Life in the era of the primacy of digital technology has contributed to us easily adopting the adage that a picture is worth more than a thousand words. However, we often neglect that vice versa is also true. That there are words able to produce images independently, able to shape emotional assemblies with their strength and suggestiveness and to represent ideas, invoking the archetypal and primordial. The National team. Or rather, a Montenegrin word for it – Representation. A word left to us as a legacy from Latin, and translated as a portrayal, introduction; in our sports lexicons we will find the following definition of representation - "a sports team selection composed of athletes from different clubs, who participate as a whole, representing a particular country". As accurate as it is, this explanation is insufficient. Bare. It does not evoke the emotional color of the word Representation, nor the colorful complexity of the images it stimulates. It does not capture the patriotic flame of those who proudly draw from the hidden sources of energy by wearing a jersey with the national coat of arms on the left side of their chests, and of those who support them euphorically, feeling them a deep part of their being. It does not describe the goal or a point in the last second, nor the delight of the child in the stands wearing a scarf in the national colors. Representation is all of that. Both the inspiration of the athlete and the support of a fan, whose hearts are beating at the same frequency. Both the cheer and the sigh: sharing the bitterness of the failure and spreading the intoxicating joy of victory. "When I wear the national team shirt”, Maradona said, "its sole contact with my skin makes it stand on an end." Representation. A word that, in spite of grammatical rules, may be written with a capital letter. A word that, for those of us who love their country, rhymes with “love”. To defend a homeland, one does not need superheroes, or people endowed with supernatural powers, but those who will, as poets write, shield it with honor, knowledge and proper upbringing. People like our “lionesses”, “falcons” and “sharks”. Montenegrin national team players. On the National Team’s Day, we recall with reverence the July 7th of 2007 and the admission of the Montenegrin Olympic Committee to the International Olympic Committee’s family; but also the journey before and after Guatemala City; a journey crowned with an Olympic medal in London. Anticipating new triumphs and joys in our national colors, red and gold, we remind you all of the following: Representation is what draws out the best in us. – Dusan Simonovic President of the Montenegrin Olympic Committee
