5. Dirty_Bosnia

FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Cologne

Bosnia: “Can you get the players some more towels for their training?” | Me: “On my way!”

Bosnia: “Can you book a meeting room for our match analysis?” | Me: “Done.”

Bosnia: “They called us dirty!” | Me: “Got it.”

Me: “Wait, what?”

Being the team guide for Bosnia and Herzegovina was like visiting an amusement park. The excitement you feel as a child when you get your first glimpse of an attraction and hear people screaming their lungs out on roller coasters, stayed with me throughout the tournament. Just as each ride is different, so were the days. You never knew what to expect.

In the same way that one would explore the park, taking in the sights and atmosphere, I would do the same at the LANXESS arena. From accompanying the team backstage to the changing rooms to witnessing their pre-match rituals in the corridors. Listening to music. Praying. And high-fiving every team member on their way to the court. The inside of the arena was electric, with the energy of the crowd palpable as they sang their country’s national anthem and eagerly discussed predictions amongst themselves. It was crazy, in the best way.

The craziness of the games was all I could take, which is why dinner served as a way to wind down and catch up with fellow team guides. But what awaited me one evening was a different kind of crazy. One I wasn’t prepared for.

I was in the dining room when the team’s video analyst approached me and asked if I could follow him to their meeting room. What greeted me there were the grim faces of the coaching staff. One sentence was all it took to raise my confusion to heights it hadn’t reached since my last math exam in high school. “They called us dirty!” I wonder what reaction they saw on my face at that moment. Question marks? Perplexity? Shock? Apparently, all three of them, as they began to explain the situation to me. After each match, the teams receive a USB stick with a recording of the game to analyze errors and improve for the next game. Today they received one from their game against Hungary. And when they showed me the file, the file name to be precise, I understood what all the commotion was about.

File name: Dirty_BosniaxHungary_EUROBASKET2022

To be honest, it took me a few minutes to process what I had read before I picked up my phone and contacted a FIBA representative to look into the matter. While he was trying to clear up what I believed to be a misunderstanding, I went back to tell the other team guide assigned to Bosnia what had happened. He grinned and explained to me that “dirty” in this context refers to a video that has not been edited or manipulated in any way and shows the raw footage as it was originally shot.

Did I mention that he has a degree in journalism?

Once I had clarified the situation with the team, the rollercoaster ride of an evening came to an end.