Today’s date (November 1st) marks the official beginning or rather the continuation of a story that informally stretches over the last six years. It signifies something of immense importance to me personally, and I genuinely believe it’s a significant step in the right direction for the place that, after the merge of two local clubs and the revival of handball, now has something it never had before.
All of us who grew up through sports are aware that the opportunities for engaging in them in Selce have always been limited. Regardless, spending my youth as a member of our Handball Club was one of my favorite life periods and experiences. After concluding my playing career and after much thought about what I would genuinely love to do in life, SpartanFit movement was born. At that time, SpartanFit didn’t signify anything more than an idea—an idea which I literally was the only one who believed in. Everyone else thought it had no chance of becoming even remotely sustainable, let alone popular, especially in Selce. As is often the case, if you strongly believe in your ideas and work patiently and hard on them, something usually comes out of it.
To fast-track the entire story, after two years of outdoor training, a natural collaboration with the Handball Club Selce followed. Gradually, step by step, we cleaned, arranged, and later equipped the club’s premises. The condition in which we found those rooms was, to put it mildly, despairing. This was a result of several decades of neglect, lack of maintenance, let alone investment. The reality is that even today, the condition of the rooms would be most practically improved by tearing them down and rebuilding them from scratch, mainly due to the poor materials with which they were originally built, the very poor condition of the roof, and the dampness eating away at the walls from both sides.
But. Anyone who knows me knows that when I get fixated on something, a bump on the road can slow me down, but it certainly won’t lead to me being discouraged or stop. The current look of the rooms is respectable, and functionality has been restored, which was crucial and necessary. Soon, the lead-in room with a changing area and storage space will be next on our to-do list. We’ve already removed so much from it that we had to use outside transit services. I won’t dwell on all the additional difficulties, disagreements, and circumstances that befell us in the past year because we successfully overcame them. Fortunately, the city administration had the understanding and sympathy for the whole story, especially when considering my daily care for the entire complex over the past 6-7 years. Therefore, we obtained approval to use those 20 or so square meters for a fee, and of course complex will continue to be used by players of our Handball Club “PŠR Selce.”
In conclusion, and without false modesty, this entire story wouldn’t have had a beginning or middle (I won’t talk about the end because it’s still far away) if it weren’t for me. There are people who have supported us for years and fully understand the point of the whole story. There are also people who don’t like it, or I’m not likable to them, or they think everything I do is for some personal gain (I don’t know how the renovation of the court and a bunch of other things fit into that narrative, but well). The fact remains that primarily, and in many ways entirely, I am responsible for the story and Matkino reconstruction project. Of course, it’s crucial to always emphasize that we can do a lot on our own, but together we can do even more. There is a considerable number of people that I am sincerely grateful to for deciding to be a part of this story, whether in the past or still today, including my family, my better half TL, my right hand IKP, people who participated in the last two years in voluntary actions on the playground or in some way, shape or form helped in the reconstruction/furnishing, as well as all those who, in some way, have been part of the SpartanFit family over the past six years.
To me, SpartanFit represents exactly that—a family that I might one day leave to my son if he’s interested. For families, time and place aren’t that important, but I will say that I’m pleased that our city’s administration had the understanding for the continuation of this story. So, we are still at Matkino because Matkino has been and still is one of my lifelong projects. In the near future, we will have an outdoor training park, and I believe one day even a hall. No one forced me into this, nor will anyone ever have to, and everything I’ve created or done was done with my own will and means, with a lot of love and a sense of duty towards that space. I know that many find this incomprehensible, but that’s okay because I stopped seeking other people’s understanding for my thoughts, words, and actions a long time ago.
(!) With that in mind, we are actively searching for another larger space that would function as an independent commercial gym. If you have something available or know someone interested in that kind of collaboration, feel free to reach out to us. Regardless, thanks to the power of will and strong belief, Selce now has an equipped space for training for the first time in its history, apart from improvised creations in private arrangements. More details about it will be shared on our page in the coming days, including usage instructions and all available options that we provide to our members.
Original release date: November 1, 2023.