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Sokol Centar will be a place where world champions and Olympic winners are created
Sokol Centar will be a place where world and Olympic champions are created. Pipunić realised the dream of gymnasts from Osijek.
“We want to create thousands of world champions. Not Robert Seligman and Tomislav Marković, but different champions. When a chubby kid makes a back roll he becomes a world champion. That is our goal.”, this is what Marko Pipunić, an entrepreneur from Osijek, the owner of Žito Grupa and the most prominent patron of basic sports in Osijek, said when he spoke to us a year ago.
That goal has now practically been achieved. For years Pipunić has been the main sponsor of high level gymnastics, athletics, and swimming in Osijek, and for all these years he wanted to make sure that those excellent athletes and people, who cannot live off their activities, are at least able to work under normal, suitable conditions. In his efforts, he placed the emphasis on gymnastics, but it took nine full years for that dream to become reality. Only with the current mayor, Ivan Vrkić, Pipunić was able to find a model according to which the historic neo-Classicist building of the Sokolski dom, built in 1928, could finally be reconstructed and an annex could be built next to it. The City grated a concession for the complex to Žito for the period of 40 years, and the company invested 35 million kunas in it, and after 18 months of work, the door of the Sokol Centar will officially open on 3 September. Full 90 years after the completion of the first stage of Sokolski dom, which was never completed according to its original designs, the gymnasts from Osijek finally have the facilities which they dreamed about for decades.
“I have seen facilities like these around the world, and now we have it in Osijek”, said Robert Seligman, the new pommel horse vice-champion of Europe, while we were sitting on the floor of the new gym, surrounded by children, the youngest members of GD Osijek – Žito, who approached every practice session under the supervision of their coaches with immense joy. Robi sad that these are “the best possible conditions for creating top athletes, Olympic and world champions”.
“I am thankful to Mr. Pipunić who decided to invest in a facility like this, and for a basic sport no less. Without him we could only fantasize about this and his social responsibility is to be commended. We waited for a gym like this for almost 100 years, and now this one will remain here for 100 years to come, and the important thing is that it will remain for the citizens of Osijek. I am incredibly happy because of the kids that are just starting, we will be able to transfer our knowledge and experience to them in perfect conditions. This is a small factory of champions, but also a place where people from all over the region and from around the world gather,” Seligman pointed out, and his great friend Tomislav Marković agreed. Until recently one of the best floor gymnastics athletes in the world and a coach at the club today. A well-known situation with Tomi’s health condition and his heart problem that nearly cost him his life caused his early retirement from active training, so today he is passing down his knowledge to the younger generation. The question of what Tomislav could have accomplished if he had a floor with appropriate dimensions while he was training regularly will remain unanswered.
“Naturally I regret that I did not have a floor like this while I was actively practicing gymnastics, but on the other hand I am glad that Robert and the talented Aurel Benović, as well as our entire young team, get to train under these conditions. It is a wonderful feeling to experience this in my own town and I am happy every morning when I wake up and remember that I am coming here,” Tomislav pointed out.
Today, the complex has 2,400 square metres of usable surfaces, which is more than 10 times as much as the old gym. The old building has been completely reconstructed in its original form, and the area that used to house apparatuses now features an entry hall with a coffee shop and locker rooms. According to Ivana Maltašić, the spokesperson for the club, its three floors also house four smaller gyms.
“The ground floor has a training gym for children under 4 years of age and for children with special needs, because we are also starting corrective gymnastics programmes aimed at the target group which demands a lot of attention and additional professional capacities in order for it to operate with the required level of quality. This gym is made from sponge modules and completely customised for children. The first floor features three gyms for training by adults. Two for functional training and one for cycling. Starting from 3 September, we are introducing parallel training for parents and children, so the parents will be able to train themselves in the gyms upstairs while their children are training, and use their time to engage in high-quality and active exercise,” Maltašić pointed out, also adding that the top floor of the old building was reconstructed and that it now contains a hostel with 9 rooms and 31 beds, because Sokol will be a place for preparations of gymnastics clubs and national teams.
All of this will be possible thanks to the new large gym, which is situated along an added annex next to the old building and equipped with the most modern and best gymnastics apparatuses. Along with the recreational gymnastics programmes for retirees that already exist, there are plans for new programmes for the target group of children ages 10 to 18 who are not engaged in any sports. They will design training programmes for them that combine gymnastics and aerobic exercises, and all of it will be handled by licensed coaches. They have eight so far and they are hiring two more. At the moment they have 400 members and that number is increasing. The courtyard also got a new look. It houses new beach volleyball, futsal, and basketball courts which will be converted to a hockey rink-sized ice rink with an adjoining building with locker rooms and showers. All of this is located practically in the centre of Osijek, which is an extra feature and an advantage of this complex, which was pointed out by foreign athletes as a fantastic fact, and because of it they are planning to come to Osijek. In this way, Pipunić realised his dream and the dream of the gymnasts from Osijek, but his invitation to other entrepreneurs to engage in similar investments has still not taken root. With the exception of the Osijek resident with several addresses around the world, Ivan Meštrović, who used foreign capital to revitalise football and is building a stadium and a camp, the original entrepreneurs from Osijek have not accepted Pipunić’s challenge.
Nikola Patković/Jutarnji list