Vlado Kocic (14), the player in the Table tennis club for people with disability “Vrbas” from Banja Luka, won the gold medal in the category of deaf-mute participants at the recently held International Sports Games for People with Disabilities “Belgrade Open 2017”.
“He is great in his group of the deaf-mute. We can say that he has no competition at the level of BiH,” said his coach, Jovica Sormaz.
This 14-year-old boy is from Ribnik, and he is in the foster family in Banja Luka in order to get his education. Sormaz explained that he has excellent cooperation with Kocic’s teacher Helena Foric, as well as his foster family, with the aim to match all of his obligations and to be able to go to competitions. Thanks to this and Vlado’s commitment, this boy is an excellent student and a successful athlete.
Sormaz explained that showing and adopting techniques of table tennis is much harder for people who cannot hear, but they have succeeded and made a big step, and Kocic is a fantastic table tennis player.
Vlado Kocic said in a sign language that he loves to play table tennis.
Sormaz started working with Kocic six years ago when Dragan Predic, a teacher from the Center for Education and Rehabilitation of Listening and Speaking in Banja Luka, called him and said that there is a boy in this school who loves table tennis and who would love to learn more.
Kocic is cheerful most of the time on his training, except when his shot is not carried out as he wished. Talking about the plans for Kocic’s future, coach Sormaz said that he believes that this boy will continue with dedicated work.
“We do not know how much further he can go, but we know that sport is one of the most important if not one the most important factor for socialization. In this way, he becomes recognized as a person, a player, a competitor, especially in his own population, so this is a great thing in his life,” said Sormaz.
(Source: fokus.ba)
