapter in this remarkable student’s athletic career. His passion for basketball has led him to encounter a rock-star-like traveling schedule, language barriers and absence of his immediate family who live half way around the world.

Tomasevic hails from Belgrade, Serbia, located on the Southern edge of the Carpathian Basin at the joining of the Danube and Sava Rivers. His country is recognized more for war than for great basketball talent, more accustomed to resiliency than basketball prowess and defined by economic sanctions, not the finesse for which Tomasevic fluidly exercises his pivots, posts and dunks.

Serbia, like many European countries, does not boast high school or youth leagues to develop young players. Coaches and basketball gurus simply pinpoint talent at the earliest stages of a youngster’s development and work to progress each 10, 12 and 14 year old into a national team player. Tomasevic’s father, Boris, is a 6’9” power-forward for the first Yugoslavian Professional League.

“They pick you at 13 and make you a talent,” Tomasevic, who garnered the attention from club coaches as a teenager, said.

Throughout his early teens, Tomasevic suited up for Belgrade’s Partizan, a club whose alumni include current Los Angeles Clipper guard Marco Jaric. After four successful years, Tomasevic decided to take his gangly, yet muscular frame off the court and into the pool where he earned two gold medals in swimming and a starting spot as goalie for the Yugoslavian Junior National Water Polo Team.

A quick hiatus from the hardwood for the pool left Tomasevic with a rekindled fire and hunger to take his developed 6’8” frame back onto the court. From grades nine through 11, he excelled as a forward for former Sacramento King Predrag Stojakovic’s club, MKADOST Jr’s. Tomasevic’s dominance on the court fostered a dream of coming to the United States to play basketball and earn a strong education.

“It was my desire to play college basketball and study,” Tomasevic, who garnered the interest of many American suitors, said. Tomasevic and his family were approached by an agency which places top international student athletes with American high schools. Tomasevic found the courage and the bravery to leave his homeland and enroll for his senior year of high school at Life Center Academy in Burlington, New Jersey.

Just 17 years old, with very little English under his belt, Tomasevic continued to lace up his sneakers, crack the books and spend long hours improving on and off the court. He earned straight A’s throughout his senior year of high school and his play on an already touted basketball team garnered top regional honors. Tomasevic, after just a few months in the United States, began drawing the interest of many of the elite college basketball programs. Instead of enrolling at a four-year college or university after graduation from Life Center Academy, he headed to the McCook Junior College in McCook, Neb. where he strengthened his body, improved his understanding of American basketball culture and continued to excel in the classroom.

Tomasevic’s understanding of American style basketball did not come as fast as his ability to earn strong grades. “I struggled a lot the first part of the season,” Tomasevic said. The finesse and fundamental approach of European basketball was nowhere to be found in gymnasiums and field houses across the United States.

“The American game is much faster and more physical,” Tomasevic, who finished his only year at McCook with an average of 14 points per game, said. Tomasevic’s play continued to draw interest from many Division I basketball programs such as Brown University and Rhode Island University, as well as a handful of coaches who wanted Tomasevic to stay another year in the cornfields of McCook, Neb. to finalize his game.

Tomasevic eventually chose Oberlin College. Not ordinarily known as a basketball or athletic powerhouse, Tomasevic saw it as a chance to attain his dream of getting a superior education.

“Division III basketball is more relaxed and not as much pressure as a Division I team,” Tomasevic, who also has time to major in economics, said.

Tomasevic’s playing career at Oberlin has left a mark that will be remembered by fans, alumni and players. He amassed 700 points and more than 300 rebounds in his three years with the team. During his junior campaign of 2002-2003, Tomasevic led the Yeoman in scoring with 15.2 points per game and a competitive 6.2 rebounds per game. This past season, Tomsevic teamed with Yeoman center Chris Ikpoh to provide the “twin towers” of the NCAC Conference. Tomasevic finished his playing career with a dominant win over Earlham. “It was the best way to finish,” Tomasevic said.


 
 
   

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