Jelena MILOVANOVIC

Jelena is one of the bright, shining stars of the seemingly inexhaustible goldmine of talent, which the Serbian national youth development program is.

She has everything required to become a dominant post player in what is the hurly burly of European professional basketball at the very highest levels. Jelena is strongly built, has great height and superb fundamentals. She is athletic, rebounds superbly and is technically adept, as is expected of someone who has acquired her skills with the help of some of basketball's best coaches.

Catching the eyes of Serbian national selectors very early, Jelena has been a member of every age group national team available to her. Uses her height to great advantage and with versatility, proving herself adept at two different positions - center and power forward. As a result she has acquired excellent shooting skills, scoring points from under the basket and also showing an adept touch from the perimeter. Jelena uses her physical attributes, her body to great effect. She is intelligent and a quick thinker.

Jelena is also a fanatic about practice and physical training, she has superb leadership qualities and is a coaches' dream. A strong rebounder, she also has great vision and instinct for the flow of play, which enables Jelena to help her guards in acquiring turnovers in tight situations. She has great foot speed, both with and without the ball.

Add to all of the above the fact, that Jelena is now managed by SIM and, all things being equal, success for the young Serb giant seems preordained.

In the 2006 European Under 18 Championships, Jelena was a virtually automatic selection in the All Star Five and went one better in 2007, winning gold with Serbia, grabbing a place in the All Star Five once again and also getting selected as the Championship's Most Valuable Player - and that is only the beginning of what promises to be a stellar career.

Next, its the Euroleague with Sopron of Hungary.