My Passion To Win
As with any sport, my handball career so far has taught me how to deal with defeats and how to celebrate victories. How a group sport works, the organization of the team and how important that is.
Looking for a job has always been a challenge for me because I was afraid that I would not be able to get a job given my handicap, and there was certainly a fear that the team would not accept me as I was. I have been looking for myself in business for a long time because it was important for me to show my full potential. I chose Continental because it is a world brand that is known all over the world.
What I gained from employment in the Design sector at Continental in Subotica is an environment in which I am accepted and in which my engagement comes down to a lot of logic, precision, and accuracy in my work. At Continental, I found my place under the sun. My superiors and my colleagues with whom I work have accepted me very well, so I really feel valuable and equal in working with them.
The years spent at Continental have shown me that I have chosen the right environment, with a company that takes care of its employees, so I am overjoyed and privileged to work in such a place.
Colleagues and my superiors accepted me with open arms from the first day and I am very grateful to them! We have created an excellent balance of communication and understanding so that we can reach a mutual agreement. Recently, Microsoft Teams has become relevant and due to the well-known epidemiological situation, they helped me to communicate via video call at any time, which was extremely important to me because I read lips in order to understand what they are talking about. All in all, a clean ten
Being an athlete involves commitment, so every day looks basically as follows: get up at 5.30 am, get ready and travel from Kikinda to Subotica to work, working, and then go back home. After coming home, I dedicate my time to my family, and in the evening, there is a mandatory training before bed.
The hearing impairment I live with and the situations I went through gave me strength and taught me to fight for everything in life. I am most proud of my family, to whom I am immensely committed, my three children and my wife, who provide me with maximum support to have a balance between work, family and sports. To be what I am today meant the immense support of my parents, who told me when I was having the hardest time: "Your five minutes will come, don't worry." Today I see that they were right.
For the past few months, I have been working from home and I really have to praise the company that reacted quickly and adjusted the working conditions to the employees, as well as my immediate supervisor who organized the team to function so that each task was fulfilled and realized on time. As far as I am concerned, I carry out my work tasks conscientiously and I am really detail oriented person. I would say that sport is also responsible for that.
Playing handball, I learned to fight for my goals in the first place. And as with any sport, my handball career so far has taught me how to deal with defeats and how to celebrate victories. How a group sport works, the organization of the team and how important that is. It is the same in business, good organization is the key to all successfully completed tasks.
I am a professional handball goalkeeper; I have been a member of the Serbian national team for deaf and hard of hearing people since 2000. Some of the results that I am proud of are:
- 2001 Olympic Silver in Rome (Italy)
- 2005 European Bronze in Istanbul (Turkey)
- 2008 European gold in Belgrade and the award for the best goalkeeper in Europe
- 2009 Olympic silver in Taiwan
- 2012 European bronze in Lignan Sabia Doro Udine (Italy) and the best goalkeeper in Europe
- 2013 Olympic Silver in Sofia (Bulgaria)
- 2014 World bronze in Samsun (Turkey) and MVP of the championship
- 2016 European Championship in Berlin (Germany) - 4th place
- 2017 Olympics in Samsun (Turkey) - 4th place
- 2021 European bronze in Zagreb (Croatia) and the best goalkeeper in Europe
That is not the end, preparations are underway for the Olympic Games in Brazil in 2022. I'll let you know how we did.
This blog was written by our employee.
Vladimir Tepavac
