Basketball Body and Mind
"Basketball, Body and Mind" is a podcast that is dedicated to youth basketball players. Each episode will provide practical strategies for basketball skills, body and/or mind for performance on the court.
Basketball Body and Mind
Ep 32 | A Pro Big Man Explains How Injuries Changed His Mindset | with Jurij Macura
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Eight knee surgeries is the part people don’t see. The standings don’t show it, the highlights don’t mention it, and most young players never hear what it feels like to sit on the sideline while your team practices. Former pro power forward and center Jurej Macura joins us to tell the full story, from leaving Slovenia for a top academy environment to fighting through a career that keeps rerouting.
We get real about what actually drives youth basketball development: stepping out of your comfort zone, doing the unglamorous extra work, and learning to train your body with intention. Jurej breaks down coordination training during growth spurts, why strength and conditioning matters even during the season, and the simplest knee-protection advice he trusts: get stronger with squats and deadlifts. We also unpack how recovery habits like sleep and nutrition stack up over years, not days, and why “perfect health” is rare in pro sports.
The deeper thread is mindset. Club changes, COVID chaos, coach turnover, and even bankruptcy can hit without warning, so we focus on a principle that applies on and off the court: control what you can control, and don’t waste energy on the rest. Jurej also shares how the right people, family support, and mental skills coaching help athletes handle setbacks and keep growing.
We close with what he’s building next: FitRive, a team management app designed to help coaches track readiness, sleep, soreness, pain, motivation, and communication in one place to reduce missed info and lower injury risk. If you coach, play, or parent a serious hoopers, subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.
Who The Show Is For
SPEAKER_02This podcast is for youth basketball players, their parents and the coaches who develop them. In every episode we cover topics that determine your success. We talk basketball, body, and mind. I am a Stan, strength and conditioning coach and physiotherapist, working with youth basketball athletes around the world. If you are serious about your development and you want to succeed in basketball, this podcast is for you. Let's get it. Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Basketball Body and Mind. Today our guest is Jurej Makura, uh power forward and center from Ljubljana, Slovenia. He started his uh as you can understand, he started his career in Slovenia. Later, he went to play in Bosconia, where we met for the first time. And uh later he was playing professionally in Spain, in Serbia, Slovenia. He actually also played uh with the Slovenian national team, men's national team. Uh beyond passable, right now he is working on something that actually I believe is really personal to him. It's an app that he helps athletes to minimize risk of injuries that he will that he has gone through that we are going to touch a little bit about. So, Yure, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_00Thanks, thanks, Tan. Nice to be here.
SPEAKER_02Uh I was thinking about uh first and actually the only time that we have met in uh Bosconia, and then I thought, okay, it's been 10 years, and the way we we have talked a little bit, like I don't know, once every few years, but the way we reconnected and we went try to talk, and I thought uh you said yes we could talk about this, and I'm and I was thinking, okay, what should I what can I know about you? And I was trying to look for information, I cannot find much, but uh there is so many things actually now that we have talked a little bit before we started to record that I want to ask you, uh, but tell me, how do you uh how do you feel right now about uh like professionally and personally in this current place?
Retiring Early And Finding Purpose
SPEAKER_00I mean I I feel great right now because um as I've said uh as I've told you before we we started recording, you know, in September I had to stop playing basketball and it was uh it was a big hit for me personally because basketball, as you said, like with at 14 years of age I went to Spain. It was pretty much everything I I thought and imagined would be my life um until like 30x years old. Um so it was it was a big shock. I had to stop. Um of course I had many problems with my knees. Um I think also genetics didn't help much with all of that. But the genetics helped with the height. It they they did. The genetics did help, but um yeah, my knees just gave out. So you know it was it was hard, but um by January I pretty much got up on my feet. Um from for the app you said for the platform. I've been working on it for about one and a half years. We'll talk about it later. Yes, but uh yeah, like this really gave me, I'd say the business world and development world uh really is now the second challenge after after basketball for for my mind.
SPEAKER_02Yes, I wanted to start with this question because I was not aware before we called uh that you that you have stopped already playing basketball. Uh but uh you said that you're feeling good, and I want everyone to understand that uh okay, sometimes maybe God has some other plans for you. I mean, God, destiny, you you say whatever you want, but uh even if you would somehow force to stop uh playing basketball, life can be good. It's about uh, you know, like uh maybe somebody would think like it's impossible to be uh happy without basketball. But uh look at you. Like that's how we uh started. You said I'm good. But let's start a little bit with the beginning of your
Love At First Basketball
SPEAKER_02career. And uh, was basketball the only option for you from the very beginning like of your life? Like, or did you do any sports and basketball was something that actually later just uh became serious?
SPEAKER_00I mean, you know, I started really training basketball when I was six years old, you know, or five years old. Okay. So, you know, like for me, it was a love at first side side kind of thing, you know. Like it was just I tried judo in in my first class of elementary school, like when I was four to five years old, and then I just I just gave up. I was just like, okay, no, basketball is really my thing because my elementary school was like 200 meters away from from uh gym, where Slovan Ljubljana played, they were uh very good back then, they were in ABBA League and everything in the in Adriatic League. So, you know, it was yeah, I was watching guys like Yaka Lakovic, for example, you know, he started there, or uh I was watching Micha Zupan, I was watching Goran Dragic when he started playing. So, you know, for me there was no doubt, like judo didn't have a chance.
SPEAKER_02Okay, and then at the age you said 14 you moved to Spain,
Getting Scouted For Spain
SPEAKER_02right? So, how did that opportunity come uh to you? Was there like an agent that kind of helped you to get spotted, or was your height and domination dominating at that youth level got you notice in in Spain? How does that work for you?
SPEAKER_00So at first, um okay, I told you I started playing for Slovan Libriana, I started training there, and then I moved to Olympia because Olympia was a bit more serious, of course, a club. And um we with Olympia we had many friendly tournaments, you know, like in Italy or or we went to Hungary, sometimes we went to Serbia as well. And we were on a tournament in Milan, Italy, and um we were playing good, we played until the finals, and I was having a great tournament. So I think it was uh scouts from Bosconia, they saw me, and they told me like, hey, come come visit, uh, come to a child, we want to we want to see you live. Uh and I went there. Like the the tournament was, I think, in December, maybe, and then in in uh June when I stopped uh when I when I uh finished the classes for elementary school, I went there for about five days. They took my measurements, they uh did some training individually with me to see like capabilities, uh skill level, etc. Um, and then pretty much it was like, yeah, in about a month, I think, uh we heard back from them. They said, Yeah, we want to sign you. Are you ready to come? And uh yeah, that was the decision.
SPEAKER_02Nice. Uh it's very nice to hear that uh I mean uh they did everything and uh that you signed, but we are missing lots of steps in between. So I this is what I would like to uh kind of get a little bit more into uh because maybe it was your height, definitely it helped you, but it cannot be just the height that kind of guaranteed your um like let's say uh signature on the paper with the Basconian.
Training Extras That Made Him Stand Out
SPEAKER_02So how what were you doing? Like were you training a lot or were you very talented that you didn't need to train that hard?
SPEAKER_00I think I mean I was talented, of course, because I'm I come from a very basketball-oriented family. Um both of my parents played, my older sister played. Uh my younger brother is now in UCLA, you know. So um, like pretty much it was all basketball, like all the time. And um, yes, I mean that kind of drove everything. And then I did a lot of individual work apart from uh being in Olympia back then. You know, I did individual work also with Sascha Doncic, uh Lucas' father, um and and uh Spaso Todorovich Spale. He was he was a legend here in in uh in Ljubljana. We did a lot of individual work basically. Like I was talented, but I need to I needed to to do a lot back then to you know like really stand out from the others. Height helped, of course. I wasn't like extremely high. So yeah, that was pretty much the the thing that that I had to do. In um in Olympia I had a great coach. Uh his name was Gaspar Potocnik. He was then later he was also an assistant uh coach in national team. He was uh very successful in in Hungary as a coach for seniors. Um and he was kind of my mentor in in Olympia. Uh I was practicing with the junior team, with the under-18 team already when I was 13-14. So yeah, it was uh it was a big thing back then for me, and they helped me a lot. Like having right coaches by my side, you know, training. Um I think also like the right leadership from my parents uh to tell me, you know, like also you need to stay in school, you have to study, you know, dedicate, dedicate yourself to to the craft, so to basketball and to to studying to school is is and um still remains a big thing of our family. So I think both is very important.
SPEAKER_02So I if I understand one is parents that kind of influence you and let's say genetics because you were in that uh let's say I don't know, like environment, exposed to that possible environment. Another one is extra skill sessions that uh not only skills but extra sessions that you were doing. Uh number three, having a good coaches around, as you mentioned, that uh coach from uh Hungary, I believe you said, or he was working in Hungary.
SPEAKER_00But he worked in Hungary then.
SPEAKER_02Yes, so that one is there anything else like strength and conditioning, what was your recovery? Like, were you paying attention to these things, or it was not a thing by then?
SPEAKER_00I was I was paying paying attention to it, but not as much. You know, like I was I was 12-13 years old, and what the fuck do I know about recovery? But um, but yeah, I mean uh my parents were you know, like were like, Yeah, you need to now, you need to sleep well, eat well, eat vegetables, eat meat, you know, eat like a balanced diet, everything. Of course, when I was little, it was only about chocolates all the time, but you know, yes. I I tried to listen as much as I could. Um and uh yes, it was um also a lot of I wouldn't say like classic strength training, it was more um about coordination back then because I was uh growing rapidly, you know, and um it would happen that you know I couldn't be you know as well coordinated as some shorter guys, and I think coordination and like controlling my body in the correct way was much more important then than just raw strength. So we did a lot of coordination, a lot of these exercises, also like um skill set-wise on the court uh that make you challenge your uh coordination a lot or balance or whatever. Um, and yeah, I think that was that was pretty much pretty much the main drivers of of my road then to Spain and Bosconia.
SPEAKER_02Yes, it's interesting. You mentioned it, you mentioning uh coordination and uh probably eye hand con uh eye hand coordination, maybe eye-foot coordination, all of these things. Because I also believe it's super important, but to find the way to measure it or to really kind of train it and uh put it into system, it's difficult because if you put it in the system, it's it's like you don't have to coordinate that much because it's like systemized everything. So, in a way, you kind of have to find a way to challenge, but also have that fun or play because you are 12 to 14 years old. Uh so it's interesting that uh any exercises that come to your mind for like coordination that you used to do and you think it helped you? I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Like tennis balls, drills, like or would you use a ball or do with those? Then or then like uh just dribbling with two balls, you know, like at the same time, or I don't know, like um having opti obstacles, you know, and then like jumping on one foot and then the other. Like there's there's a lot of a lot of these or balance exercises, you know, like on the on the bubbles, you know, and then on the one foot and trying to balance. Yes. I think I think most of most of those were um very beneficial, you know. And then like just for controlling my body, the standard plank position, um, you know, standard push-ups, uh squats, whatever, that's pretty much what I would do. But of course, back then that was like how much almost 14 years ago, so you know it wasn't as developed as it is now, of course. You know.
SPEAKER_02Okay, yes, okay.
Academy Life And Leaving Comfort Zones
SPEAKER_02Okay, so you moved to Bosconia, and then in Bosconia, uh you were playing for that um uh how is it called? Like Lab, like a silver league team, right? Uh Bosconia Padlets.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that that was later. I was I was playing for yeah, the the academy teams uh yeah, youth. Uh first first year when I was there, it was only youth. Uh I was playing for the under 18 uh team. Um and then uh I kept playing the next seasons, but then I already got implemented into the second Basconia team. It was back then it was still I think like fourth or fifth Spanish league or something. Um it was just you know to get um to a higher level because like people in those leagues are stronger, you know, and they're seniors, so it's it's a bigger challenge for us, but uh I think it was a way for Basconia to um make you keep growing in terms of basketball knowledge and and um coordination, strength and everything. Also, I think mentally a lot.
SPEAKER_02You would would you recommend for youth players at age 14 or 15 to if they have a chance to go away from the parents and to put themselves into this environment or academy or like a higher club, or you would go different route?
SPEAKER_00I would I would uh recommend um the young players to step out of their comfort zone.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00What does that mean? I would say um maybe it's another city in the same country, maybe it's another country, maybe it's another continent. I don't know. Whatever is out of the comfort zone for uh 13, 14, 15-year-old, even at 16, 17, 18, that's not that's not um too late. Of course not. I would just recommend that once you you go from home, you know, from parents, um, of course, with the right support and everything, that's not that's not in question. But I would recommend it because you grow up uh much faster and much better. Because in that way you're much more self-reliant, uh, you need to rely on yourself and you need to make it yourself basically. Even now, of course, you have web uh like WhatsApp, you have Skype, you have FaceTime, you have everything. Um you can call your parents whenever you want, um but still they're physically not there. It can be very tough, but I think it's it's uh uh a good way to to really um mature.
SPEAKER_02Yes, I mean the sooner they would learn about uh how to take care about or yes about themselves, uh probably the sooner you will be, let's say, more professional, as we were talking about recovery. Maybe you will see some other players uh that are doing something and you're like, oh, you know what? Actually, I will do that also. Maybe because you also when you go, as you say, to different town or different continent or uh country, uh maybe you will be around more professional people, more professional coaches environment. So even if you wouldn't want, you will still be influenced in that way to be more uh professional.
SPEAKER_00Yes, of course. Also, like as you said, you moved to another country, and that was a big feat for me then because in in Slovenia, okay, I was I was a great player back and by then, you know. I was I was playing, I was doing good at 13-14, you know, in youth in youth teams. I was doing alright. And I thought, you know, like okay, yeah, like you know, I'm I'm good. But then you come to Bosconia and you see that there are about a thousand more that are exactly like you, you know, so that makes you do like a click in your head that you know, okay, now now I gotta work, you know, like there's always gonna be bigger fish, always.
SPEAKER_01Yes, just the way it is.
SPEAKER_02Uh very well said that you maybe are growing in that you're a little area, you know, little town, you're like dominating everyone, and then you go somewhere like oh my god.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. And then then you see like the level of dedication you can you can have and and uh other professionals. I would I would say I was a hard working um young young player, but I wouldn't say I was the hardest one, you know. And um yeah, I think you you can learn so much more if you just leave home.
SPEAKER_02You know so you would say you were not the hardest, uh you understand only it now, or you then I understood it way before.
SPEAKER_00I I was hard working, but I wasn't obsessed, I would say. Maybe not yet. You know. Um I would say that later, maybe in in a couple years, yeah, the obsession came. But um, but like at first, you know, like I was I was talented, I was doing good in Slovenia, you know. I I thought a little a little bit of myself, and then you know, like uh a slap in the face comes when you when you go out in the country, then you're like, oh okay.
The Reality Behind Club Changes
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay, so that was that uh because uh when I was researching you, I found in Wikipedia that you were changing clubs, like um, like sorry if I'm not pronouncing them correct, but like uh mega BMX, Koper Primorska, uh Khrkah, uh so these clubs correctly, so yes, yeah. Okay, so why was it happening that you were changing these uh clubs? Uh was it the injuries that forced you to change the clubs? Was it like you were not, if you can of course say it, uh were you not satisfied with the I don't know, conditions or something? Like because I saw like many clubs.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, uh for me, okay. Um of course, as we talked, I started in in Spain with Bosconia. I was there with the second team like pretty much the whole seasons, but I did, you know, like some preseasons and some training with with the first team. Um so my thinking back then with the agent was like, okay, I see this is a top eight Euro League level team. Probably I won't get much playing time there, you know, because it's it's just understandable. They're chasing the results, they have to be, you know, it's gonna be hard for me to get anything there, especially as a big guy, you know, like as as if as you play on the positions four or five, you mature um strength-wise much later. And it's very tough, you know, to be on the level of Eurobig ACB guys at 18. It's it's almost impossible. So, you know, I was um I was like, okay, uh maybe we need to take another route and um let's take one step back so I can then make a couple more steps forward. Um back then in in Bosconia I already had some problems with my knees. Um I've had two surgeries back then, but um it wasn't that bad still. Like I recovered every time to full strength. I was I was conditioning well, and um like the medical team from Bosconia did a top job with getting me back on my feet. Um but then for when I was 19 years old, so there was I think it was the season 2019-2020, um, I moved to Mega. I went there on a loan from Basconia to try and get some playing time, you know. Um, and I got there, you know, and when I signed with the guys, of course, at Mega, like um, you know, we were like, okay, we're gonna get some playing time this year, you know, like we'll maybe try to be on the NBA draft in about two years. Um and then a week later, they signed a guy, Marko Simonovich, who later then went to the NBA draft, but he was already playing three seasons in ABBA League, you know, and it was my first season after injury, so I didn't get much playing time then because of that. And of course, then COVID came and uh in mid-season we got suspended and I went home, you know. So then we were again figuring out what what to do, what not to do. And that season, uh, another team from Slovenia, Abelig, uh, came to Abelig, uh, Koper Primorska, as you said, and I knew the coach were there and the club staff and everything. So I said, okay, yeah, I will continue here, you know, like no worries. I knew I was gonna get playtime. Um, and it was like, okay, yeah, of course, like a smart decision, you know. Like we had a great relationship with the coach who is now the coach of uh Budučnost in Podgorith and Montenegro.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Um Andrej Jacqueline. So I went to Kopar, I had an amazing half season there, but then the club went bankrupt. You know, so I was like, okay, now what can I do? What can I get out of the season? Um, even though I played great, I was like, okay, let's you know, stay here, let's stay in ABA League, let's keep going, you know, and um have a full season of this kind of playing time. Everything and then you know who knows maybe I really got to the NBA draft. Um, and uh I went to FMP then who was just switching coaches, so I got signed by another coach who then who then got fired, you know, basically.
SPEAKER_02So so many changes like this bankrupt the change coach. It wasn't electricity.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was electric, it was too much. So um then I went to F and Pay, and like there was I think we were like seven guys or six guys on my position, you know. So on some games I would dress up, play 20 minutes. On some games I wouldn't even change, you know, I would be on on the bench, or not even on the bench, I would be like uh in the stands. So you know, I was okay. Um if I can if I can say it like this, it was a bullshit end of the season. Um, but you know, I said, okay, what can you do? Like no nothing can be done now. And um then I started talking with Kerk, uh, which then um was looking uh like a very good like a very good uh next step for me. Uh because also again, you know, Sovenia is very small, there's like two million people, so pretty much everybody knows everybody, especially in the basketball world. Um so I went to Kerka uh and there I was like I started playing very well and everything, but the team wasn't that strong, and uh competition level in ABA League got way tougher in the next year, so we dropped out. So we played ABBA second league the next year, which we won again, and then we moved up to ABBA League again, and then I stayed for my last season with Kerka.
SPEAKER_02You know, okay, okay. So uh one thing that I want everyone to kind of get out of uh if they could just get one thing, is uh do not kind of like you have to always anticipate and plan and everything, but uh like you were saying, okay, what now? Like I cannot do anything with this if that club went bankrupt, and you have to think, okay, now like what I need to do, okay, my goal is to play to get more minutes. So I I really want everyone like because I believe many people think that uh kind of when you go pro, it goes like okay, one club, season two, season three, four, and just you just going this way. It's it's a wild ride. It's not like that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it's a it's a wild ride. Like, usually it doesn't happen the way you want it to, or at least partially, you know, like you you can be partially satisfied with how the first season went, or the second, or whatever. But um, you know, so much stuff can happen inside of one month in pro basketball rather than the whole season. That um, you know, like usually I started to learn about this and and um I had big problems with not accepting the things are the way they are if I cannot do anything about
Control What You Can Control
SPEAKER_00them. That was my problem. You know, I couldn't accept that I don't know, mm-Kopra Primorska went bankrupt. I couldn't do anything about it, but I was mad, you know. I was like, oh fuck, you know, like how how can sorry for cussing, but um like I was like, how how how can I do anything about it? I view it now as you know just wasting energy and focus, and it was unnecessary for me to be frustrated about it. You know, many things in life can happen and you cannot do anything about it. The best thing you can really do is how you react, how you react to it, how you train, how you keep going, or whatever pretty much you have to do. You know, so I would maybe that would that would be the best advice I could give to a young guy coming to professional basketball. Um, expect anything and just take it easy. Cont control and obsess over what you can control.
SPEAKER_02How uh if you are saying this, I really, really like this a lot. You're saying like control controllables. Other like you cannot control other things. Exactly. What about that you mentioned like it on like already at Basconia you had some issues with the knees? Have you accepted that? Like when, or how was the process in your head? Maybe you were having like knee pain after each game, or maybe once a week. Uh like what was the process in your head about the knees and accepting? Were you complaining and like to yourself and saying, like, oh, I wish I didn't have knee pain, I could be dominating, I could be doing this, this. How did that play in your head?
Living Through Eight Knee Surgeries
SPEAKER_00It's um okay, so one thing you have to know my father is a surgeon, and my father did all eight surgeries on me. That's one thing you have to know.
SPEAKER_02Yes, I'm not uh saying like it was like uh done bad or something. I'm just saying like inside in your head, how are you?
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, yeah. I'm explaining the story now. Don't worry about it. Okay. So so yeah, um, you know, and having his influence here was I think, and okay, my families, because they all were in basketball, was maybe one of the best things that I that I got in my situation. I think personally, if I wouldn't have that support at home, I would have given up maybe even after Basconi, after the second injury. You know, because um it's very tough when life's life throws these things your way, um, but you have to know how to deal with them. Um, and sooner or later you're gonna have to know because it's not only in sports, like these injuries or whatever the similarities in other things can be can happen anywhere, you know. And I think yeah, like um recovering from the first surgery I had from the first real injury in Bosconia was the toughest thing ever, and then it kind of eased out because I knew exactly what I was doing. Um, but yeah, like coming coming back from that injury. Um I had a lot of doubts in in my head, and like you know, it was going slow, like it would take months to get back, and everything. Um, I think having the right people around you is is maybe, yeah, as I've said, the most important thing, not only about family, but also uh right coaches. If you can get some some psychological help as well, like if you can talk to some uh mentor coaches, that's a great idea and and a good thing to do. And it's not a taboo, taboo thing anymore to to speak about sports coaching mentor-wise. I think it's it's necessary as much as you have to do gym and gym sessions and train your body, you have to do the same with your mind. The same. Yes.
SPEAKER_02Same massable body and mind, shameless plug.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean it's it's it's a it's a real thing and a real issue that um that uh I think is good to implement already with with uh youngsters, you know. Uh when they're going through academy levels, they have to talk to mental coaches and you know to be ready for for the pro level because the the jump is massive, you know, from young young teams to to senior. Uh so yeah, like if if yeah, you you said about uh the pain and and how I was reacting to it. Um as I said, like after after the first the first uh surgery, when I got the pains again, it was very frustrating. But um I didn't treat them as like this um very bad thing that uh they had to do. I was just like, okay, you know, this is probably I'm not the only one feeling pain, probably, because in in sports many people do, and um, if you're fully healed or fully, you know, 100% okay and nothing is hurting, maybe you're doing something not a hundred percent, because in pro sports always something is hurting. So so yeah, I I treated pretty much like that, and then you know, like I would I would um I don't know, I would do recovery, I would do a lot of uh I studied a lot about you know how to how to keep my my body healthy and you know like do right recovery, right training and everything. Um and I think also this came with injuries. I do not think that without injuries I would do as much as I did having them.
SPEAKER_02Nice, nice. Uh interesting, like you said, like now you are talking about the positive thing that comes from the um from the having the injury. Probably you didn't see that at the time, uh, but uh yeah, I mean, like now when you're reflecting, you think seeing how many um how many things you have learned, how you grew uh over that time. Have you had a single game that you did not have a knee pain? Oh yeah, I did, I did. You did have.
SPEAKER_00I won't I won't I won't lie to you and I won't I won't say that like all the games or everything I was just hurting all the time. Of course not.
SPEAKER_02Because you took drugs? Uh huh.
SPEAKER_00Because you take you you took drugs and that's why you're not feeling any knee pain, and that's the only way to get down the it was um I mean of course sometimes I had to take medication, but uh like um when I got back, like especially like after the first two surgeries, I I was pretty much pretty much healthy, like only minor stuff, but it wasn't like something that would that would be uh more painful than just you know being sore. I would say like there was a span of like two years or two and a half years that I was pretty much okay, you know. Like I had some minor stuff, but nowhere near like a real injury, you know. So um I would say like I've had of course like pretty much healthy healthy games or or when I was like okay, you know, like I feel I feel great. Yeah. Shit came back.
SPEAKER_02And we were not talking we were like talking about this, and we have not mentioned uh what exactly has happened to you because maybe somebody's like thinking maybe it's just like overloaded the knee, but you needed to have a surgery and like tell me a little bit, tell us a little bit about what exactly has happened to you.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so my first two surgeries were on the patellar tendon. Uh basically I had I had um a bad kind of tissue growing behind because yeah, first it was just overload, um, and then we had to clean the area and and everything. Then the third surgery was again the patellar tendon, but I got it partially torn up. Uh, and of course I had a lot of calcination inside as well, also overload. Um, and then the other injuries were torn meniscus many times, and um or in many places, or you know, like had to have it all stitched up. And uh in the end, also I had uh I had completely torn or ruptured my my uh cartilage, which then had to be replaced, and now I have um like I the core of my cartilage now in knees in both knees is plastic. Uh I have uh healthy like lining of of cartilage over it now, which has overgrown because we did a lot of PRP and um and uh stem cells uh treatment to get some over this plastic part, but yeah, like I had to have reconstructed the reconstructed cartilage.
Building Stronger Legs After Injuries
SPEAKER_02How did your strength and conditioning trainings uh were different? Uh like what did you do to help your knees? Okay, you were having that let's say a couple of knee surgeries uh and you are you're probably uh changing something, maybe you're doing something, or maybe you're not doing something. So if somebody has like a knee pain, maybe similar type like yours, uh what like just talk about yourself. How did you change?
SPEAKER_00I would say I would say um I did more work on on my legs, a lot more and a lot more after the injuries, you're saying you're not like saving them. No, no, no, like after after I did a lot of a lot more work in the gym. Um I believe that uh also I think that comes from my dad because he's a surgeon and you know like mechanically he knows the body very well. He's he was specialized in sports injuries on knees. Um and I believe that muscles are protecting your body pretty much, you know. So if you have good developed muscles which are ready, which are prepared, uh fully rested, um, it can help massively preventing injury. So yeah, that was pretty much my goal. Then I I started training more and uh trying to do more for my legs, uh especially quadriceps and glutes, hamstrings. This was pretty much my focus point um throughout my whole injury era, um, you know, just strengthening them and you know to be to be prepared for for the high impact and uh you know high load uh playing basketball then.
SPEAKER_02Did you learn this? Uh like you said that the fighter influenced you by this, but did you have to learn what to do by yourself, or was there in each team a coach that you can trust and do it whether and he or she would develop you a program and say, hey, this is what we need to do?
SPEAKER_00I had I had uh I've always had a very good uh relationship with with strength coaches, probably because I was spending so much so much time with them. But okay, you know, um uh I think yes, like I had the luck that in pretty much every team I went through I had good strength and conditioning coaches which would do um a plan for me. Um but then as you said, yeah, like um after certain number of injuries, I started to learn pretty much myself because in the end, you know, like when you're repeating the same over and over again, you're basically you're gonna learn um sooner or later. So uh pretty much, yeah, like at the beginning, uh the conditioning coach in Bosconia, Hugo Salazar, who is now uh the first team's conditioning coach, he helped me a lot, you know, like getting through the first two injuries. Um and I think like about 70% of total things I've learned for for preparation, everything was from him. Uh so yes, I think he was the best influence for me. And then, of course, other coaches. Uh but yeah, like that's that's pretty much how how I how I learned, you know. And then even in my free time, sorry, in my free time also, I was watching a lot of YouTube videos, you know, like how or whatever exercises else I can do, etc. etc. There was all of that.
SPEAKER_02Yes. I mean, um Ugo was in on this podcast also, maybe episode number four. Uh you everyone can check, uh, yes, I learned from Ugo also uh a lot, and I believe listening from the podcast on the podcast, you can also uh learn a lot. Uh like that's last question before um maybe last because sometimes I just come up with some more interesting questions that I want to ask you.
Would He Choose Basketball Again?
SPEAKER_02But if you knew how everything will that you will have eight surgeries, right? Would you have still pursued your dream of basketball? Yes. Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00I would I would not change it. I would do it ten times over if I could. Um because um I'm uh glass half full kind of a person, you know. I want to always look for uh positive things out of whatever happens. So um, of course, that was also one of the skills I got with the surgeries because there was so much you know bad stuff that comes with having to recover so many times that at some point you have to start looking at it the good way, you know. That like I started I started treating it as you know just ways to get better at other stuff. I was like, okay, maybe I now I can't do much for for my knees because I have to rest. Okay, I can sit on a chair and shoot, you know, and or I can do whatever else, or I can then uh try to use this to even more strengthen my legs, you know, or whatever. Whatever it is you can do, do it. And that's why I I think um I would do it a lot more times because it just made me mature that much more and um and understand that it can always get worse. Whatever you think, and if you're in a bad position, it can always get worse, you know. Um and I think that's that's a good way to to look at to look at things and look at life basically.
SPEAKER_02This is what you learned from the injury. Do you think you didn't have this kind of mindset before, like it can always be worse?
SPEAKER_00No, hell no. Because I didn't look at it, you know, like everybody knows know that okay, yeah, like injuries can happen, but you do not know it in here. You know, you you you're still kind of surprised that it happened to you, and then you say, Oh, why me? Usually it's you know you can't predict it. You know that it it's like um you know, having a car crash. You know, people have car crashes, you know it can happen, you know it's a common thing, but still like um you're many people are surprised when they look at their phone on the red line and then they just go and they crash, and they're like, Oh, it happened to me, I'm surprised. It can happen to anyone, and then um I think just being prepared and having done everything you can, so 100% only in that way I think you can get through things mentally well, you know, because then you can forgive yourself. You've done everything, you cannot do anything more, and that's about it.
SPEAKER_02You know, interesting. Would you kinda let's say we are as you said, like working, talking to the uh psychologist, working on the mind, would this would would you include this kind of not saying like uh expecting the injury, but working that if would if injury would happen, hey, this is part of the sport, uh, this is how would I kind of develop and this is how I would uh improve my game, would you include now this for someone younger, like kind of uh in their mental quote unquote training?
SPEAKER_00Um or not really I wouldn't I wouldn't say for for injuries necessarily like just to tell them that you you know you're gonna get injured. No, like I would I would just um try to uh in some way I'm no expert, but I would I would try to uh make them you know acknowledge that bad things can happen and that you have to be prepared for it, basically. You know, um and that's you know like it's only about the way the way you react to negative stuff and not what has actually happened. You know, everybody can get injured, everybody can miss shots, everybody can train bad or be lazy on one day, but it's only how you react to the next day, how you do the next move, basically.
SPEAKER_02Yes, um like I don't say this uh right after the injury, but depending on type of the injury, maybe like it's next day or maybe one week later. Uh but I always when I'm working with when I'm rehabbing and working with that uh uh player who after the injury, I say, look, there is a way for you to minimize risk of injury by 99%. I think like I'm pretty sure you will not take that advice, but I say there is a chance. And they say, What is it? I said to stop playing basketball. It like you will still have as you said, like you can still have an injury, you poo-poo-poo, you can still have a crash, you know, but uh it will be so little that like probability that you will get. And the reason why I asked you that question, I said, if you knew that it's going to be this way, like you say, hey, I would still pursue my dream. So this is what the answer, like, it's more important to me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, of course, it's yeah, it it's as you say, it's about it's about how you view sports actually, basketball, tennis, I don't know, football, whatever. If you're ready to be injured at one point or to have problems, health problems, if you're ready to be sometimes in pain and sometimes to win a championship. You know, everything has risks and negative stuff, and everything has positive stuff. Every single thing in life. So, you know, if if you're ready to accept it, then of course keep playing basketball. Don't worry, you know, just like do your best to try and prevent negative stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00That's my view.
SPEAKER_02Yes, interesting, interesting. Like um, like talking about this and seeing how uh like a professional basketball player uh was seeing and is seeing those injuries and uh what is going through your head. You're saying like pam your family helped you, the people around you helped you. It's something that uh we probably don't think that much about. We just think okay, I need to do maybe I need to get back on the court, I need to get uh like doing some exercise. But uh hey, it's 24 hours and then it's another 24 hours, it's next day. It's only been one week. One week, one day. It's exactly like a season journey.
SPEAKER_00Yes, it's it's way tougher when you're on the sideline, you know, not playing. Yes. Um and even like in professional teams, usually even the injured players come to watch the practice, you know. And I think that is one of the toughest times to be a professional. Professional player being on the sideline and not being able to actually practice, and you have to watch everything, you know. And here you have to watch games. You watch games on the sideline, you're dressed up, you're not even warming up. So uh I don't want to scare now anyone, you know, like don't play basketball. Of course, of course, play. It's it's a very beautiful sport, it's just about my experience and what was tough for me. Yes, and whatever was tough, or like whenever I was on practice and watching, I would always try to, you know, like try to practice by myself or with strength coaches before or after practice or during practice if if the head coach allows, you know, you go to the gym, you practice with them, you know, you do other stuff. Even studying, like why not? Like during the season, if you have time, if you have the energy, of course, study, do something, you know. Um, because uh also um sports or professional sports where you're in when you're in that world, it's a very close bubble. You don't know what's on the outside, you know. So I would also advise anyone to you know be ready when when the professional playing stops, you know.
FitRive And Smarter Team Management
SPEAKER_02Yes, just like uh it happened to you. I don't know, was it uh expected or not, uh, but you had a kind of a reroute uh that you did and you are developing this app. And is that something that could help uh youth athletes to minimize their risk of injury or is doing something else?
SPEAKER_00It's basically in its core, or I started it with that mentality, you know, to try and uh prevent injuries and to um let's say bring closer, you know, coaches and players. That was my my idea at first, you know, because we had a similar app uh that we were testing out with Basconia when I was there with the first team, but it didn't work out, it was way too complicated, and we then just abandoned it. Um and my idea was to make it on the one side um tech enough and statistically good enough for uh the basketball and strength condition conditioning coaches, and on the other hand to be simple enough and to actually help the players themselves because I know how it is when the app is too complicated and it just feels like another I have to do this, uh in you know, and it doesn't feel like a thing that can actually help you. Yes, yes, yeah. So yeah, it's it's a it's a team management app basically. Yes, it uh helps, yeah. No, no, continue, continue, please. It it helps you uh or the coaches, it helps them uh to track athletes, uh how they're sleeping, how they're eating, how they're feeling after practice, um, how they if they feel any pain, if they're motivated, how they're mentally. Um and then it helps them to plan, schedule practices, schedule the season. Um there's a lot of stuff inside. They can even do some uh tactics and strategy, and then they can share it with uh with the players. They have uh integrated like uh messaging uh app, like for example, if you just put WhatsApp in this app as well, you know. So you have um also we did like the team leaderboard, and then you can compare to other players how you're doing, how you're eating, etc. Like you can even connect it with a smartwatch. Now we're testing out, so yes, yeah, there's there's a lot of functions inside to to help the teams and players as well.
SPEAKER_02Yes, it's interesting because the the gamification that you make that leaderboard say, hey, he slept nine hours, I have to get now like more than him, and uh so on. So I assume not to assume, but I understand that this app is more devoted to the coaches or club managers who are uh kind of need to need to manage all the team. It's not for like uh let's say youth athlete would uh um let's say get access and he would be tracking his food or like sleep or something. It's more for the teams, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it's it's more for the teams like as a whole. I would say um it's a team management ecosystem. So you have everything in one app, you know, and to eliminate app fatigue. Because now uh many teams use uh I'll just start cunning. They use uh WhatsApp for communication, they use email or calendar for scheduling, they use another app for tracking and doing uh I don't know, tactics and uh strategies, and then they use another app for uh tracking their athletes, you know. So that's four apps which we can eliminate and only use one, and that way also like injuries for injured um information for injured players. You know, many times it can happen in a season that um coaches are sometimes overworked because they have loads of stuff to worry about with those crazy schedules now, and they can just misinterpret or uh lose some information about players who are injured or who are healthy, but they're feeling very tired, you know. So I want to eliminate that gap and um the information lost. So you know everybody can be on the same page, optimize and perform.
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay. So the name for the app if uh some coaches would like to check it or they just uh text you privately. It's it's FitRive. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, FitRive. Um yeah, you can text me privately or uh maybe by email, like if there's any any other teams, we would uh gladly have you on our beta testing uh testing group, which is now going to start testing, I think in about two weeks more or less. Yes. Uh we're just finishing up the app now, and then we will do beta testing, uh, which means the app is about 80% or 85% done. Uh we try to find any mistakes in the system, and then it will be ready for the next season. You know, so um maybe we can also like after you will post this on social. Yes. Uh you can tag me and I will I will give my my email as well. We'll do it definitely. Yeah, so we can we can talk with anyone.
Rapid Fire Advice For Players
SPEAKER_02Okay. Uh look, so let's go to the last part, which is fire questions, and uh you can answer as long or as short as you wish. It can be just one answer, one word answer, it can be like a sentence or more as you wish, okay? So the first question is making your debit for the Slovenian national team during uh like uh qualifiers, like being at the men's team, uh how what did that mean to you?
SPEAKER_00It was everything, you know. For for a for an athlete, it's also I I think it's uh the biggest honor is to represent your country. You know, so I made a debut at home in the biggest arena we have for basketball in Slovenia. So it was it was priceless. I was I was so excited I could I could uh step on the court. Um, and it was probably maybe one of one of the top three moments in in my career.
SPEAKER_02Okay, interesting. Uh what is one thing, if there is one thing, that you would recommend for basketball players to do uh to kind of pro I will say quote unquote protect their knees?
SPEAKER_00Uh squats and deadlifts.
SPEAKER_02Okay, simple as that. Get stronger. Yeah, yeah, of course. So the third question is strength sessions during the season, yes or no? Yes, of course. Yes, of course. Okay, of course. Uh is there any hab oh maybe that's actually the same. I will not ask because you would say uh str uh deadlifts and uh squats. Uh for young Slovenian player who dreams of going pro, maybe going to the USA or playing for the national team. What do you think they need to understand about their bodies at that younger age that probably they're not understanding now?
SPEAKER_00Uh I would say to seek for your weakness or ask coaches what is your weakness and work on that. Um I would say that and I would treat that maybe as as the the biggest thing because if you eliminate weaknesses while you're young, then it's I mean it's it's much easier to eliminate weaknesses when you're young because you can learn so much faster, you can you can uh do so much more, and later in the career, it's very hard to eliminate them because you'll have a professional season, you won't have so much time to work on yourself individually, and that can only be usually done only in the off-season. So, yeah, I would only uh try to talk to coaches what is your weakness, uh physically or uh let's say uh skill-wise, and try to work on that, you know.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Uh last question. Uh, I don't know, maybe it will be the same answer as you just told, but I would like to still hear that. Please finish the sentence. The players who will have the long the player who will have the longest career is the one who.
SPEAKER_00Uh the one who takes their body training and recovery seriously.
SPEAKER_02Okay, simple as that. Look, uh now every episode I get get to three key takeaways. Uh I have more, but like for me, like I'll just try to summarize everything so people can uh kind of recap what we have been talking through. And uh number one that I really take uh out of our call is the get out of the comfort zone. Because maybe when you are inside of the comfort zone, you see like just one or two players in your region like that they are just like you. But when you go to abroad or to bigger city, you see, as you said, like there's a thousand more like like me, good players, like serious players, passionate players. So in order to kind of maximize your uh I don't know, chances or that you maximize your potential, you really need to get out of your comfort zone and get kind of uh around those people who are serious. Number two would be that you can control only things that you can control. Like you, if there is something that you cannot control, like as we said, like don't waste energy. It's going to be a good thing. Don't stress over it.
SPEAKER_00Don't stress over it because you you can you can't do anything. Why stress over if you if you can't do anything?
SPEAKER_02Exactly, exactly. So this is one that really stuck with me because uh you said uh you can only kind of control how you react. And we are talking now about the things more about like outside as like COVID or uh bankrupt or whatever, but uh we can talk about like referees calls, we can code call about the uh talk about coaches' decision. Okay, coach decided this way. Like, what can you do? Like we say, no, I'm not going on a bench.
SPEAKER_00No, like how you react is very, very important, and also like outside of basketball or yes, whatever sports, also in life. You cannot control everything, like even after you start you stop playing and you do something else, studies, whatever, doesn't matter. A professor uh is uh I don't know, doesn't like you. What can you do about it? Yes, nothing, but it's the same with coach, you know. Like if you don't have a good relationship with coach, okay, maybe you can do something about it, but if you know you're not playing or or whatever, or if you get an injury or or if you get an F on an exam, it's in the past. You can do nothing about it, you can only react in the positive way.
SPEAKER_02Yes, that's it. Yes, yes, very well said. And the number three thing I really like this, and I'm super happy that you mentioned is uh having right people around you. Yeah, uh whether it's family, whether it's coaches, but people who care about you and who really want you to be better, not those who are kind of uh kind of pulling you down and uh they don't want you to succeed, but those who really, really believe in you, care and want to see you succeed. So these would be my key takeaways from uh our conversation. Is there anything else to add that you would like?
SPEAKER_00I think we pretty much covered it all right now.
SPEAKER_02Yes, uh thank you very much for this uh powerful and this uh amazing conversation. Uh thank you for being open and uh sharing your story, your thought process. Uh I don't know if all people uh are open to share, you know, but I believe this is the only way to really uh understand the kind of other side of basketball because what we see on the TV is the only thing that we see. We don't see that you stopped, you know, playing. We don't see that you uh had these kind of mental uh like a hard days mentally for you. We don't see these things. We see whether you scored, whether you played good, whether you played bad. That's the only thing. So really thank you for sharing that.
SPEAKER_00Of course, you know that I as we we talked about it before starting, um, and I told you, like, and I will say this the same now. If I can help somebody not get tingered, or um help somebody train better or recover better or take it more seriously about about themselves and approach life actually in in the right way, I will be very happy to do so. If I can change something for one athlete right now, I'm going to be very happy with this.
SPEAKER_02If they have listened to till the end, you definitely did, and uh please uh check uh Yuri on
Final Takeaways And Share Request
SPEAKER_02Instagram. You can find it on their show notes. Uh if you got something for this episode, share it with the player, share it with the coach, share it with the parent who needs to hear it. This is the best way to support us. But for now, keep training basketball, body and mind.