If you want to know what it’s really like to grind it out in pro water polo, look no further than Bogdan Djerkovic. He just wrapped up a wild, tight-fought World Cup run in Malta with Team Canada, and now he’s right back at it, holding down the center position for VK Jug Dubrovnik in Croatia.
Bogdan has played all over the world at the highest levels of competition. He’s recently started posting his journey, highlights, and thoughts on his Instagram – giving awesome insight into the pro water polo life. We asked him a few questions about training and competition. Here’s the interview.
What position do you play, your current club affiliation, and a quick snapshot of your water polo resume to date?
I play the center position primarily and sometimes also play center defender. I am currently playing for VK Jug Dubrovnik. I have been competing with the Canadian National team since 2017 and since then I have competed for the UOP Tigers in California, UWA Torpedoes in Perth Australia, and Pays D’Aix in Aix en Provence, France.
What details can you share about your practice structure? Conditioning sets/yards, favorite drills, dryland workouts?
We train twice a day here except for Wednesdays where we get the afternoon off and on the weekend we usually have games. Morning sessions are for the gym and swimming paired with a bit of shooting. In the afternoon we focus more on game situations and tactics. As for the training itself there isn’t much repetition, we’re always changing our drills and sets.
In pro practices, how much time is spent on ‘chalk talk’ or film review?
We usually do film review in preparation for our games so for some opponents we’ll do up to 3 30-40min sessions of film.
Does your team run plays or are you more focused on general strategy?
Water polo is a free flowing sport where you have to adapt a lot. We do have plays but we don’t constrict ourselves to them. You have to be able to read the situation in front of you and play.
What’s your pregame and post-game routine?
I used to have a pretty strict pre game routine but have since realized I perform better when I’m more lax about the whole thing and just focus on trying to be in a good mental space by doing what I feel like. The only routine I have is my shoulder injury prevention workout.
What’s one tip you’d give to players that play your position?
Learn to play with your back!! Earn position and hold it by pushing them with your back and knowing where they are and what they’re doing by feeling them with your back. That way you’ll always be able to see how the play is developing. Also low man wins so try to stay lower than your defender when pushing.
How do you think water polo can make the jump to become a more mainstream sport?
Water polo is a fundamentally flawed sport. I love it dearly but for it to become mainstream a lot would have to change. Starting with the refereeing, anyone who has never played the sport finds it almost impossible to watch because they have no idea what’s being called and why. That’s because the whistle isn’t strict our sport allows for calls to become situational depending on a number of factors which doesn’t exist in any other sport. This is just one of the many things we would have to change to become mainstream.
Anything else you’d like to share?
If you enjoy water polo content follow me on Instagram @wpc.bog as I share my journey towards trying to qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.
