“I thought it was over, completely done,” states Nikola Barjaktarevic, head women’s soccer coach at Dana College. “It was devastating,” continued coach Barjaktarevic, talking about a serious injury he had sustained when he was eighteen in his home country of Serbia and Montenegro - former Yugoslavia. Like many young athletic men of the region, Barjaktarevic once dreamed of playing professional soccer in Europe. He never thought that his dream would be cut short by injury.

Nikola Barjaktarevic (pronounced Bar Jeck Tar e vic) grew up in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Barjaktarevic grew up around the high profile sport of European Football. Barjaktarevic was intent on becoming a professional soccer player in his youth. As a youngster, through most of his teen years, Barjaktarevic played soccer year around. He would practice twice almost most every day.

When he was eighteen, working out with his junior team he sustained an injury that is especially damaging within the sport. “Both of my groining muscles ruptured,” Barjaktarevic recalled about his injury. “It was just overuse.”

Most soccer players who sustain such an injury quit playing soccer. The best treatment is a surgical process that takes several months of rehabilitation to heal correctly. “Like most people I was down, but then I decided that I was going to make it back and play competitively again,” said Barjaktarevic. After being made to walk backward for several weeks post surgery, Barjaktarevic was able to start playing again. While Barjaktarevic was going through rehab, he had a realization. Like most athletes who realize that their career might be done Barjaktarevic did some soul searching. “I realized that I needed something other than soccer in my life. It kind of put some other things into perspective.” Barjaktarevic recalled. He soon after enrolled in Belgrade University in the Exercise Science program. This proved to be the beginning of coach Barjaktarevic journey in higher education.

A couple of years into Barjaktarevic enrollment in Belgrade, he realized that there was a chance to play colligiately in the United States. Barjaktarevic’s junior year, he transferred to Union University in Tennessee, an NAIA soccer powerhouse who boasts of a 90% foreign player roster. “Coming to the states gave me a chance to play and continue my education. In Europe there are no college teams, it’s all professional teams,” said Barjaktarevic. From there Barjaktarevic graduated and went on to Hasting College to receive a Maters degree and a Graduate Assistantship in soccer. He kept on going until he eventually made it Blair, Neb. It’s Barjaktarevic second year and he couldn’t be more excited about where his team is headed. “We’ve got some great ladies coming in and some great ladies returning,” Barjaktarevic said about his team next year.

The ladies’s of the Dana soccer team seem to really understand what Barjaktarevic is standing for. “He’s really strict on us for academics, which is good,” said senior Center mid team captain Amy Fullenkamp. She went on to add that “He keeps it in perspective that we’re here for academics first and soccer second.” This type of coaching philosophy propelled the soccer team to having the best GPA’s in the conference for two years in a row.

It was an interesting trip for the soccer player from the former Yugoslavia. In an interesting turn of events, it was Academia that allowed Barjaktarevic to remain close to his sport. “I can’t say that I’m glad I was injured, but I’m glad it forced me to think about education. And that is what I tell a lot of my players and that is what the mentality is of this program. I’m bringing players in here to get their degree, and obviously we are here to play soccer but it is much easier to fully focus on it once the grades are in check” states Barjaktarevic. For coach Barjaktarevic it was a painful lesson learned, but one he is able to share with his team.