Marcos Milinkovic: lessons with a legend

He shakes his right hand – with which he smashed the ball like few others – with claw and looks straight into the eyes. «I am Milinkovic», points loud and clear accompanied by that smile that, they say, only gamers have. Right at that moment is when, really, I believe that I am in front of Marcos Carlos Milinkovic (San Martín, Argentina, 1971)authentic Argentine living volleyball legend.

He poses for the graphic editor as if he had done it all his life. And it pleases him in each of his shots. Arcadio – the photographer – is more than satisfied, Marcos jumps into the stands to “get away from the field and there is less noise,” he points out. Once seated, he tells how the Argentina that he left behind a few months ago is: «It is very psychologically hit and, above all, very affected in terms of tranquility, security. It is a country that is going through a very big crisis.. There are places where insecurity is tremendous… In addition to sports, that was also one of the reasons why we decided to leave the country at the time, obviously. We Argentines like to go out on the street, be with people and be able to walk calmly, and that is what we can do here in The Palms» where, he adds, «we have been delighted from the first day».

What of work with the young quarry It also had easy agreement. «In recent years I was in Argentina working with the Panthers [así se le denomina a la selección femenina de Argentina] and also with the Pantheritas [categorías inferiores], and I wanted to try this experience, to be able to lead a women’s team. I like this feeling of being with young people, transmit experience and knowledge. Through a friend I met in Marbella we contacted the Olympic, we sent the resume, we started talking and then happily everything happened,” he says.

As a player – and now you will understand what a legend is – Milinkovic He led a historic Argentina. He arrived at the Albiceleste very young. He first defended her as a youth, where he played in the South American Championship in Catamarca in ’89 (he won silver) and the World Cup in Egypt in ’91, the same year he debuted with the senior team in the Havana Pan American Gameswhere the bronze is hung.

With the under-21 He took silver in the South American Championship in 92, and in March 95 – already with the absolute title – achieves glory at the XII Pan American Games in Mar del Plata. That 3-2 against the United States is forever etched in his retina. «It is impossible to forget that: we won 2-0, they went 2-2 and we were down 14-12… It was very nice. That without a doubt, along with the 2000 Sydney Games [Argentina terminó cuarta, pero fue nombrado MVP del torneo y su gorrazo a Dante, para superar a Brasil, es fábula en su país] “They are my best memories with Argentina,” he says.

Furthermore, among other notable performances, it was the Most effective attacker in the 1998 World Cup in Japan; top scorer in the World League qualifiers of ’96, ’97 and 2000; their 150 points at the Sydney Games They earned him the MVP of the event, where Argentina would reach the semifinal; He repeated the award as most valuable player in the 2002 World Cup… «For all of us, the national team was always something special. We never had the possibility of charging money to go, Ours was always a matter of heart, of passion and love for our country and we always represented it in the best way we could,” he recalls.

«The only thing this generation lacked was winning something important. We were always there, but then… With Russia in the semifinals of the Games, 28-26, 26-24… World Cup with France the same to get among the four… We were always there close», he adds nostalgically.

As a club player he didn’t do too badly either. «I started playing when I was 16 years old. Before, I played basketball for about two years, but when I tried volleyball I found another sensation, it was something different, special,” he remembers.

That change of modality did not sit well with either his basketball coach or his neighbor, the club manager. “The coach wanted to kill me, and my neighbor who was a manager didn’t speak to me for a year,” he remembers while laughing.

of the modest CS Villa Ballester went to Sanitary Works, the best of Buenos Aires. The transfer cost his new club “about six or ten balls and a net. “We were cheap before,” he says while smiling.

Then, already seasoned, he would go through the most powerful leagues in the world: he started in the Italian A2 with the Leghorn in 92; Then he traveled to Brazil to play with Cocamar Paraná in 95, Chapecó São Paulo in ’96 and Olimpikus Rio de Janeiro in 97. He returned to Italy to play in the A1 with the powerful Sisley Treviso (1999), where he won the Champions League and the Italian Cup, in addition to the modest Asytel Milanowith whom he achieved a historic runners-up finish before returning, in 2003, to Brazil to defend the team’s shirt. Unisul Sports, former Olympikus. «There I lived one of the best years of my sporting life away from Argentina. “We won the League, the Cup… It was an incredible year at all levels,” he remembers.

In 2004 he traveled to Greece to join the powerful Olympiakoswith which he won the CEV Cup, and in 2005 the Coroza banana treesIt would be his next destination in Puerto Rico. After a new course in Brazil, with Florianopolishe would return to Argentina, where he was warmly welcomed by the Formosa Union (reached a historic League final) and Buenos Aires from Mar de Plata, where he would give his last shots. «At the time I decided to return to Argentina I was already playing year by year. Depending on how I felt, I would continue or not.

Immersed in 2013, he already knew it would be his last year. «I would have preferred to retire in another way, since after playing a first round like never before, spectacular, I could not continue doing so due to a problem I had in my neck. That little black spot remained», he recalls, still hurt by not being able to play in his last final for the championship.

Tribute in Luna Park

But he still had one last game left. And not just any one. It was in Luna Park, of course. There, in the temple of Buenos Aires, a September 16, 2015, managed to “gather great friends. There were some Europeans missing who couldn’t come, but the vast majority were there and that for me was the most beautiful thing,” she remembers.

It was just a see you later that party between friends. Separating it from the courts will not be so easy because volleyball is in his veins and he has plenty of knowledge and desire to transmit it wherever he is required as a coach, where he has just begun to work with women after his fleeting but enriching experience with the Panthers. «I don’t know if I can make a living from this, but it is something I enjoy; I get angry, I want to find a solution to everything… I like working with young people, see the progress, the improvement. It’s something I did all my life and now what I intend to do is continue learning and try to do it better and better,” she says with a firm look as she says goodbye to begin her daily training with the young women of the Olympic. Impossible to retain him if volleyball claims him. YesYour legend continues.

Many friends along the way, but one very special: Maradona

Milinkovic made friends with many Argentine stars. One of them of special importance: Maradona «El Diego, the greatest. He is a person that many like and others like nothing. He was always very respectful with me. He came many times to see the team play in Luna Park. That year – the one in the image below – we met at a football Olimpiakos party after becoming champion. I played in the club and he was one of the guests. “We met and spent a few days together,” he says.

«I always bring out the human side of people and Diego had a lot. ThenOn the court for me it was another level. Like Messi or Pelé… they are one », he added.