Bojana Todorović, also known as Bo Todorovic (born 28 October 1991 in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, Serbia) is a Serbian-American volleyball player. Todorović won the 2011 NCAA Division I competition with University of California Bruins. She was fourth in the 2013 FIVB U23 World Championship. With the Filipino club Philips Gold Lady Slammers she won the bronze medal in the 2015 Philippine Super Liga Grand Prix conference and the Second Best Outside Spiker individual award.

Personal life

Todorović was born on October 28, 1991 in

. She recalled her childhood influenced by the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia during the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

and the sirens she used to hear in the

playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people ...

and spending quality family time while taking shelter underground. Her family moved to

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

when she was nine years old. Her parents are Dusan and Maja Todorović, who played club volleyball and introduced her to the sport. She has an older brother named Dimitrije. She is tall . She speaks

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also

* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

, English and Spanish. She graduated from

University High School (Irvine, California) University High School (also known as UHS or "Uni") is one of six public high schools serving grades 9-12 in the city of Irvine, California, United States. It was established in 1970 and is situated on of land in the southwestern portion of th ...

and went to

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

graduating in

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

. She enrolled herself in the

California State University, Long Beach California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

graduate school Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...

to pursue a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in Sport management and Eastern European History. Todorović has been praised for having a beautiful look while playing in France and the Philippines. As of August 2020, Todorović had reportedly been dating Kirby Ruiz. Todorović is also a professional model.

Career

Todorović practiced karate for a year before shes started with volleyball at the age of seven in Belgrade. Playing with University High School, Todorović was All-City every year, including CIF championship in her first year, All-City Most Valuable Player in her last year and a Fab 50 selection from Volleyball Magazine. With the Laguna Beach club, she won the third place in the 2007 and 2009 Junior National Championship and was selected among the All-Tournament Team in 2008 and 2009. She spent her playing career in college for the University of California Bruins as an outside spiker in her first two years, then defensive specialist and libero in her final year and spent one year playing sand volleyball. She was part of the 2011 UCLA Bruins champion team during the 2011 NCAA Division I competition. In her rookie year, she was part of the 2009 All-Pac-10 Freshman team. She won the 2010 USAV IDQ #3 beach volleyball tournament, partnering Tara Roenicke earning a spont in the United States U19 Beach Volleyball Team, but was unable to compete with the team because she was not

American citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...

yet. She was part of the United States national team that ranked fourth in the 2013 FIVB U23 World Championship. In 2014, she played another sand volleyball season, this time with the

Long Beach State 49ers Long Beach State athletics, or simply Beach athletics (previously known as the 49ers), are the athletic teams that represent California State University, Long Beach. Teams compete in 19 sports at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NC ...

seeded No.1, reaching the National Championships round of 16. She signed with the French club CEP Poitiers Saint-Benoît located in the city of

Poitiers Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglomerat ...

from the second division league, after turning down proposals from Germany and Switzerland to experience a new culture and language.

2015

Todorović helped her club to avoid the

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

in the finals playoff as the team main player. Her coach wanted to keep her but she confirmed that she would return to the United States and the coach asked the club to found him a new "Bojana Todorović". In October 2015, she accepted the offer to join the Philips Gold Lady Slammers to play the

2015 PSL Grand Prix Conference The 2015 PSL Grand Prix was the second indoor conference of the Philippine Super Liga for its third season. The conference began on October 10, 2015, at the Alonte Sports Arena, in Biñan, Laguna. Stav Jacobi, FIVB Executive Council member and ...

. and described her stay as a great experience with her teammates and the fans. She took time to learn some

Filipino language Filipino (; , ) is an Austronesian language. It is the national language ( / ) of the Philippines, and one of the two official languages of the country, with English. It is a standardized variety of Tagalog based on the native dialect, spoke ...

to improve the communication with her teammates. Scoring 38 points she helped her club to finish the classification round in first place after beating the champion and favorite team Foton. Besides the 31 points scored by Todorović in the semifinal match, again versus Foton, her team lost 2-3 admitting that she could do better for being a competitive person. Philips Gold finally claimed the third place in the tournament and Todorović won the Second Best Outside Spiker. Minutes after the third place game against

Cignal HD Spikers Cignal HD Spikers may refer to: * Cignal HD Spikers (men's team), Filipino men's volleyball team * Cignal HD Spikers (women's team), Filipino women's volleyball team {{disambiguation ...

on November 21, 2015, Todorovic announced that she would retire from the sport after her planned season in the Puerto Rican volleyball league to complete her master's degree in Sports Management in the

2016

Todorović signed for the Puerto Rican club

Valencianas de Juncos The Valencianas de Juncos is the professional female volleyball team of Juncos, Puerto Rico. History The team was found in 2004. Current volleyball squad ''As of February 2011'' * Head Coach: Xiomara Molero Xiomara Molero Jiménez (born Ap ...

for the 2016 season. But she was transferred to Changas de Naranjito in early march to replace Emily Brown. Even though she helped her team to ascend to the seventh place, she later suffered an injury and could not play in the rest of the season.

Clubs

* CEP Poitiers Saint-Benoît (2014-2015) * Philips Gold Lady Slammers (2015) *

(2016) * Changas de Naranjito (2016)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Todorovic, Bojana 1991 births Living people American women's volleyball players Serbian emigrants to the United States Serbian women's volleyball players Sportspeople from Belgrade UCLA Bruins women's volleyball players Long Beach State Beach women's volleyball players Outside hitters American expatriate sportspeople in France American expatriate sportspeople in the Philippines Expatriate volleyball players in France Expatriate volleyball players in the Philippines University High School (Irvine, California) alumni