| 02 September 2010 By Jeff Taylor, Istanbul Those who monitor the European Championships for youngsters every year will remember the name Rok Stipcevic.
In 2006 at the U20 European Championship in Turkey, the 1.85m guard was always hustling around the court, making defense-splitting passes to create scoring opportunities for his teammates.
One of them four years ago was a tall center called Ante Tomic.
Stipcevic was also a pretty good shooter from long range, burying 15 of his 46 three-balls in that tournament
"It was very important to play for Croatia when I was young because during the summer, others rest or whatever," Stipcevic said to Basketball World News.
"If you are in a national team, you have at least 15, 20, some teams 30 or 40 games against the best at your age and this is very important for you to build yourself up and to measure yourself against the best." Four years later and Stipcevic finds himself back in Turkey only this time with Croatia's senior team. He truly is facing the best. Stipcevic has only just broken into the squad that is now coached by Josip Vrankovic after spending the previous three years in the 'B' National Team. "This is a big experience for me, to be a part a part of one of the biggest competitions in the world after the Olympics," Stipcevic said. "After your basketball career, it means you will be able to talk to your children and tell them you were a part of the World Championship." Stipcevic hasn't played much, getting just four minutes of action in Croatia's blowout defeat to the United States on the opening day and then nine minutes in his team's 20-point triumph over Tunisia. Wouldn't Stipcevic rather be spending his time on the beach back home in Croatia? "For me, I know that only with hard, hard work can you go up and nothing else," he said. "Before, talent was more important. It was 50-50 talent and hard work. Now talent is 5 to 10% and 90 to 95% is hard work. For me, it's not a tough decision to play basketball in the summer." Stipcevic, who has left Zadar and will play for Cibona Zagreb next season, says Vrankovic is a good fit for the job. He replaced Jasmin Repesa, who resigned after Croatia's disappointing showing at EuroBasket 2009. Croatia had expected to challenge for a place on the podium but lost to Slovenia in the Quarter-Finals. "The coach (Vrankovic) was a player and now he's a coach - he understands the mentality of the players," Stipcevic said. "He's young. But still, he has authority and he's the boss, and we listen to him." How far can Croatia go this summer? Vrankovic says he wants the team to play at least two more games after they wrap up their Group B campaign against Brazil. The winner of that game will finish third. "We'll play against Brazil and must wait for Serbia and Argentina," Stipcevic said. The winner of Serbia's (3-1) clash with Argentina (4-0) on Thursday will top Group A and take on the fourth-place team in Group B. The loser of that game will end up in second. "We must hope that we are going to play better and better every day," Stipcevic said. "I think this team plays better against the better opponents. Maybe it's the mentality needed for preparing ahead. Everyone wants to show we can play against the better teams. "I think Croatia has a lot of things to show." | 
