This is me: Mirsad Terzić

THIS IS ME: Mirsad Terzić

I come from a sports family. My father used to play football and, of course, my first touch with sports was with football, but at one point we realised it wasn't for me. I enjoyed playing volleyball and my brother, who is 208 cm tall, was in basketball. So, the time for handball came later in my life.

When I was around 14 years old I changed schools in Sarajevo and I didn't have a lot of friends. One of the kids from my classroom said he was a goalkeeper at a handball club, Olimpik, and that he thought I would be good at it. As I wanted to make new friends, I went with him to the first training session.

My maturing was a long process. While I was in Sarajevo, the person who introduced me to handball properly was coach Adil Tabak, who is still coaching today. With his help, I made my first move toward what we could call professional handball. Tabak was also the one who took me to my next club, Željezničar.

Those years were challenging. I had a combination of two training sessions a day and school, all while living far away from Sarajevo. I needed to change all sorts of public transport to make it happen. But I never quit. I was determined to make it and I knew I wanted to be a handball player. At the same time, I knew I needed to be good at school too because my father would ban training if I had bad grades.

My first move from home, let’s say, was when I went to Ljubuški. It is also a place where my real sports maturing happened. It was the biggest turning point for me. They had a great handball academy with Boris Jarak leading us. He had a good connection with us, was almost like a father, and we all felt at home. We were all part of the club and the city.

Later, experienced coach Josip Glavaš installed a sporting arrogance in us and, together with older players from the city who were also working in parallel with playing, it gave us the confidence and boldness to compete with the best. For the first time, I played in the EHF Champions League and reached the semi-finals of the Cup Winners' Cup.

I am happy that my career had a natural growth, step by step, and I was lucky enough I have had the right people surrounding me and giving me good advice. From Ljubuški I moved to Zagreb. Another challenge and a great club where I spent three years. I must say, the thing that stuck with me the most in Zagreb was working with coach Lino Červar - who experiences and understands coach Červar, it means a lot to him later in his career.

My plan was to take another step forward in my career. And again I did not move far away. Celje is a big club, even today, but at that moment in time, the Slovenian side was on the rise, squad-wise and financial-wise, so naturally I agreed to join them. We had a great time, I learned a lot, but after two years some financial problems appeared. Even though they wanted me to stay, with a changed squad and lower-set goals, I felt like I wanted more.

And when you look back now, I made a great decision when I signed with Veszprém. 2009 completely changed my life. My wife Dinka and I got married and for the first time we went to live abroad together. Veszprém at the time was not on the same level as it is today, but my agent told me the club would be one of the best clubs in the world - and his words came true.

Moving to Hungary and learning Hungarian was tough at the beginning, but there were a great number of Balkan people who were there for us. Every season we made progress and when you are a player, the results and the success are what drives you. With that, you forget all the tough times you faced. I am proud I was part of that Veszprém story.

Veszprém and the surrounding area is a great place, a sports place that lives and breathes handball. Our fans were always there for us. Those 11 years were one of the best parts of my life, both my wife and later my two sons Mak and Isak enjoyed living there.

Becoming a father has changed me - both personally and as a player. You have a new focus in life, but at the same time, you need to keep up with your professional life. We, players, have our rituals, daily rest, sleeping, and all that changes when kids come into your life. My wife and I did not have luck with our kids sleeping through the night, but I was happy that coach Lajos Mocsai fully understood me during that period. That human connection between the player and the coach is important not only for us, players, but consequently for our families. 

There are so many beautiful memories from Veszprém. Private ones but also sports ones. One of the biggest influences during my period there were the Spanish coaches - Carlos Ortega and Xavi Sabate. They set up a new system and within a few years I became more of a defensive specialist rather than a goal scorer. The winning, team spirit, and satisfaction of being there gave me more impetus than scoring goals. And I don't want to forget Ljubomir Vranješ and David Davis, who had their impact both personally and sports-related.

I won 20 trophies while living in Hungary and all of them are special. Yet, the EHF Champions League trophy was not meant to be. I still believe Veszprém deserves it, both the club, the city, and everyone connected to the club. I am sad that we were not able to make it while I was there, but I still hope they will reach it soon.

I have reached three finals - against Barça, Kielce and Vardar. Each one was different, but against Barça and Vardar we were not as close as we were against Kielce. This is the match everyone will remember. We had a nine-goal lead, Kielce managed to tie, the game went into extra time and we lost on penalties - with me missing one. I think we celebrated too soon in our heads and failed to write the club's history.

Even though defeats like that are tough, those are the matches that make you stronger. The ones that change you and from which you learn a lot. Things like that are the things that are still keeping me active and eager for more trophies.

I will never forget Veszprém and what the fans did for me when I left. The feeling I had that day is something I wish every athlete experiences at least once in their career. The fans have a genuine love for the club and the players and I am happy they recognised that I was ready to give everything for that club.

My last season there stopped due to Covid-19, but with the help of my wife, the fans surprised me. I thought we would meet with our club's media officer to take a few farewell photos. I was shocked to see the number of people who came for my farewell. I still have strong connections with the people there.

I must say, my family comes first and I have enormous support from my wife and my family regarding what I do. It is very hard to be the wife of an athlete, they sacrifice a lot, changing their life almost from scratch every time you need to move. However, when I got the offer to move to Plock, we didn't think twice if we should go to Poland. And of course, coach Sabate influenced me.

The start was hard. It was still the Covid-19 period, we did not have a lot of time for socialising. We were training, then we weren’t, then we were training from home, then I got infected, lost almost seven kilograms… It was a really tough time. All that left a mark on my first season in Plock.

As time passed by, it was getting better and better. The kids learned Polish, we met Polish people who were always ready to help us and I think the extension of my contract until 2025 says enough of how I feel there. I came for two years, and it will be at least five.

What a pleasure it is for me as a player to be part of yet another club and the city that lives handball,
that also have one of the best fans, the 'Nafciarze' who are holding our back. You can feel that
emotion in every game. Plock became our home and my family and I are making new beautiful
memories there. We are thankful they all make us feel at home.

If you ask me, Wisla Plock will only become better. We played two times at the EHF Finals, a new experience for all of us. We are also part of the EHF Champions League, we won two Polish Cup titles… My biggest wish now is to win the Polish title, something that the fans have been waiting for since 2011. For me, it would be a huge achievement - I was a domestic champion in every club I played in my professional career, except for now in Plock.

A lot of people ask me how much longer I will play, but I don't know. I still feel great on the court and I love my role in the team. I love working with younger players and with my teammates, and that is what pumps me. I don't feel my age at all. As long as the club wants me and I can make a difference and help, I will play. The only important thing is to stay healthy and injury-free.

I wouldn't say there is any special recipe for why I'm still here at a high level. I work a lot on myself, I take care of my body and I don't bother with problems. But the biggest motivation and impetus are my family and their support. Without them, I probably wouldn't be here. For me, it is really important to have my family next to me and I would not enjoy life or handball if I were far away from them. The warmth of my home fulfills me and I know I wouldn't be the same without it.

Just as I wouldn't be the same without playing for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. I had my national team debut when I was 17 and now, at 40, I'm still going strong. Many things were going on with our national team, losing players to another country, ups and downs, good and bad things, but the national team for me is something special. I have been here for my country for 23 years now, no matter if I'm injured, tired or there are other problems… Whenever I got a call, I was there. There are no right answers to why - either you feel it or not.

What will I do at the end of my career? As I said, I love working with younger players and I always try to give them good advice. I am always met with respect and the reaction of those people makes me happy and fulfilled. That is why I will most certainly stay in handball, but it is still a question of when that time will come.

Looking back on my career so far, I can only be proud. If I could talk to the younger me, I would tell him to keep going, follow the same path. I would not change one thing in my life. And there is more to come.

January 2024
Mirsad Terzić