We all know that person that is so successful and that makes you wonder how he/she can do all that. University sport is a perfect place to meet these greats, people that are successful both on the sport and academic field. We are sure that the fifth European Universities Games in Belgrade next year will be full of great examples. However, in Serbia one guy pops out. It is not enough to say that he is extraordinary.
Stefan Stojačić, born in Novi Sad in 1989 is a well-known name for everyone who follow 3×3 basket. Hardcore 3×3 fans know that he was World Tour MVP in 2017 and that he is currently top 5 players in the game. However, his entire sport and academic career sounds unbelievable.
Born in Novi Sad, a city proudly named Serbian Athens, Stefan showed great potential from his early age. When he was six he already won chess medals among children four years older than him. If he continued to play chess perhaps we would talk about one of the Europe or even World greatest players, but he decided to move to a different sport - basketball.
You know that in a sport similar to basketball ho touched the stars, but did you know that he was World Champion and twice European Champion? In every youth national team he was irreplaceable and his generation won everything. They won gold at U-18 and U-20 European Championships, and his basketball career reached its peak at the U-19 World Championship in his hometown. He and the boys won gold but what is more important is that he won by playing in a direct duel against one of the best players in the world right now - Steph Curry.
If we concluded the text here, we believe that you would be amazed of what he achieved. However, his academical career is as impressive as his sport career.
Stefan owns three Bachelor degrees in completely different fields of study. He graduated from law, economy and mechatronic school. In Serbia, if you want to achieve that you have to study each faculty from start to finish and subjects from different faculties cannot be combined. First degree, as he said in several occasions, was wish of his parents, his parents and grandparents all graduated from Law school. Second came by accident. After the U-19 World championship. Entire national team got scholarships and he decided to graduate finance and banking. Bot faculties he studied parallel.
Last Faculty he enrolled was, as he says, his first love. Because of it he decided to make a (short) break from his basketball career and completely dedicate himself to it. And how does that look? He graduated with highest honors, became a teaching assistant and was a part of the team that became robotics champions.
Stefan Stojačić inspires and he will continue to do just that. We hope that he will be our guest during European Universities Games in Belgrade next year and that all guests of Serbian capitol will hear his fantastic story in person.
