On Basketball: by Uros Plavsic
If you know me, you know the game of basketball for me is everything.
Every opportunity I’ve had in my life, I know in some way I am able to attribute to the game.
It sent me on a path I never thought was possible.
It gave big-city dreams to a small-town kid.
And it taught me lessons that will stick with me forever.
For that there are truly no words to fully describe what that orange ball has meant to me. But this essay is my way of trying.
First, I’ll start by thanking God for putting the game in my life and giving me the ability to hoop, along with the physical gifts that allow me to play sports. Not everyone is 7-feet tall, and not everyone is blessed with the talents and skills to play the game. But He gave me those skills and those strengths, enabling me to enjoy the sport I love the most.
I’ll never forget my first practice, in a small gym back home in Ivanjica. I had no clue what I was in for.
I remember everyone was dressed super nice, with basketball gear and all of the newest shoes.
But then I walked in. I came to that practice wearing a Real Madrid soccer jersey and my soccer shoes. I didn’t know any better. I just wore exactly what I would wear when I played soccer in the streets every day. That was all I knew of sport.
What I don’t think people in America realize is how different everything is overseas. In the States, parents will have scheduled play dates for their kids. We don’t do that back home. You go outside after breakfast, and you don’t come back until you hear your mom yelling from the balcony to come back home to eat dinner and go to sleep. That was my life.
Heading to that first practice, I didn’t have a clue what I was supposed to be doing. The other kids already knew how to dribble, how to pass and how not to travel. They even knew what to do with the ball when they rebounded it. I’ll never forget how lost I felt.
But it got worse.
It was my first basketball game. I was so amazed by one of the other guy’s shoes, I couldn’t even focus on the ball. Of course, while I’m so distracted someone passes me the ball. I didn’t see it and took it straight to the face. Everyone in the stands started laughing, and when I got home my mom said, “You need to pay attention when people throw the ball to you, so you don’t get hurt.”
A real confidence-booster there.
As much as I remember those feelings, there was something I enjoyed about the game, about being out on the court and being around a bunch of other good players. Because of that, I couldn’t help but get interested in what it would be like to be those other guys.
When you have no skills, you’re desperately trying to become better, and that’s what I fell in love with.
It’s all you can do. When you have no past experience, you can get better pretty quickly. I fell in love with the feeling and the process of getting better each day.
But the moment I fell in love was the moment the game had some lessons to teach me.
The game decided it was time for me to grow up.
I loved the game. I was good at the game, but I needed to take my game to the next level.
As a kid, I didn’t really think about my future that much. I just wanted to have fun. When I was on the street playing with my friends and neighbors, I didn’t think that I wanted to play in the NBA or at one of the best colleges in America. I didn’t understand all of the incredible opportunities the game could bring me.
I just wanted to have fun and play.
But as I started getting older, I started to realize that basketball could change my life forever. My hometown isn’t exactly known for producing many successful people. I wanted the people from my hometown to be proud of one of their own. I wanted to represent my city far beyond its borders and put Ivanjica on the map.
But goals like that require risk and a willingness to be uncomfortable and to step into the unknown.
I had to make a lot of tough decisions, with one of them being the most difficult decision of my life.
The decision to leave.
Back home we always say that America is the land of opportunity. And I got my opportunity, and that’s all I needed.
At the time I was in touch with a friend who played with my high school coach Zach Ferrell in college at UT Chattanooga.
I was told all of these great things about Zach, the program he was coaching and about all of the guys that went to the league after playing at Hamilton Heights.
With all of that information, I just knew that it was the decision I had to make to get to where I wanted to go in my playing career.
Even though it seemed clear, it was still a hard decision.
I’ll never forget all of the time I spent sitting down with my own thoughts.
I took a piece of paper and listed the positives on one side and the negatives on the other side. And once I decided to leave for America, there was nothing stopping me.
In the beginning, my mom didn’t believe me when I told her I was leaving. I told her that I would show her and that she would see. Then, I did it.
That was when the game taught me how to be patient with myself.
There were a lot of people who doubted my abilities, my purpose and my goals.
But basketball helped me to show them who I really am and what I’m capable of.
When I arrived in America, I knew very little English. I flew from Belgrade to Germany and then from Germany to Atlanta. When I got to Atlanta, I had to take a shuttle bus from the airport to another bus. I took that bus all the way to Chattanooga, where my high school coach finally picked me up.
I will never forget my first night in Chattanooga. One of my teammates was celebrating his birthday.
We went out to dinner, and it was a horrible experience. Everybody around me was talking, but I literally didn’t understand anything. I didn’t know how to order food. I didn’t know what to answer when they asked me something—even very simple questions.
The toughest part though, was being on the court and not knowing what they wanted me to do. Playing basketball and not understanding the language your coach speaks is tough.
I realized that that was my time to learn new things. I didn’t let myself get disappointed whenever I didn’t know something. I just wanted to learn more and more every day.
People are surprised when they find out I didn’t know anything when I got here. I was just listening to people and using my imagination a lot, trying to see what they were going to do after they said something. I would make connections based off what they did after saying something. I had no formal English lessons or anything, I just learned things through communication with people.
I learned by doing.
Basketball helped keep me focused and calm through that hectic time in my life.
The next lesson the game taught me was trust. Trust in myself, my process and God’s plan.
The second part of my high school senior season, I was playing really well. There were a bunch of college coaches watching me play, and that’s all I wanted.
All I needed was an opportunity.
A couple of coaches came to see me, and then I went on a visit to Arizona State. I liked the place a lot at first, everything seemed to be cool and I committed on that visit.
Then things got tough again.
Before the start of my freshman year, I was advised to redshirt. My first thought, “What does that mean?”
Redshirt? I had never even heard that term before. They explained it to me and said, “Basically you’re going to improve every day and get better every day, because you’ll have more time to work with other coaches on your game and lift in the weight room.”
But things didn’t happen that way for me.
After that year, I knew I needed to move on. Tempe was a great place to live, but I needed to truly make something of my basketball career.
I remember watching Tennessee that year and thinking about how great of a job they did, looking at all of the guys they had on that team and thinking that every college basketball player in America should want to play at Tennessee and play for Coach Barnes.
It was like those thoughts were the start of the real journey.
I had put my name in the transfer portal, and I was on my way back home to Serbia to rest for a bit during the summer. Then I got the call that changed my life.
“Hey Uros, this is coach Mike Schwartz from the University of Tennessee. Coach Barnes wants you here.”
Whoa.
That was exactly what I had been waiting for. In that moment, there was nothing else I was thinking about. I had no doubts or second thoughts. As soon I as I heard that, I knew where I was going.
That call gave me peace. It allowed me to enjoy my time at home, knowing the next part of my journey was waiting for me.
I was ready to play.
Then the game reminded me to stay humble.
You all know the story: I was not granted eligibility when I got to Tennessee.
I spent every day grinding in the gym. I stayed ready. I helped my teammates, and my game improved a lot. Yet, there was always that part of my brain that just didn’t know if I would get to play.
When my NCAA eligibility waiver got denied the first time, I didn’t think I would get to play. I thought the season would end up being a preparation period to get me ready for the next season. Like redshirting all over again.
Then we submitted an appeal. And another appeal. It was appeal after appeal. I spent hours in Senior Director of Compliance Scott Eichner’s office, working through details and providing information. We wanted to do everything we could.
Frustrated and gutted for our big man.https://t.co/pnFkIiyy8U
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) November 2, 2019
It was so tough because I went into every game not knowing. I was told it could be tomorrow, or it could be two more months.
I just wanted the waiting to be over. I didn’t care what the answer was. I didn’t want it hanging over my head anymore.
There were days I wanted to quit, but how could I quit when everyone around me—even people who barely know me—were constantly fighting for me?
I couldn’t play. I wanted to play. It was so hard to prepare and grind with my teammates all week to then watch them go to war without me when the ball was tipped.
But I had to continue to challenge myself to be the best possible teammate I could be, even though I couldn’t play.
My teammates and coaches deserved that. Our team culture demands that.
Then one of the wildest days of my life…
I was shooting on a basket on the side of the court before practice, and our compliance people walked in with super, super sad faces. I said to myself, “Ok, that’s really it. It’s definitely over, and I’m not getting to play this season.”
They came over, got everyone in a circle, and I can’t even remember who said it, but someone said, “Guys, we have some news for our guy Uros. We really don’t know if you all are going to like it or not, but he’s been ruled eligible to play.”
What happened next was a blur.
Everyone was jumping around and pushing me around. Everyone was super happy and excited. I’m not going to lie; I was about to cry when I realized what they said. For the first couple seconds, I was getting nothing but flashbacks about all I went through.
But in that moment, it had all been worth it.
whole squad v excited pic.twitter.com/fS2UmbnOIp
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) January 14, 2020
I was finally eligible to play at this level for the first time, after being in college for almost two years!
It was an incredible feeling, and I just felt so much gratitude for everyone that helped me.
I am still super, super thankful for my teammates, coaches and everybody on our team—including our compliance people. They kept me calm, and they didn’t let me go crazy about everything.
Like I said earlier, I spent hours and hours with Scott in his office writing stuff down, getting ready to submit another appeal, and I was simply mentally exhausted in some moments.
When you see people like him, Coach Barnes and—I don’t want to miss anyone by naming people—every single person on this team and in this program—even Coach Fulmer—helping, it means everything.
When I came here, no one knew who I was. Most of the people in the athletic department had never had a conversation with me before, but they still worked super hard and did their best to help and support me in every way possible. It’s just amazing, and I don’t think I can truly explain what that feels like.
It was confirmation that God hears prayers. He answered mine.
It was a moment I will never forget.
But then, finally, unbelievably, it was time to go to work.
It was time to hoop.
I won’t lie. It was still a difficult season for me. I had some good moments and a lot of tough moments. And it obviously ended earlier than we all wanted it to. But, man, did I learn a lot.
I had to learn the pace and physicality of the college game.
I had to keep learning how to be a better teammate to help my guys both on and off the court.
I learned so much about what it means to grind in the gym every day and enjoy the process that made me initially fall in love with this incredible game.
But with that year under my belt, I now know what SEC basketball is all about and how tough this league is.
The game opened my eyes to all of that.
For the fans… I hope you all know what Tennessee basketball is about this year.
This team is capable of doing some big, big things.
Seriously.
We still don’t know what the environment at our games will be like. But regardless, we’re going to give our all for this program and for Vol Nation.
We’re going to work hard every single day to put this program in a place where it deserves to be.
We can’t wait to play, and I can’t wait to show you all what this game has done for me.
The game has given me everything and taught me a lot in life.
I just hope it’s ready to keep challenging me, because I’m ready to continue growing and learning.
