1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,260 Alright, well welcome back to the All Things Croatia podcast everyone. 2 00:00:08,260 --> 00:00:13,620 Today we have Katica Nikic and Caroline Spivak representing Team Canada in the Croatian World 3 00:00:13,620 --> 00:00:19,520 Games or Cro-Olympics, which is an Olympic style competition for the Croatian Diaspora. 4 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:23,340 The goal of the games is connecting young Croats from all over the world through sports 5 00:00:23,340 --> 00:00:28,500 and cultural gatherings and to encourage them to cultivate their Croatian identity. 6 00:00:28,500 --> 00:00:32,720 Caroline is the coordinator for Team Canada and Katica participated on the basketball 7 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:33,720 team. 8 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:37,240 The competition just happened so I'm really excited to hear about it. 9 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:39,280 Thanks for coming on the podcast you guys. 10 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:40,280 The pleasure. 11 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:42,160 Lawrence, thank you for having us. 12 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:43,160 Of course. 13 00:00:43,160 --> 00:00:46,840 You know, can you guys start us off by sort of introducing yourselves and where you're 14 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,600 from and telling us about your Croatian background? 15 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:52,320 Caroline Spivak, currently living in Toronto. 16 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:57,520 I grew up in Croatia, Germany and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. 17 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:06,000 I've spent my youth in folklore, tambura, Croatian school, teaching Croatian school, 18 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:12,960 being involved in the community with our church in Hamilton, our church in Toronto, working 19 00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:16,840 with the Mississauga group on our Christian Park. 20 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:24,160 And I'm really excited to now have been the coordinator for the second Team Canada at 21 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:25,160 the Croatian World Games. 22 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:32,520 We had our first big entry in 2017 and then again this year we had 53 athletes in 2017 23 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:36,320 and 153 this time. 24 00:01:36,320 --> 00:01:41,120 And it is interesting to note that Canadians have been part of the Croatian World Games 25 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:43,760 since the very first games. 26 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:44,880 So that's kind of exciting. 27 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:49,280 Our team has significantly grown and our participation has definitely intensified. 28 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:51,440 That's awesome to hear. 29 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:52,440 Thank you, Caroline. 30 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:56,440 And Katica, can you tell us a little about yourself and your Croatian background as well? 31 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:58,800 I'm Katica Nikic. 32 00:01:58,800 --> 00:01:59,800 I grew up in Ottawa. 33 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:01,960 I've always lived in Ottawa. 34 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:06,280 My parents on both sides are from Croatia. 35 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,880 Well, they're parents, so my grandparents from both sides are from Croatia. 36 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:12,520 And that's where my background comes from. 37 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:15,000 I grew up in folklore, tambura. 38 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:16,440 I did all of that. 39 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:21,920 I went to Croatian school and this was my first World Games. 40 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:24,520 I heard about it, well, my dad heard about it through Instagram. 41 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:29,320 There was a little ad that he saw and he's like, hey, you want to go play? 42 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:30,520 Of course I do. 43 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:36,000 So I joined this and I really, I had a great time. 44 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:39,320 What was your, so you played on the basketball team, right? 45 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:40,680 I did, yes. 46 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:41,680 What was your experience? 47 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:48,360 I mean, were you playing basketball in college, high school, you know, sort of recreational? 48 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:51,600 Yeah, so I started playing basketball. 49 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:53,080 I want to say I was 10. 50 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:59,200 I was fairly young and it started off as just a little camp that my dad signed me up for. 51 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:01,920 And since then I just fell in love with the game. 52 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:08,040 I started playing house league and then for like maybe a year or two after that, I just 53 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:09,960 took off in competitive. 54 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:15,560 The previous two teams I've been on, they've both been in the top five in all of Ontario, 55 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:18,880 like one of the provinces in Canada. 56 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:25,320 And it's been an amazing run for me playing for such a high level of basketball. 57 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:31,040 I took a year off for university, like from playing basketball just to get my studies 58 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:37,520 going and I'm hoping that maybe this year I'm going to try out and do something for 59 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:39,800 university ball. 60 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:40,800 That's awesome. 61 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:44,600 You know, Caroline, I want to ask you since, you know, Kathita mentioned, she saw it on 62 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:50,680 an Instagram ad, where did you hear about, you know, these Croatian World Games and how 63 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:52,040 did you first get involved? 64 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:56,240 You mentioned this was your second Croatian World Games. 65 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:57,240 That's right. 66 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:05,420 In 2014, I was in Croatia as I was a member representing Canada, one of three members 67 00:04:05,420 --> 00:04:11,380 representing Canada on the Council for the Government of Croatia, for Croats living outside 68 00:04:11,380 --> 00:04:18,480 of the homeland and was a guest at the opening ceremonies of those games in 2014, which was 69 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:20,180 phenomenal. 70 00:04:20,180 --> 00:04:24,560 And as part of the opening ceremonies, all the participating countries had the opportunity 71 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:26,680 to walk across the stage. 72 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:30,640 And all of a sudden I hear Canada and I got so excited and I thought, how come I don't 73 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:31,640 know about this? 74 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:40,280 And as I watched the team walk across, it was this wonderful group of seniors from Vancouver, 75 00:04:40,280 --> 00:04:42,080 which is lovely. 76 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:46,280 And they have participated in all of the games and they usually win a medal in bocce for 77 00:04:46,280 --> 00:04:47,280 sure. 78 00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:52,840 But I was disappointed because I thought Canada has so much youth, so much Croatian youth, 79 00:04:52,840 --> 00:04:54,400 we have to do something about this. 80 00:04:54,400 --> 00:05:01,080 And that's when I got involved, not only in coordinating Team Canada, also on the Executive 81 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:06,760 Organizing Committee for the Games, because I needed to understand exactly what the games 82 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:11,280 were, how they're put together so that we could put together a team from Canada and 83 00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:14,640 have some really strong participation. 84 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:20,920 In 2017, as I say, we got together 53 athletes, primarily from Vancouver and Ontario, and 85 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:22,960 we brought home 10 medals. 86 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:31,280 And this time we again, primarily from Vancouver, Ontario, some Edmonton, Calgary folks, we 87 00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:35,880 brought over 150 athletes and we took home nine medals. 88 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:38,200 So we're keeping it consistent. 89 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:44,680 So my involvement has increased and will continue to increase. 90 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:49,720 And I hope that we will put together an equally strong team in four years when we host the 91 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:54,080 sixth annual game, or not annuals, the sixth games rather. 92 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:55,080 That's awesome. 93 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:59,840 Katica, I want to hear from you about sort of how this week went down. 94 00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:04,200 It was, I believe, last week, correct, that these Croatian World Games happened. 95 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:09,080 Can you sort of tell us the whole week, what happened, sort of from the journey over to 96 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:12,040 Croatia to that week of games to flying back? 97 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:13,720 How did that go? 98 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:15,960 Well, I'm actually still in Croatia right now. 99 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:16,960 I'm in Dubrovnik. 100 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:21,320 I'm enjoying the coasts right in front of me right now. 101 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:24,080 But flying up, it was a long flight. 102 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:25,640 It was nine hours for me. 103 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:31,640 And once I arrived to the Studenski Dom, it was a lot more than I expected. 104 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:36,040 I had this room and it had no AC. 105 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:40,160 But at first I was like, this is not going to work out. 106 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:43,320 And then after the first night, I was like, this is amazing. 107 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:45,840 I don't know what it was about it. 108 00:06:45,840 --> 00:06:49,080 But it just felt kind of nice. 109 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:50,080 It was different. 110 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:55,480 So the first night I went out, I knew some people who were at the games from Ottawa as 111 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:56,480 well. 112 00:06:56,480 --> 00:06:58,640 And we all went out for dinner. 113 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:01,760 The next day, oh boy, this was a whole week ago. 114 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:03,760 We went to Sjemen. 115 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:05,600 Yes, yes, we did. 116 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:06,600 We went up there. 117 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:08,520 That was lots of people. 118 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:14,720 I know they got motion sickness from going all the way up and around and around. 119 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:18,880 But once everyone got up there, including I, it was gorgeous. 120 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:20,920 The view from up there was amazing. 121 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:25,720 Danko, we went to the 360 Tower that recently opened on Sjemen. 122 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:28,160 I haven't been there yet. 123 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:29,160 Is it nice? 124 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:30,160 Oh, it's beautiful. 125 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:32,520 I really recommend it. 126 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:33,520 It's gorgeous. 127 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:35,800 You can see all of Croatia from up there. 128 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:39,720 Basically, it's all and the people who work there, you'd point somewhere and you're like, 129 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:40,720 so what's down there? 130 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:43,960 They tell you exactly what it is. 131 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:45,960 It's amazing. 132 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:48,680 Tuesday was the opening ceremonies. 133 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:52,040 And those were just that was a beautiful ceremony. 134 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:57,160 It was roughly, I want to say two hours long, I think, something like that. 135 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:00,840 And there were just performance after performance after performance. 136 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:03,840 Each one had me just lost for words. 137 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:04,840 They were so beautiful. 138 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:07,800 It was all folklore from mainly from Croatia. 139 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:10,480 I think there was some from other regions. 140 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:11,480 Correct me if I'm wrong. 141 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:13,480 It was the main dress. 142 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:17,560 They did some oriental and some Egyptian performances. 143 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:18,560 Yes. 144 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:19,560 Yeah. 145 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:22,000 I knew it wasn't all Croatian folklore. 146 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:30,200 But yeah, no, after the first Kolo dance, I leaned over to my dad and I said, I'm joining 147 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:31,720 Kolo again this year. 148 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:34,320 Like it just it blew me away. 149 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:36,000 It really did. 150 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:38,840 And after that, we went, you know, we went down. 151 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:41,040 There was a there was another concert going on down there. 152 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:43,000 I always forget the boys names. 153 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:45,960 They say yes, them. 154 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:49,560 So they had their own little concert downstairs. 155 00:08:49,560 --> 00:08:54,040 We went to that Wednesday with my games. 156 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:58,080 I played three games total for Canada. 157 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:03,360 And then I Germany, sorry, Macedonia needed another player. 158 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:08,920 So me and this other girl from France, we decided, hey, like we can help you guys out. 159 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:11,320 And I found that that's really what this is all about. 160 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:13,200 You know, it's not just the games. 161 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:18,880 It's really meeting other people, finding out where they're from and how to connect. 162 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:21,200 And helping each other, really. 163 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:25,520 So it's more than just the games is what I'm trying to get at. 164 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:28,240 But the games, they were a lot of fun. 165 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:29,240 They were really fun. 166 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:33,000 Now, are you guys placed bronze at the end? 167 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:34,000 We did. 168 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:35,520 Yes, we did. 169 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:39,120 And there's a little story behind the bronze cup. 170 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:43,000 We brought it out to celebrate that night. 171 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:45,440 And I gave it to one of my teammates. 172 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:49,600 And she ended up putting it at the bar saying, here, you keep it. 173 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:51,840 I text her around one in the morning. 174 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:54,480 Hey, do you know where the cup is? 175 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:57,560 I thought you took it from the bar. 176 00:09:57,560 --> 00:09:59,600 I don't have it. 177 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:04,120 So I go back to the bar at 1 a.m. and the bar is closed. 178 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:09,760 So the next night, my dad, who was also the coach, we go down to the bar again. 179 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:12,640 My dad goes up and he's like, hey, we left a cup here. 180 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:15,000 They're like, yes, it's in the back. 181 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:16,200 So they go to the back. 182 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:17,960 They have our trophy. 183 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:19,280 They give it back to us. 184 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:21,520 We go, I find all my teammates. 185 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:23,000 I say, look what I found. 186 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:26,600 And from there, so that was the highlight of Thursday. 187 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:29,280 And then Friday, we had a friendly match against France. 188 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:35,280 So the Team Canada team for basketball made really good friends with the France team. 189 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:39,560 We came together and played this really friendly little game of five on five. 190 00:10:39,560 --> 00:10:42,320 And that was Friday. 191 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:44,920 What was the closing ceremony? 192 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:45,920 Yes, sorry. 193 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:46,920 Thank you. 194 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:50,800 Closing ceremonies as well. 195 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:56,600 And that really that was just introducing everyone like this is what this country did. 196 00:10:56,600 --> 00:11:00,880 This is what this country did and how many medals they got, which is really interesting 197 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:03,480 to see all the other sports there were. 198 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:09,400 Like I knew there was basketball, soccer, volleyball, bocce, but there were plenty of 199 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:12,160 other like judo, tennis. 200 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:14,760 There were just several sports. 201 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:17,000 It really amazed me. 202 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:18,960 And so, yeah, that was Friday. 203 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:21,800 And then Saturday, lots of people went home. 204 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:25,360 You also had the cross country walk run. 205 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:27,680 Yes, I didn't go to that. 206 00:11:27,680 --> 00:11:32,320 But one of my friends, brothers participated in that. 207 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:36,160 Many Team Canada members did the walk run. 208 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:37,520 Yeah, I know. 209 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:39,600 Yeah, lots of people did that. 210 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:40,600 Yeah. 211 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:44,160 And some of our friends from France, one of my friends from France actually came first 212 00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:45,160 in that. 213 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:50,160 And I think it was like a 3.5 kilometer. 214 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:51,160 3.2. 215 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:53,680 3.2, yes. 216 00:11:53,680 --> 00:11:55,440 And it was really nice. 217 00:11:55,440 --> 00:11:56,440 It was really nice. 218 00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:58,560 I went to Zagreb as well. 219 00:11:58,560 --> 00:12:05,360 And then afterwards, had dinner again with the group from Ottawa from their parted ways. 220 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:07,800 Yeah, that was really that was really the whole week. 221 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:08,800 It was a lot of fun. 222 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:10,760 Sounds like an awesome week. 223 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:14,560 So you met, I'm guessing you met a lot of people there from all over the world, a lot 224 00:12:14,560 --> 00:12:15,840 of different Croatians. 225 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:18,680 Yes, a lot of people. 226 00:12:18,680 --> 00:12:25,920 I met people from Macedonia, Germany, France, Australia, the United States even. 227 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:28,800 Moral of the story, everywhere around the world. 228 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:29,800 Yeah. 229 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:31,960 Well, Caroline, let me direct this towards you. 230 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:35,520 Can you tell us sort of a little bit more about the competition, the World Games as 231 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:40,740 a whole, how many countries were involved, what kind of sports were there, and how do 232 00:12:40,740 --> 00:12:45,080 you know, how did most people really get involved and signed up? 233 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:46,560 Do you have to know other people? 234 00:12:46,560 --> 00:12:50,520 Do you have to be on a team, for example, if you want to play basketball or do you just 235 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:56,440 sort of sign up solo and you're joined by the rest of your the people from your country 236 00:12:56,440 --> 00:13:00,400 and sort of walk us through that process and how the games work as a whole? 237 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:01,400 Sure. 238 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:07,320 This year, we hosted 800 athletes from 26 countries of the Croatian diaspora. 239 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:10,720 So you can imagine the logistics involved with that. 240 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:16,400 Each country has a country coordinator and that individual is responsible for promoting 241 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:22,360 the games, for pulling the team together and making sure that Croatians in their country 242 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:24,600 are aware that this is happening. 243 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:31,020 You can appreciate in countries such as Canada, the US, Australia, that's no small task because 244 00:13:31,020 --> 00:13:33,800 of the vastness of our countries. 245 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:39,880 But we spend a couple of years promoting the games, whether it's writing to all the church 246 00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:44,560 communities, all the sports clubs, all the folklore groups, letting people know that 247 00:13:44,560 --> 00:13:47,640 this is an opportunity to visit Croatia. 248 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:52,200 And I'm really proud of the fact that more than half of our Team Canada athletes this 249 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:56,040 year came to Croatia for the very first time. 250 00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:58,960 And what happened for Katica is what we hope for. 251 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:06,760 The games are about connecting amateur sports athletes, in particular youth. 252 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:12,520 I mean, our youngest athlete was 16, our most senior athlete was 89. 253 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:14,040 So the spread is wide. 254 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:19,480 That sweet spot is 16 to about 25 that we're after. 255 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:23,680 They get to come to Croatia for the first time to experience the country in a really 256 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:25,440 different way. 257 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:33,080 Most importantly, they get the opportunity to meet youth from around the world in Croatian 258 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:38,080 communities, create friendships, sometimes romances, sometimes marriages. 259 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:41,480 Sometimes people decide to come back to Croatia. 260 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:46,480 After the 2017 games, we had a couple of families that moved back to Croatia. 261 00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:53,440 We have several of our university students who chose to come to study their programs 262 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:56,960 in Croatian English, which is phenomenal. 263 00:14:56,960 --> 00:15:02,720 We want them to come to Croatia to fall in love and to come back time and time again. 264 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:10,120 Now there are countries such as Bolivia, maybe Peru, Chile, where there are only a few athletes. 265 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:12,960 They don't have the large contingents that we do. 266 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:19,120 So what we do is, as Katica mentioned earlier, is we add them to a team. 267 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:25,440 So perhaps Team Canada's female soccer players needed, our team needed one or two players. 268 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:27,760 So we borrowed some from Bolivia. 269 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:33,520 We were able to farm out some of our athletes to France, Peru, Argentina as well. 270 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:38,000 So that just increases those opportunities for getting to know each other, but then having 271 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:39,880 a whole lot of fun together. 272 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:45,680 And it's beautiful to watch this manifestation of friendships, of interactions, of sports 273 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:48,680 competition, of helping each other out. 274 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:51,160 And really, language is no barrier. 275 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:56,240 It's a ton of fun and it's really a special, special experience for our athletes. 276 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:57,680 Yeah, that sounds awesome. 277 00:15:57,680 --> 00:15:59,200 I have to say I'm really jealous. 278 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:04,840 When I first found out only a few weeks ago that I heard about this, Paul over at Grow 279 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:09,440 Each Week magazine reached out to me, said that you guys reached out to him. 280 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:13,960 And I saw this, I was like, oh man, I wish I knew about this four years ago, even last 281 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:17,200 week, right before this one happened, but before the last one happened. 282 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:19,280 We'll get you on a team for next time. 283 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:20,280 I would love that. 284 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:22,240 Yeah, I know it's far in advance. 285 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:24,840 It's in four years. 286 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:30,040 Because when you think about the countries, we say the precozianské države, so North 287 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:36,040 America, South America, Australia, we have to buy our tickets a year in advance. 288 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:40,280 And that means we have to organize our teams two years in advance, which means now there's 289 00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:42,280 only two years left for organizing. 290 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:46,480 So when you look at the timeline, it contracts very quickly. 291 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:52,240 There's a lot of work that has to happen in a very short amount of time so that when I 292 00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:56,880 go, for example, to organize the team, I have information and I'm not just saying, hey, 293 00:16:56,880 --> 00:16:58,680 we're doing this thing. 294 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:03,700 Put your lives in our hands and plan to go to Croatia next in two years time. 295 00:17:03,700 --> 00:17:08,720 So it's a little bit of a different organizing challenge here for Europe because most of 296 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:12,400 the time they can get in a car and be here in six to 12 hours. 297 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:18,160 So they don't necessarily share our urgency of information sharing and organization, but 298 00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:22,480 we're teaching them slowly that this is really important, otherwise we can't get here in 299 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:23,480 time. 300 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:24,480 Yeah. 301 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:26,400 Well, I mean, it's an awesome program. 302 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:28,640 I love the goal as well. 303 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:33,640 I was in a similar situation, not athletics related, but I came over to Croatia to do 304 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:37,680 this language learning program for the Diaspora. 305 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:40,800 And I met other Croatian Diaspora from all over the world. 306 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:43,240 And then I ended up, now I'm here two and a half years. 307 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:45,160 It was a three month program. 308 00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:47,120 So yeah, that's what we want. 309 00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:53,440 We want people to decide to come back to Croatia, decide to come for the first time to create 310 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:59,160 opportunities to come for school, whether it's a semester or a four year degree or a 311 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:00,640 master's program. 312 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:06,440 Croatia has done a really good job with the universities of creating programs that are 313 00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:09,480 in English so that they are accessible. 314 00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:14,800 They guarantee enrollment spots for youth out of the Diaspora. 315 00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:18,140 So they are extending an olive branch to us. 316 00:18:18,140 --> 00:18:20,680 We just need youth to take it and it's happening. 317 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:23,160 And that's really exciting. 318 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:24,160 That's awesome. 319 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:28,000 Well, like we said, it's not as far in advance as I thought. 320 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,040 It should be all, I guess, in two years. 321 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:31,840 You sort of have it mapped out. 322 00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:36,880 How would someone that's interested in participating in the next games go about, both in Canada 323 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:42,000 and in their own respective countries, go about getting in contact with someone? 324 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:48,600 So if you don't know who your country coordinator is, the best thing to do is to go to the Hrvatský 325 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:56,800 Světský Kongres website or the Hrvatský Světský Igor, in this case, HSI 2023. 326 00:18:56,800 --> 00:18:58,520 But in Canada, I'm the coordinator. 327 00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:00,680 I'll be the coordinator again. 328 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:07,920 And we publish on our Facebook page, our Team Canada Croatian World Games Facebook page. 329 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:11,920 We announce that tryouts are happening and when the games will be scheduled as soon as 330 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:13,480 we know that. 331 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:21,520 Also our webs are, excuse me, our email is cwg.teamcanada.gmail.com. 332 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:22,520 Drop us a line. 333 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:25,620 We'll put you on the list for our email distributions. 334 00:19:25,620 --> 00:19:31,820 And again, in our case, when we define when the games will be and what city they're going 335 00:19:31,820 --> 00:19:37,800 to be held in, I send out notices to all the churches, all the local communities, so that 336 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:43,280 we make sure that we're trying to reach all corners of our Croatian communities across 337 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:44,360 Canada. 338 00:19:44,360 --> 00:19:51,080 So whether it's from Windsor to Detroit or Vancouver to Nova Scotia, we want to cover 339 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:56,320 the country and have an even bigger team and an even broader representation of our country. 340 00:19:56,320 --> 00:20:01,720 There's a lot of Croatian Canadian youth and we want them to be really excited about coming 341 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:06,880 to Croatia and we want to extend that warm welcome to give them a wonderful experience 342 00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:07,880 here. 343 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:08,880 That's awesome. 344 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:17,080 Many, many members of our team continue to stay on to visit either the home villages 345 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:21,800 of their ancestors and their families or their grandparents for the very first time. 346 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:26,200 They're getting to visit family and friends and others are just exploring the country 347 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:29,600 sort of from the coast all the way up, which is exactly what we want. 348 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:34,400 Yeah, well, yeah, the summer is a great time to explore Croatia and the coast specifically. 349 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:40,120 I can tell you right now, the coast is gorgeous right now. 350 00:20:40,120 --> 00:20:42,560 I just got back from a boat cruise. 351 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:48,600 So I'm here, I was in Zagreb and my mom, brother and my brother's girlfriend was here for the 352 00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:49,600 first time. 353 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:50,600 She's never been to Croatia. 354 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:56,240 So she already loved it as soon as she stepped off the plane, but they came to come watch 355 00:20:56,240 --> 00:21:00,160 me play and my brother, he asked like, you know, this seems pretty cool. 356 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:01,840 You know, why didn't I join it? 357 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:03,160 Like, do they have a hockey team? 358 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:08,360 I said, I really don't know about hockey, but you know, I know you like to run. 359 00:21:08,360 --> 00:21:12,920 And he's like, yeah, join the running team. 360 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:15,360 I go for a nice three kilometer run. 361 00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:19,160 Like, oh yeah, I'll do that next next time. 362 00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:20,160 Excellent. 363 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:22,920 So we already just so you know, we got another one. 364 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:23,920 There you go. 365 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:31,640 What's interesting too, is we had a contingent of about 15 young siblings of our teams, team 366 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:32,720 members and our families. 367 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:39,240 We called them our official cheerleaders because they were under the 16 year of age mark for 368 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:43,160 participation, but come the next games, they're fully eligible. 369 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:49,720 And we've seen that now for the second time where families have younger children who aren't 370 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:53,680 quite ready, but they come and they see what it's about and they get excited and they can't 371 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:56,400 wait to join for the next games. 372 00:21:56,400 --> 00:22:00,360 So we're building the pipeline of our future team, Canada. 373 00:22:00,360 --> 00:22:01,360 Yeah, that's all. 374 00:22:01,360 --> 00:22:04,920 I mean, I was already making a mental note to tell my younger sister to look into this 375 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:05,920 for the next game. 376 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:06,920 Exactly. 377 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:07,920 Oh, that's awesome. 378 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:12,560 Caroline, I want to sort of ask you, it's semi-related. 379 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:17,080 You know, you also have a podcast, you know, related to Croatia and I want to give you 380 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:21,520 a chance to promote that a little bit and talk about that and where people can find 381 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:22,520 that. 382 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:29,000 So I, in Pandemic Years, we confer the Croatian Women of Influence Award and we have over 383 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:34,240 120 winners from around the world, again, from all of our diaspora communities. 384 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:40,840 We host an international conference on International Women's Day, March 8th, every year in Croatia. 385 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:46,680 So here again, we have incredibly accomplished women of Croatian descent who often are coming 386 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,760 to Croatia for the first time to get their awards. 387 00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:57,880 And so we launched a CWN Leading Ladies podcast where we feature those winners in a more in-depth 388 00:22:57,880 --> 00:22:58,880 way. 389 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:02,000 They tell us what's happening, what's new. 390 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:07,360 Oftentimes we go back to our previous winners to see how winning the award has impacted 391 00:23:07,360 --> 00:23:12,000 their career or their situation, what it means to them. 392 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:16,240 We catch up with them to find out what's been happening since they've received their awards 393 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,760 and then we intermix that with our current winners as well. 394 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:27,400 And so that's part of our offering in terms of connecting, championing, and celebrating 395 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:34,640 our Croatian women and shortly we'll be opening the nominations for the 2024 year and stay 396 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:35,640 tuned for that. 397 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:36,640 Awesome. 398 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:39,240 Well, I'll drop links so people can find that. 399 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:45,440 Also drop links to everything else we talked about, your email and other coordination, 400 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:48,760 the website you mentioned so people listening can go ahead and click on that. 401 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:53,040 Kaptica and Caroline, I want to thank you guys again so much for coming on the podcast. 402 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:58,680 I just have two more quick questions for the both of you and the first one is what is your 403 00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:01,680 favorite food to eat while you're here in Croatia? 404 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,720 Oh, there's a lot. 405 00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:06,920 I'll probably have to go with schnitzel. 406 00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:11,960 Yeah, I have to go with that. 407 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:20,200 For me, if I'm in Hrnocka in summertime, Jadranske Lignie Brojeden and pistachio gelato from 408 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,840 Eva's place in Zadar right next to Pozdrav Sunca. 409 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:26,880 Wow, I've never tried that before. 410 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:28,400 100% you got to go. 411 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:32,400 She makes it all in house, the gelatos to die for, but pistachio is my favorite and 412 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:35,040 hers is the stradacela. 413 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:40,000 I'm in Dubrovnik right now and last night we went through the walls to have dinner. 414 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:44,680 As we're walking back home, there's this one ice cream place and I say, mom, we have to 415 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:46,920 go in, they have to have pistachio. 416 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:48,840 Sure enough, we walk in, they have pistachio. 417 00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:51,680 I fell in love because that's all I get here. 418 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:54,800 Whenever I'm in Croatia, it has to be pistachio. 419 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:56,840 You also have to try the watermelon gelato. 420 00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:00,440 If you can find it, it's life changing. 421 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:06,960 Okay, I had lime and pistachio last night, which is a weird combo, but it worked. 422 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:09,400 It worked, so I'm not complaining. 423 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:10,400 Well take your word for it. 424 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:12,480 Yeah, man, I'm missing out. 425 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:15,960 I always get vanilla wherever I go, so I really got to start expanding. 426 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,120 Give it a shot. 427 00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:22,880 I've been here too many summers to keep getting vanilla, so maybe tonight. 428 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:24,360 Tonight I'm going out to the Riva. 429 00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:28,160 I'm here in Makarska, so I'll get something from one of the ice cream places. 430 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:29,720 Try some lavender gelato. 431 00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:30,720 Oh yeah? 432 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:32,720 Oh my gosh, very yummy. 433 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:35,000 All right, I'll take your word for it. 434 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:36,320 I won't just take your word for it. 435 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:37,320 I'll try it tonight. 436 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:38,320 I'll let you know. 437 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:39,320 And sure out. 438 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:41,480 I had some lavender. 439 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:47,520 It was lavender and lemon back in Canada, but I could only imagine how the lavender 440 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:49,880 one is here. 441 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:53,520 Everything here is just 10 times better, no matter where you go, what it is. 442 00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:54,520 It's true. 443 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:55,520 Sistanko, that's why we do this. 444 00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:56,520 That's the result. 445 00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:57,520 Yeah, I agree 100%. 446 00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:04,800 And sort of the last question on that note for you guys, and I ask all the guests who 447 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,920 come on the podcast, but what makes Croatia so special for you? 448 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:11,940 For me, it's the roots of my family. 449 00:26:11,940 --> 00:26:16,000 We have been here for centuries. 450 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:17,000 This is home. 451 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:18,620 This is where my heart is. 452 00:26:18,620 --> 00:26:20,760 This is where my roots are. 453 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:23,360 I have to go with the same. 454 00:26:23,360 --> 00:26:30,000 My family is all from here, but if I have to be a little bit selfish, I want to say 455 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,360 the Mora is my favorite. 456 00:26:33,360 --> 00:26:34,360 I love this. 457 00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:35,560 I'm just staring at this view. 458 00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:39,560 It's gorgeous and the islands. 459 00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:42,160 The water is so blue here. 460 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:43,160 Everything has color. 461 00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:44,880 It's all full of life. 462 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:52,960 That's why the slogan, Croatia full of life, that it's some kind of account somewhere. 463 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:58,840 I never really fully understood why it's always Croatia full of life until this trip when 464 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:01,560 I'm actually seeing Croatia. 465 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:08,920 I'm a lot older now since the last time I came here, but it is full of life and it's 466 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:11,680 just beautiful here. 467 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:12,680 It definitely is. 468 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:19,440 That feeling is what I wanted to capture when I started my journey back to Croatia. 469 00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:26,420 That's the same feeling that I see a lot of other diaspora who come back feeling. 470 00:27:26,420 --> 00:27:31,200 That's really the magic of coming back to Croatia, even if not just to live, but for 471 00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:34,760 a summer or for a month, however long you can. 472 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:39,800 Yeah, that's definitely something magical about stepping foot back in Croatia. 473 00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:43,240 Caroline, I want to thank you guys again so much. 474 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:48,120 Once again, I'll drop links so anyone can find your guys's information, but I really 475 00:27:48,120 --> 00:27:50,840 appreciate you guys taking the time here to come on the podcast. 476 00:27:50,840 --> 00:28:10,840 Thank you so much for the opportunity and best of luck to you.