The growth of women’s basketball has seen the game surpass several milestones during the life and career of Jovana Vukoje. A former Serbian national team player, now FIBA 3x3 Events Manager, the 39-year-old recalls finding her passion for the sport following her family’s displacement during the Bosnian War in the mid-1990s and their eventual resettlement in Serbia.
The move was challenging for Jovana and her twin sister, Nataša Vukoje – who is now a popular life coach in Serbia – after they were forced to say goodbye to life in Bosnia and Herzegovina, their country of birth. “We were young – me and my sister,” she recalls. “Whenever you leave a bad experience like that, especially moving out of a warzone, even though we moved to a place that was more peaceful, integrating into a new society can be very difficult. For me and my sister, basketball was the way to feel accepted, for us to make connections with other kids.”
“There was no conflict on the courts – children just wanted to play’’Jovana continues. “Basketball was something that helped us a lot and, from then on, my focus turned to sports and that’s when things started happening for my playing career. That’s the power of sport.”
As her focus has turned to finding new ground for 3x3 basketball to expand the FIBA 3x3 Women’s Series, Jovana is setting standards for the professionalization of the game. This includes overall increase of the level when it comes to skills of the players, financial aspect, and its events.
“3x3 basketball is creating opportunities for fans and players to access the sport from different backgrounds and communities. It’s helping to widen the pool of basketball players worldwide and, as a result, increasing visibility for the game.”
After moving with her family to Serbia, neighborhood “streetball”, as she remembers calling it before the inception of 3x3 basketball, presented an important “outlet” during their relocation, Jovana says, and remains an important part of her identity – even today, after a startling career. Basketball is “ingrained in Serbian culture”, she says, and has played an influential role in her passion for the 3x3 basketball, too.
“The good thing about Serbia is that there’s such a high level of basketball knowledge, education and awareness of the sport,” she goes on. “The fans watch the game purely for the love of the sport, whatever the format. Now, during the digital era of sports, access to the women’s game for players and fans has improved significantly.”
A graduate of FIBA’s inaugural TIME-OUT 2.0 education program in 2018, Jovana ended her contract with Spanish basketball club Campus Promete, based in Logroño, in northern Spain, to pursue a career in FIBA 3x3’s front office. While Jovana has excelled across both disciplines and her career has taken her to multiple clubs outside of Serbia, including Germany, Romania, Croatia, and Spain, she explains that her ambition has always been to represent FIBA 3x3 and help shape the women’s game.
“It was very clear from a young age that I was passionate about basketball and wanted to play for the national team and at the top level,” Jovana explains. “I was 16 when I was offered my first professional contract in Serbia. Having joined this world of professional athletes, it became my primary focus in my daily life.”
“I have to say that playing streetball, at the time – before there was a 3x3 basketball– was my main passion,” she continues. “Even when I was a professional basketball player, whenever the season was over, I would move back to Belgrade and literally spend every night playing 3x3 basketball. The moment I got the invitation to represent Serbia in 3x3 basketball – I consider that to be one of my biggest sports accomplishment.”
Jovana was part of the national team that reached the quarter-final of the 2017 FIBA 3x3 Europe Cup, held in Amsterdam, which remains the women’s national team’s crowning achievement to date. “For me, it was very clear after that moment, if I wanted to work in the business of basketball, my number one choice would always be FIBA 3x3,” she expands. “When I joined FIBA 3x3, I initially started in the competition department, mostly working on officiating rules of the game, and competition formats,” she says. “I now work in events and partnerships, with the job to grow the visibility and commercial side of the sport, and to introduce the FIBA 3x3 Women’s Series to new markets around the world.”
Following the FIBA 3x3 Women’s Series’ debut season in 2019, the Covid shutdown was an initial challenge, Jovana recalls, though it offered an opportunity to refine the competition and its strategy in time for its return post pandemic. Today, she is working on ensuring that players have all the necessary support that will take the 3x3 women’s basketball to a new level of professionalism.
“One of the goals is to increase overall conditions for the FIBA 3x3 Women’s Series, simply, to give more opportunities to female basketball players” Jovana looks ahead.