“It was a total culture change for me to come to Serbia” – Lucas Gielen on Mentality & Elite Waterpolo (Part 2)

In the second part of his conversation on the Waterpolo Expert
Talk, international player Lucas Gielen goes deep into one of the
most defining chapters of his career: his move to Serbia and his
time at Partizan Belgrade. What began as a sporting challenge
quickly turned into a complete transformation – not only as a
player, but also as a person. Lucas describes his arrival in
Belgrade as a true culture shock. Coming from the Netherlands,
where sport is structured, safe and balanced with everyday life,
Serbia represented the opposite extreme. In Belgrade, water polo
was not just a sport – it was a way of survival, a daily fight for
places, respect and minutes in the water. For Lucas, this was
exactly why he chose Serbia: he wanted to test himself in the
hardest possible environment. Initially arriving to play for
Banjiča, Lucas quickly caught the attention of Vlado Vujasinović,
who offered him a very clear role at Partizan: play defender, stay
strong, take exclusions and help the team. Playing time was not
guaranteed. For the first months, Lucas barely played at all.
Training, however, was relentless. Long hours in the pool, extra
leg work after practice, gym sessions, tactical drills and constant
evaluation became the new normal. A crucial moment came when
teammates made something very clear to him: as a foreign player, he
had two options – either be the “easy target” everyone wanted to
score against, or become the defender everyone feared playing
against. Lucas chose the second path. That decision changed how he
trained, how he prepared for games and how he approached every duel
in the water. The Serbian mentality demanded total commitment.
Distractions, nightlife and excuses had no place. Training,
recovery, nutrition and mental focus were non-negotiable. Lucas
explains how this environment steadily broke down mental barriers.
Again and again, he was pushed beyond limits he thought he could
not cross – only to discover that he could. By February of his
first season, the work began to pay off. Lucas made his Champions
League debut for Partizan and later played minutes at the Final
Six, including the famous victory over Pro Recco. What seemed
impossible six months earlier became reality through discipline,
humility and persistence. Beyond tactics and physical development,
Serbia reshaped Lucas’s mindset. Winning was not an option – it was
an expectation. Preparation became a daily obsession. Teammates and
coaches demanded excellence in every detail. As Lucas puts it,
after one year in Belgrade, even his family noticed that he had
become a different person. The conversation also touches on what
defines a top coach. For Lucas, elite coaching is the balance
between tactical knowledge and human understanding. A great coach
knows the game deeply but also understands people, moods and
timing. He highlights coaches like Vlado Vujasinović and Petar
Kovacević as rare examples who combined both qualities at the
highest level. In the final part of the episode, Lucas reflects on
life beyond the pool. Water polo, he says, is not only about titles
or medals. It is about relationships, networks, cultures and shared
experiences. His current involvement in the United States,
connections in Europe and career opportunities after water polo all
stem from the relationships built through the sport. This episode
is a powerful insight into elite mentality, personal transformation
and why true development only happens when comfort disappears. More
about the podcast: https://www.schulzekopp.de