Croatians have a connection at Virginia Tech. First, Dinko Gudelj from Karlovac has been a star tennis player receiving scholarship in the early 1990s. He paved the way for Davor Dupljak, also from Karlovac, who was #1 tennis player at VT for a couple of years.
There are 2 other students on soccer scholarships at VT from Croatia. One is Stanislav Licul who is Ph.D. degree and Toni Visnjic who is a junior. The Croatian Ambassador to the United States Ivan Grdesic was a Fulbright scholar at Virginia Tech about 4 years ago. Also, Virginia Tech is this year sponsoring a fantastic program "Summer Study Abroad" that includes Croatia. http://www.filebox.vt.edu/users/jfritsch/
Davor Dupljak is Finance major on the Dean's List, a member of the "Big East All-Academic" and the most valuable tennis player of Atlantic 10
conference. "All this I would not be able to accomplish if I would have not
been ready to fight and work hard for it."
Born on June 24, '79, 6-foot-4, 210 pounds Davor will graduate in December. "I am planning on going to Graduate school next year."
"Davor is extremely talented. He certainly has a big serve and forehand and his backhand has become a weapon as well. Right now Davor is undefeated and he is playing with so much confidence it is amazing. I would be scared to death if I had to play in right now" says Davor's tennis coach Jim Thompson.
Davor himself feels that "Today, to be successful in professional tennis you have to have a whole army of people supporting you and providing you what is necessary and that is money."
Virginia Tech has an outstanding reputation in sports and on academic level. http://www.hokiesportsinfo.com/mtennis Davor says, "The only reason why I got scholarship at VT is because of my tennis skills and Dinko Gudelj, who made first contacts with the tennis coach here at Virginia Tech.
"It is a great honor and privilege for me to be attending and graduating
soon from Virginia Tech. Me, coming from the small country like Croatia and now I'm finishing something that is going to determine my whole future.
"Beside tennis and school, if I have some free time I really like to go
out, to meet other people, girls mostly and to have lots of fun. I also like to play basketball."
In the best of Croatian and American tradition, Davor also found the time to volunteer by translating some private and personal letters for an American woman, Diana Gabriel, who was adopted only to discover her roots from Croatia.
"My biggest accomplishment is to be here in the United States, to be
graduating from a good and well know University and to be a part of Virginia Tech tennis team. Through these past 4 years I learned how
everything and anything is possible if you really want it and if you are
willing to put time and effort into it. Nothing is for free.
"The scariest thing that happened to me was the whole 5 years war period in
Croatia. I was practicing tennis and suddenly we were attacked in Karlovac by Serbs from Krajina. There was an explosion about 100 feet
away from me. I thought I was going to die! For next
few hours I was not able to speak. That was one of the worse experiences I
ever had." Davor's father served as a soldier on a front line defending their hometown Karlovac.
"My biggest role model in tennis is Pete Sampras. And I like Goran Ivanisevic a lot. At Wimbledon, when Rafter missed that last shot, I was the happiest man alive! I started crying and then I finally realized how actually Goran has a strong impact on me.
"I am spending my summers teaching and playing tennis either here in the
US, in Croatia or in Germany. I am trying to make some money, so I can help out my parents. But also I like to party a lot and I can tell you one thing, there is no better place in the world than Croatia in the summer time. Croatian coast is really a place to be. No wonder Croatia is called "A small country for a great holiday".
"I would really like to go to the Graduate school, but that will be only possible if I will be able to get some kind of scholarship or aid because otherwise I will not be able to pay for it. For example I would not be able to be here in the US, if I did not get this tennis scholarship, because I would not
have that much money.
"My parents in Croatia are trying their best to help me out, and it is not very easy for them. They work every day from 4 in the morning until 2 or 3 in the afternoon, seven days a week, just to be able to send me some
money when I need it. Every day is getting harder and harder for them.
"Here at Virginia Tech, I am really grateful to two people who helped me a lot. Lois Berg, my athletic advisor helped me so much, especially first two years when I came. Whenever I had a problem, she was always there for me. Also, my coach, Jim Thompson has really gone out of his way, over and beyond his line of duty, to help me out. He is a great person on and off the court.
"Janica Kostelic is definitely representing Croatia as no one else these days.
Her success is huge and I wish her luck in further competitions.
"Croatian Economy? That is a tough one! We all know how Croatia was
in the war for 5 years. But now every day is worse and worse. People work and they don't get paid. Something is wrong and we definitely all have to ask
ourselves this question. People in power are only interested for their wellbeing and not for the wellbeing of others. Regular people are the ones that have to vote and elect people with more skills, knowledge and connections to be able to interact with the whole world.
We have to open our market to foreign companies to invest. We have to give them good deals. But the problem in Croatia is whoever invests something, in less than few years goes bankrupt! Why is this happening and where is all that money? No one will help us unless we help ourselves. We have to stop be the smartest ones and we have to listen to other ideas and to let other countries in to invest in our capital. As soon as that happens economy will improve, we will have new companies in Croatia. That means we'll have more money, our currency will automatically go up and demand for goods will go up, our tourism will grow incredibly and finally we'll become a part of the European union. It is only up to Croatian people to decide when!"
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