The Screaming Eagle

talks to Junior Championship and Youth League Women’s coach Tom Bandilovski

Screaming Eagle (SE) Hi Tom, thanks for taking the time to talk to me. You’ve been around Diamond Valley for a few years now and you’re well known for being a man of few words, so I’m guessing I’ll have to drag the information out of you haha. Seriously, you don’t have to be a Rhodes Scholar to know you’ve got an accent. Tell me about your background

Tom Bandilovski (TB) I was born in the Czech Repblic but grew up in a small place called Ohrid in south west Macedonia. By small I mean it had a population of around 50,000 which is about the same size as Mildura. When I finished secondary school I went to university in Skopje, the capital and competed my bachelor degree in mechanical engineering.

SE Did you start playing basketball at school?

TB I was a bit of a late starter compared to many, I started in year 7 at the age of 13. It was at that time that I developed a real passion for the game, and despite starting late, I knew I wanted to play at the highest level I could.

SE Did you play any other sports as a kid?

TB I think I had a go at pretty much every sport available, in fact I think the only game I haven’t had a go at in some way during my life is Aussie Rules. I enjoyed playing any sport including boxing which I did to try and improve my footwork for basketball, waterpolo, soccer was another one I liked playing.

Screaming Eagle Interview – Tom Bandilovski Page 1

SE Did you play after you left school?

TB Yea, I played in the Macedonian Championship League as well as for my home town of Ohrid and before the break up of Yugoslavia, I also played in the Yugoslavian league.

SE That sounds pretty impressive, exactly how would a league like that rate with, say, our NBL in terms of standard?

TB Yugoslavia had one of the best basketball leagues in Europe and many of the first NBA imports were from the Yugoslavian league, such as Drazen Petrovic, Toni Kukoc and Vlade Divac to name a couple. After the split each country took a while to build up their own league, Macedonia has had lots of success over the last few years.

SE Certainly some big names in Petrovic, Kukoc and Divac from times gone by. Did you play anywhere else?

TB Every male was required to do a year of national service in the Yugoslavian army so in my year, I played for Belgrade, it was a great team and in that year we won the championship

SE Sounds awesome, no chance the other team was met in the rooms before the game with your guns drawn and told ‘you’d better lose’?

TB We were all friends and played a fair game based on talent, so no, no one was told to lose haha.

SE So how did you rank in a team that won what I gather was a national title?

TB I don’t like ranking myself as basketball is a team sport and the efforts of the entire team are a big part of whether you win or lose a game, and I consider myself a team player and a very good one.

SE Fair call, maybe some of the kids could take note of that answer. Some parents too!! Yugoslavia has been known as a pretty difficult place to live with ongoing and significant military problems over the years, were you ever caught up in any of that?

Screaming Eagle Interview – Tom Bandilovski Page 2

TB No I was fortunate because Macedonia peacefully seperated when Yugoslavia broke up, the problems were in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia. Very pleased I didn’t live there!

SE So how does a Macedonian national with a passion for basketball end up in Australia?

TB It was actually pretty simple, my wife Tina was raised in Melbourne but moved over to Macedonia when she was 14. We met at university and not long after she decided to move back to Australia, and I had a choice, break up or follow her. She moved back here in 1996, I followed her and the rest is history haha.

SE Now I saw a photo of you when you played in Macedonia and it is being included in this interview. You know the one, which one are you?

TB I’m number 13.

SE That’s not a mullet I see is it? Surely not a mullet?

TB That, my friend, is not a mullet, it is the KajaGoogoo style. Let me assure you it was very, very stylish and fashionable at the time, but you are probably too young to know what it is.

SE Mr Eagle is actually well acquainted with the style, and would suggest that anyone reading this, particularly your under 18 girls and Youth League women’s team Google it! Did you play when you arrived in Australia?

TB Not at the same level as I did in Europe. I took a break for two or three years and then played in domestic teams, A grade open age, and over 30 and over 35 teams as well as in tournaments.

Screaming Eagle Interview – Tom Bandilovski Page 3

SE So the kids are coming along, and the next thing you know you’re coaching, how did that come about?

TB I’ve read a few of your interviews and it seems I am no different to anyone else, I just fell into it. I started coaching at Keilor simply because they didn’t have a coach for their under 12/2 girl’s team and it was either put my hand up or they wouldn’t have had a coach. It was 2007 and my daughter was playing by this stage, so I stepped in.

SE How did you go in your first year?

TB The team did pretty well and ended up winning the Met 3 title, so it was a great introduction for me into the coaching ranks. It was an even bigger deal for the Keilor Basketball Association because it was the first Keilor girl’s team ever to win a flag at any level in the VJBL, so it was a pretty special.

SE With that sort of introduction, were you smart enough to call it quits, or did you think, this is alright, I’ll have some more of that?

TB Yea, I probably should have quit haha. But just as with my playing, once I started coaching I really enjoyed it, and effectively became a career coach from there. I stayed at Keilor for another two years coaching under 14’s, which included another first, and that was getting a Keilor girl’s team to its highest ever ranking and that was to Met 1.

SE So you effectively moved the whole family to Diamond Valley in 2010, why the big move?

TB We moved from Caroline Springs to the northern suburbs and decided to move the kids across as the driving back for training and games was a bit of a nightmare.

Screaming Eagle Interview – Tom Bandilovski Page 4

SE So you’ve gone from coaching Metro teams with low if not no expectations, to coaching the Diamond Valley under 12/1 girls in 2010. This is a team that has historically done very well and expectations are high, so the pressure was on. How did you go?

TB I don’t know about expectations, as an outsider coming in I had no idea of the history, so it didn’t effect me. I was just happy to be coaching and developing a new generation.

SE It was a fairly successful year, tell me about it?

TB In some respects I was pretty happy, in other respects I wasn’t happy with it. We qualified for VC early and then won the championship in A grade in the Eltham Tournament, so the year got off to a great start. I was pretty happy we qualified for the Classic, but disappointed with the 5th placed result, as I knew the team had what it took to go all the way.

At the end of the VC we finished up in 3rd place, and again that was pretty good but as I said previously we should have won as were a strong well drilled team. What no one knows, other than the team is that we had several girls very sick during the finals, five to be exact. The girls played hard bit you know how it is when you’re not 100%. So I wasn’t disappointed for myself, I was dissappointed for the girls as they put in all the hard work and effort and deserved a higher spot.

SE Not a bad introduction to Diamond Valley though, a 1st, 5th and 3rd at the highest level in the country.

TB When you put it that way, yea it was a very good year.

SE You kept coaching?

TB Of course haha. I moved into a development team with a pretty much bottom age team with the under 14/2’s in 2012. Given that it was a year to develop the players for the next year, we did reasonably well coming runner’s up in Met 1.

Screaming Eagle Interview – Tom Bandilovski Page 5

SE Did you get the top age gig the next year?

TB Yes, and this time I knew the expectations. Of course under 14’s is the under 14 club nationals year, and it as something that I certainlty had my eye on. We reached the semi final in the Eltham Tournament which was OK.

Unfortunately we missed nationals and I was disappointed for the girls, as I said earlier, it was a very good team.

When I look back, it was a pretty good year, we ended up 5th on the ladder and lost in the semi final to eventual champion in Altona. So in that respect I’m proud of what they accomplished and they way the team played each game.

SE So here were are in 2013, and you are coaching the under 18/2’s, and the Youth League women’s team. We’ll start with the 18’s, you don’t have any of your kids in the team, why would you do it?

TB The club asked me to coach the under 18/2 girls as they didn’t have a coach and I agreed.

SE Simple as that! It’s almost the half way mark of the season, how are they going?

TB The team is doing very well, we missed out on VC by one loss and we are now placed in Met 1, where we should be, with nine bottom age players. So overall a good result and big jump for some of these girls who the previous as top age under 16 players played in Met 2.

SE You assistant coached the senior women at Diamond Valley a few years and now you’re head coach of the Youth League women’s team. What made you apply for that?

TB As you know I like coaching and I saw this as the next challenge, as coaching your children is very different to coaching seniors who are already developed.

Screaming Eagle Interview – Tom Bandilovski Page 6

SE What does the coaching future hold for Tom Bandilovski?

TB Coaching a pro team overseas which means this time my wife will follow me.

SE That’s about the bravest thing I’ve ever heard anyone say, we’ll see if Tina has a response, and more importantly, what it is. Good luck with that one haha.

Yet another interview down and another volunteer with yet another really interesting story. Tom I would love to talk to you some more about your playing days in Europe, but we might just leave that for another interview on another day.

Tom Bandilovski, the Screaming Eagle salutes you.

Screaming Eagle Interview – Tom Bandilovski Page 7