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As a young man, I devoted myself intensively to tennis, which was my heart sport, but I completed several sports years in biathlon, volleyball, and self-defense. Besides, within the school sports activities, I received several times a gold badge for sturdiness and I devoted myself to athletic disciplines within the school, district, and all-Slovak athletic rounds. After primary school, I entered the Štefan Major Sports Grammar School in Bratislava, where I devoted myself to athletics, specifically sprinting. After graduating from high school, I signed up for the pedagogical field and graduated from the Faculty of Education at Comenius University in Bratislava, special pedagogy, education.
During the beginnings of boccia, I worked as an educator at the Gaudeamus Social Services Home on Mokrohájska Street in Bratislava. At that time, outside of my work duties, I devoted myself intensively to music. I got to boccia by chance through my ex-wife, who received an offer from the Slovak Sports Association for the Disabled in 1996, whether she didn't want to try to train a new kind of sport in Slovakia.
At first, it was my curiosity and after a month of working, I joined her. We went from scratch and our cooperation began gradually with Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The ALTIUS Sports Club was founded in 1997, and boccia became more and more serious and popular due to its huge interest. In addition to training activities, we organized national and international friendly events and we also participated in events abroad.
The turning point came in 2000, when we organized the first Slovak Championships, we assembled the first national team, raised some money, and a year later we participated in the first European Championships in Czech Teplice (2001). This was the beginning of the boccia team's journey. Since then, we have participated in every competition under the auspices of the international association CP-ISRA and later the BISFed federation.
In addition to participating in European Championships, World Cups and World Championships, we have also participated in four Paralympic Games (Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016). We are currently qualified for the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, so we expect as much as the situation in the world will develop in the context of a global pandemic.
Why boccia? How long have you been doing boccia? What fascinates you most about this game?
Within the sports club, I also trained wheelchair tennis players for 10 years (1998-2008). In 2008, my family and I were involved in a car accident. When we were returning from the Slovak championships in Dubnica nad Váhom, a Polish minibus driver crashed into our passenger car on the highway under the influence of alcohol, and then I suffered injuries that stopped me as a tennis coach for several years. I have never returned to tennis as a coach and I only focus on boccia to this day.
Over time, boccia training has evolved so that today I could not even think of being an active coach in another sport in addition to boccia. Boccia employs me 100% and I sincerely look forward to the fact that after many years of work in this area, this sport is at the level of one of the most successful sports for physically disadvantaged athletes in Slovakia. And what fascinates me about it?
The thing from the beginning. Where do the possibilities of handicapped athletes reach, where are their boundaries and what can they manage and overcome? Sometimes I think for myself how much I require from my athletes, what demanding training exercises I give them, what demanding training sessions they go through ... And they never complain, they do what they have to and even though it is at the limit of their strengths and possibilities, they endure. And then I say myself: If there were more of such people among healthy people...
The active sport of the representative affects and changes the well-established tracks of everyday life for him and his family. Where others end up in school or work, we start training. Where ordinary people have the opportunity to enjoy a weekend trip with friends or family, we spend on trips, training camps and competitions. But even so, all the renunciation and loss of personal life is worth the feeling of proving something exceptional and valuable.
Our athletes create role models, create goals, create desires. Many other athletes are motivated and set an example and role model for them. This is the most valuable thing that gives sport to all of us, and by what comes after us, we leave a clear message: Sport makes sense, sport is the way, sport connects and opens new horizons. It is a symbol of perseverance, ambition, energy, dedication, determination, adaptability and honest work.
How many athletes are currently members of the Slovak national team in boccia? What other positions do you hold besides coaching? Which activity do you like best?
Currently, 16 athletes are included in the national team in four categories, but they are constantly changing and supplementing. As the athletes in the national team are from all over Slovakia, I mainly use joint training camps for training drills. At home clubs, they train with their assistants or club coaches.
As part of my work, I prefer to work during training camps. We are all together, we spend long hours during the two training phases in the hall and we manage to do a lot of meaningful and honest work. Also, the team has time for personal communication together.
In addition to my coaching work, I am a member of the Executive Committee of the Slovak Paralympic Committee and the chairman of the ALTIUS Sports Club. My pedagogical practice is temporarily suspended, as I have signed an employment contract with the Slovak Association of Physically Handicapped Athletes as a coach of the national team in boccia.
How many Paralympics you have taken part in? Which sports achievements do you value the most?
We participated in four Paralympics and many other international events. By far the most valuable metal is the gold medal in the BC4 doubles competition and the silver medal in the BC4 singles competition in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games. By no means can I underestimate and weaken the value of any medal that won the World Cup. Each medal was a step forward for us, meant points, rankings, and all this is important and inseparable so that we can participate in the Paralympic Games at all.
We know about you that you wrote a very interesting book about boccia. It is already fresh in the press and will soon appear in the sale. Can you tell us more about this book of yours?
The book on boccia is a long-prepared publication that records a section of my coaching work, valuable advice, information, and training material that will tell you more about the way to be successful, what components the training preparation contains, and what all affects it. I started writing the first lines in 2011. 9 years have passed and the content of the book has been reworked and edited many times to its current form. It was also related to the development of the sport itself but also the change in my job. But I'm happy because today I feel that the book itself had to mature and survive something too so that it can present and deliver its message today .
The book is intended for athletes, coaches, and people who want to learn more about the sport of boccia, training methods, and the overall behind the scenes of this sport. I perceive its uniqueness only because many people got involved in its content, many materials came together and we tried to convey a comprehensive picture of the basics of sports training. I assume that the book could be available as early as October 2020.
Can you tell readers the title of your book?
BOCCIA - Basics of sports training
How do you perceive the BASHTO SPORTS brand and its contribution to increasing the level of boccia in Slovakia and the world?
I know Ondrej Bašták Ďurán, the founder of BASHTO SPORTS, for many years indeed. He also worked for a long time at Mokrohájska as an assistant to boccia athletes within our Sports Club ALTIUS or later within the OMD Club. The fact that he decided to go in this direction surprised me and, honestly - I could not even imagine at the outset that it could bring it to today's level. I admire ambitious and hard-working people and appreciate their work. It is no different with Ondrej and his company BASHTO SPORTS. He went a long way from scratch. He has built a company, is a distributor, designs products, makes worldwide sales. Hat down...
In terms of benefits for sports, I perceive BASHTO SPORTS very positively. I recently visited the company in person and learned not only about production, technological processes but also about sales. The company distributes its products to many countries around the world and that speaks for itself. There is no need to praise here because the results speak for the company exactly as in sports.
I keep my fingers crossed for Ondrej and all his employees so that they can fulfill their ideas, dreams in their work and to produce a lot of quality sports material that will accompany athletes on their journey to sports success.
Do you have any beads, interesting things, or funny experiences related to boccia?
Of course, there are many events of various kinds. We have traveled a part of the world and spend more time together than with our own families. So we experience a lot of nice, cheerful but of course not pleasant things. It's balanced so we can appreciate what we have.
What activities do you have outside of boccia?
I spend most of my time on boccia training, training camps and events. Of course, this is related to a lot of administrative work, travel - cars, buses, planes ... At airports, I feel that man spends half of his life there. But outside of this carousel, I like to spend time in nature, I rest while working manually, I run exceptionally on a bicycle and I consider my motorcycle to be a perfect therapeutic tool, where I am with myself and my thoughts.
Do you still have any unfulfilled life or sports dreams ahead of you? What is your desire?
One of my working dreams was to publish a book on boccia. As I said above, it was born for many years and it is my thing. I have won many awards in recent years as a coach, we have achieved all the sports goals with the boccia team. I don't dream of anything specific, because I thought that I would achieve my goals and successes in completely different areas. Life has arranged it differently and I try to do my job responsibly and honestly and I accept all challenges.
I work in an area where I can plan my work but not the result. So I'm happy that together with the people I love, I can meaningfully invest my productive days in life in something meaningful, and together we leave a message to future generations of athletes.
Would you like to send a message to readers of our blog?
Don't stop dreaming, don't stop hoping, don't stop fighting. Sport is more than a winners stage. It is a lifestyle, a life philosophy that gives you strength, develops a personality, strengthens the body, and develops thinking. It helps build relationships, determines life paths, and creates value for other athletes through your work.
Be a role model and example for those who are hesitant and still looking for the meaning of their life.
Mr. Gabko, thank you for the interview. I wish you a lot of sports and life success. I wish you many happy readers of your new book on boccia. We will definitely put it up for sale in our e-shop as well...
Rastislav Sabatula
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