In the second TV Magazine of the season we hosted one true handball star – Nemanja Pribak. Serbian centre back has welcomed us in Novi Sad to talk about his handball story. Throughout his rich career, he went from Zeleznicar to Kolubara, Vardar, French Nantes, Turkish Besiktas and now Vojvodina. In an interesting conversation about his huge handball experience, he revealed us that Vardar and Spaniard Raul Gonzales have a special place in his heart. Besides that, Nemanja also talked about his private life and his favorite childhood memories.
 
What is the secret of the success of the HC Vojvodina that has been maintaining the continuity of good results for years?
Vojvodina is a club that in Serbian conditions does not have a tradition like Crvenka, Zeleznicar from Nis, Metaloplastika and so on. But when a lot of people came to the club they laid some new foundations for something that exists today. Now we have some standards and we have younger categories. Club got the playing hall form the city of Novi Sad and has relatively stable funding which is important for Serbian conditions. Here we have some kind of community and everyone knows what his job is. From the janitors, through secretaries to the sports director to the president, coaches, assistant coaches, physiotherapists, all of them. So everyone is doing their job and I would say that this is what separates them from others in Serbia and in the end they have continuity which is my opinion is very important in every sport, including handball.
 
What are you favorite memories from childhood?
These memories are usually related to the sea. My family has a house in Ulcinj, Montenegro. It is the very south of Montenegro and it is the place I am most attached to after my  hometown and my village. We were spending summer months there.  My brothers and I built that house with my dad, a little bit every year. Also, I’m very attached to the village where my grandparents lived. All those nice memories are from that period are and they are related to Ulcinj and the village.
 
You have two kids, do they play handball?
My children are not interested in sports at all. It’s just that maybe I’m not trying to instruct them in something, not because I don’t want to, but because I’m trying to recognize what they would like to do. My daughter is an artistic soul, she likes to draw. She is quite good student. And when it comes to my son, he isn’t showing any interest for handball. All that matters to him is that his parents are close to him. And as soon as we need to leave him somewhere for a couple of days, he starts to protest. He is attached to us and it is his hobby.
 
You’ve been wearing number eight on your back for years. Is there any symbolism behind that number?
Nothing special, it’s just that Nedjeljko Jovanovic who was my idol growing up, the best player from this part of Europe ever in my opinion, gave me a shirt back when I was a kid in Nis. National team was playing qualifiers against Norway and as I entered the locker room after the match, he gave me this shirt
with his number. It’s just something I’ll never forget. There were quite a few sportsmen who used to wear the jersey with that number – Savicevic, Veselin Vujovic and the other guys I was growing up watching. Zarko Paspalj, basketball player. And that number, it’s not that I’m emotionally connected to it
but I simply like it and don’t want to change it.
 
What is Nemanja like outside the handball court? What does he do in his free time?
I don’t have a hobby because I don’t have time for something like that. When I have a day off, I play basketball. When it’s summer time, I ride a motorcycle, it’s been my love since I was little. Dad had a motorcycle and my brothers and I, we fell in love with motorcycles. On the weekends we do tours, not so far away but nearby.  Apart from that, I don’t have much free time because we are here alone, we don’t have grandparents, aunts, uncles. They are all in Nis and then we spend our free time with children. They go to school, so we pick them up and help them do the homework.
 
If you want to find out more about Nemanja, check out the exclusive interview with Vojvodina’s centre back, who is playing his sixth season in the League, on the link below!
 
Enjoy!