Smrikva Bowl Sponsors
Smrikva Bowl
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FEW INFORMATION ABOUT CURRENT SMRIKVA BOWL SPONSORS AND SOME PEOPLE THAT OVER THE YEARS SUPPORTED SMRIKVA BOWL GROWTH:
Istria from Smrikve is an e-book about Istrian culture that aims to provide the reader with some useful information about the places that should be visited in the Istria region and also aims to promote Smrikva Bowl.
In Istria from Smrikve you will, among other, find information about the Istrian architecture, history, people, music, cuisine, olive oil, wine and major cultural events. Hopefully you will find Istria interesting vacation destination and decide to visit it or to come back again.
Sergio Tacchini is an Italian sportswear brand founded in 1966, taking the name of its founder, Sergio Tacchini, international tennis champion.
In 1970s and 1980s Sergio Tacchini becomes synonymous of style and elegance in the world of tennis and achieved an international visibility thanks to endorsing the greatest tennis champions such as: Mc Enroe, Jimmy Connors, Martina Navratilova, Gabriela Sabatini, Mats Wilander, Pat Cash, Pete Sampras, Vitas Gerulaitis, Adriano Panata, Martina Higins, Goran Ivanisevic and others.
I am pleased to say thanks to the Smrikva Bowl friend Luca Appino who introduced Smrikva Bowl to Mr. Edoardo Artaldi, and contributed to associate Sergio Tacchini with the Smrikva Bowl.
Sergio Tacchini Factory Outlet of Caltignaga was already the Smrikva Bowl sponsor many years ago.
Wilson could be defined as #1 tennis racquets and accessories company in the World. Players such as Roger Federer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Serena and Venus Williams are some of the famous tennis players currently using Wilson racquets.
Since 2008 Wilson is one of the Smrikva Bowl sponsor and the Smrikva Bowl winners get the Wilson sponsorship contract. Luka Panic and Katarina Jokic are the first Smrikva Bowl winners that currently play with Wilson racquets.
The runner up also get the racquets and the whole tournament is played with Wilson balls. There is also a small gift that Wilson provide to every Smrikva Bowl Ambassador.
I am pleased to say thanks to the Smrikva Bowl friend Luca Appino who introduced Smrikva Bowl to Mr. Michael Wallace, Mr. Massimo Calvelli, Mr. Renaud Vallon and Mr. David Dobrila, and contributed to associate Wilson with the Smrikva Bowl.
Ronzio Oleodinamica is a hydraulic manufacturer company based in Milan in Italy. Ronzio Oleodinamica and Ronzio family have supported Smrikva Bowl since its foundation.
One of the first gifts that they brought from Milan was a special ice cream made by Zela. This was the spirit of the tournament since the beginning. Their desire was to allow the kids to try the top ice cream. I remember that this ice cream was brought with a lot of ice in the bag to conserve it in the car trip from Milan to Pula :).
Smrikva Bowl t-shirts and hats are provided by Ronzio Oleodinamica.
Smrikve Tennis Club was registered in 1996, the same year when Smrikva Bowl was founded.
Smrikve is the place where Smrikva Bowl is played and is the place where Smrikve Tennis Club is located. It is also the place where Smrikve wine and olive oil are produced. Every Smrikve tennis player in a small way contribute to the Smrikva Bowl by playing in our Tennis Club.
Many people take vacations to be part of the Smrikva Bowl Staff and a special thanks is due to each of them.
Most of our players are also Smrikva Bowl sponsors, some of them are Golden Honorary Smrikva Bowl Members and some are part of the Smrikva Bowl Staff.
In 2002 Sara Montanelli played Smrikva Bowl and her father Claudio Montanelli became an important Smrikva Bowl friend.
Since 2003 Claudio Montanelli is preparing a beautiful brochure of over 60 pages that allow Smrikva Bowl partecipants to have a hard copy as memory to the event they participated. Claudio also provides Smrikva Bowl with player and staff cards.
Mouratoglou Tennis Academy is #1 tennis Academy in Europe located nearby Paris.
Marcos Baghdatis has grown in Mouratoglou Tennis Academy and since 2008 Mouratoglou Tennis Academy provides Smrikva Bowl winners with one week training in the Academy.
This experience was an extraordinary professional experience for both Smrikva Bowl winners and for both of them it was their first time in Paris. Katarina Jokic had also the opportunity to make a photo with Marcos Baghdatis.
I am very glad that Smrikva Bowl friend Luca Appino introduced Smrikva Bowl to Mr. Patrick Mouratoglou and help to associate this top Academy with Smrikva Bowl.
This prize allow the kids to live an extraordinary experience that for sure contribute to their tennis growth and give them energy to continue to train and dream for the future.
Duravit is a trading company based in Pula that operates in a food business.
Mladen and Zdenka Duras are old Smrikva Bowl friends and every year they provide the tournament with fruit juices and other ingredients for sandwiches.
During the tournament we traditionally offer free sandwiches and drinks to every player and their help allow us to make Smrikva Bowl for the participants like a big five days long birthday :).
Izo "iz Balici" is a company that operates in a food business. They produce bread, biscuits, pastry, cakes and machines for food industry.
Balici is the village located nearby the village where my grandfather Mate was born and this people, Roce family, are our old family friends.
As I wrote above, during the tournament we traditionally offer free sandwiches and drinks to the players and their help allow us to make Smrikva Bowl like a big five days birthday. Every sandwich we give to the kids is made of Balici bread.
Agrofarmacija is a company that operates in the gardening business. It produces flowers and other type of plants, and is located in Pula.
Agrofarmacija every year sponsors Smrikva Bowl with plants that we exhibit during the finals on our Central Court. Every year, the night before the finals we arrange our Central Court with flowers and plants that create a special atmosphere for the finalists.
The court is every year very nice and hopefully kids will remember how their chairs were arranged with colored flowers when they played one of their first important international finals.
In addition, over the century old olive tree is also provided by Agrofarmacija.
Svijet Biljaka is another company dedicated to the Istrian Lavender production and products distribution that was founded in the last few years. The company is based in Vodnjan and is another new Smrikva Bowl sponsor.
Svijet Biljaka is the company that promotes and develops the Istrian Lavender project and the first products of the Istrian Lavender have been produced in 2008.
We had this year the opportunity to give to every Smrikva Bowl Ambassadors a package of the Istrian Lavender products that went into 24 countries and 5 continents.
Istria is traditionally known for the outstanding olive oil and wine. They were both well known during the Roman Empire times.
It is interesting to recall that Pula had a big fullonica - Roman clothing cleaning factories - in its bay. It is also known that in those factories the lavender was used in the cleaning process.
In addition, it is interesting to remember that Pula's Arena - the amphitheatre - had stone tanks placed on the towers with the sweet smelling water that was spread in the amphitheatre at the time.
Svijet Biljaka today produces several types of products that could be similar to those used by Romans. They are all natural products.
Svijet Biljaka also produces the Smrikva based products, a juniper made products, that could be found in their offer. In the future Smrikva Bowl Ambassadors might bring to their homes Smrikva based products
Royal Boats is a company based in Pula that operates in sale of new and used yachts.
Royal Boats, together with Biring, is general dealer for Permare Group for the Eastern Europe. Permare Group build Amer brand yachts.
Smrikva Bowl's traditional prizes for the winners are the mountain bikes and Royal Boats is Smrikva Bowl traditional sponsor for the mountain bikes.
Puljanka is a trading company based in Pula that operates in a food business.
During the tournament we traditionally offer free sandwiches and drinks to the players and Puljanka's sponsorship allow us to make Smrikva Bowl experience for the participants like a big five days long birthday :).
In the last years Puljanka provided us with the water for the players.
"Shake" is another company based in Pula and run by Darko Spelic.
"Shake" produces air freshener that was patented by this Croatian company and is primarily produced for cars. The quality of the product quickly found its place in ships’ cabins and other closed spaces.
"Shake" is another natural product and is the title holder of the UNESCO gran-prix for ecological consideration and is the award winner of prestigious awards at the international exhibitions of innovations.
Thanks to Darko Spelic's support of the Smrikva Bowl we had this year the opportunity to give to every Smrikva Bowl Ambassador a "Shake" product with the lavender sweet smell.
Darko Spelic personalized the products with the Smrikve coats of arm and thanks to our Ambassadors they went into 24 country spread over 5 continents. Hopefully soon Darko will produce also a Smrikva sweet smelling products :).
SM Design is Sasa Matijasic's company. Sasa is another old Smrikva Bowl friend. He lives in Fazana and produces art works in various materials but the most beautiful one are those made in olive wood.
Sasa do not cut the olive trees to get the olive wood for its sculptures! The olive wood used by Sasa are provided from the frozen olive trees or olive wood that can be collected from their yearly maintenance.
There is an old say in Istria that dates back in the Roman times: "Olive tree should not be cut... where the olive tree stop to grow also the civilization stop".
For the Smrikva Bowl players Sasa Matijasic traditionally produce a special collection of wooden made gift that every Smrikva Bowl Ambassador receive.
DH Management is the company based in Switzerland that provides professional support and personal assistance to athletes in order to lead them to worldwide success. Ana Ivanovic is the player that DH Management supported towards her success.
Thanks to Mr. Gavin Versi the Smrikva Bowl finalists had the opportunity to receive two signed t-shirts from Ana Ivanovic.
Katarina Jokic, Maia Lumsden, Katie Swan and Jovana Vukovic enjoyed Ana's gift and I am also sure that this gift will inspire them to continue to enjoy the game and further develop.
In 2007 Ana Ivanovic has been officially named the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Ambassador. On that day, in relation with the nomination, Ana said “This is a great honor for me to be invited to be UNICEF Ambassador. I love children, and I relish this opportunity to help them in some small way.”
With the signed t-shirts Ana showed that she loves children and this way she also helps Smirkva Bowl development "in some small way".
Ledo is a Croatian ice cream brand and is the regional leader in the production and distribution of ice cream and frozen foods.
Several years ago Donna Vekic played Smrikva Bowl and her father Igor was at the time a manager at Ledo. Donna played Smrikva Bowl several times but after the first Smrikva Bowl experience her father Igor Vekic decided to donate to every Smrikva Bowl player an ice cream.
Since than, every year, Ledo provide us with an ice cream and is already a traditional Smrikva Bowl sponsor.
Radio Velenje is a Slovenian radio and newspaper company based in Velenje that since the Smrikva Bowl foundation, thanks to Nina Jug, provided the tournament with various gifts for the children.
Nina and Darko Jug started to play tennis in Smrikve almost 20 years ago.
Product Impex is a company based in Pula that sell trophies for the sporting events.
Letizia and Marco Klun are the owners of this activity and since the Smrikva Bowl foundation they provided Smrikva Bowl with trophies offering discounted prices for the tournament and a part of their work for free.
Histrica is an internet company dedicated to the promotion of the Istrian tourism offer.
Histrica's founders, Loris Bilic and Dragan Bencic, through Miracolina also operate in the web design business and their companies provide also various other information technology services.
Smrikve website was designed by them and various advices for our website improvements are always available.
Villa Kascuni is a private property dedicated to the renting of their apartments. It is located nearby the Smrikve Tennis Club and several times Villa Kascuni sponsored with the apartments Smrikva Bowl for our special guests.
Restoran Oaza is another old Smrikva Bowl sponsor. The restaurant is owned by Denis Runko and for years it is our official restaurant where the Smrikva Bowl players with the player card receive discounted prices.
As I wrote above, during the tournament we traditionally offer free sandwiches and drinks to the players. Part of the fruit juices we offer to the kids are provided by Denis Runko.
Vita Si is based in Pula and owned by Zivko Vitasovic, an old Smrikva Bowl player. He provided for years the tournament with meat that is used for the meals prepared for the Smrikva Bowl Staff.
Zivko make very good "cevapcici".
Vlado and Marija Babic are the owners of Komot, one of the leading companies in Croatia for the production of tennis blende.
Vlado and Marija are also the parents of Zvonimir Babic that played Smrikva Bowl twice several years ago. Since the first time their son played our tournament they decided to support Smrikva Bowl. They sponsored Smrikva Bowl with various articles they produce.
Vlado Babic is also the person that gave the idea to plant an olive tree during the tournament. He enjoyed Smrikva Bowl and said that olive tree would be a nice idea and the year after we started to plant centuries old Olive Trees. It was decided to plant an old olive tree to add to the traditional message of the olive tree the message of intergenerational responsibility that is an important message for the kids of today.
Nove Istarske Knjizare is a Croatian company based in Pula that sells books and other goods mainly for the school.
Sandi Segota is an old Smrikva Bowl player and for years he supported Smrikva Bowl with small gifts that we used to prepare the Ambassadors' packages for each Smrikva Bowl player.
Balun Vodnjan is a dancing group run by the brothers Danijel and Goran Vrtacic. Danijel and Goran are both Smrikva Bowl players and for years during the Smrikva Bowl closing cerimony they dance a traditional Istrian dance called Balun for our guests.
Istarska županija / Region of Istria is a new Smrikva Bowl sponsor that prepared the bags for the Ambassadors' package that was used during the nomination cerimony.
The Region of Istria is one of the most developed Croatian Regions. It is a member of various cross borders organizations and is also a member of the European Regions organization.
Istria is a Region know for its good wine and olive oil. The Istrian wine was preferred by the wife of the Emperor Augustus, and the olive oil was considered the best in the whole Empire. This tradition continued till today.
Istria is an interesting Region for people interested in discovering the cultural heritage of a particular place. Most of the Istrian towns are 3-4000 years old.
Istria had over 400 prehistoric hill fort settlements. Over 50 current major towns and villages were important Roman towns.
Most of the historical periods that formed the European culture have left their traces in Istria and it is part of the Istrian cultural heritage.
There are several Istrian buildings, monuments, wine, olive oil, food that could be defined with the word "one of the best".
City of Pula is another Smrikva Bowl new sponsor that sponsored Smrikva Bowl for the last few years.
Smrikve Tennis Club is located in Stinjan that is a part of Pula. Pula is another very old Istrian town that has been inhabited for over 3000 years.
Pula was a pre historic hill fort settlement and later on was an important Roman settlement. At the time Pula was one of the richest towns in the Roman Empire. It is also interesting that among the founders of the Roman Colony was als the father in law of Julio Caesar. Later on it was the first Roman Emperor Augustus the one who started to develop the city.
During the 19th century Pula developed into one of the most important towns in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was a strategic town and the most protected sea bay in the World.
Tourism Office Pula is also the tournament new sponsor that started to sponsor Smrikva Bowl in 2008.
Over the years Smrikva Bowl gathered players from 34 countries and 5 continents. Most of the players are coming from places that are far away from Pula and for most of them it is very interesting to discover ar least the beauties of Pula and Brioni Islands.
Pula, like most other Istrian towns, has many civilizations incorporated in its buildings: prehistoric times, Roman Empire , Byzantium Empire, Charles Magne time, Aquileia Patriarch times, the Venetian Republic, Napoleon, Austria, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, Yugoslavia and Croatia.
Many of the periods mentioned above have formed the European culture and for the people arriving from other continents is a nice experience to combine: the tournament, the culture with a nice family trip.
Rondo dancing group run by Oriana Sapotnik sponsored Smrikva Bowl for the first time in 2008 on the openning and closing cerimony. They performed traditional Istrian dance "Balun" and "Talking in the desert" dance.
With "Talking in the desert" balet, Rondo was crowned with the prize of the European Champion and was invited to the New York City Dance Alliance Broadway competition where they obtained golden medal.
PIRUETA
VIA ING
KON - 2K5
Please visit www.smrikve.com to learn more about Smrikva Bowl, one of the most important under 10 tennis tournaments in the World, and Villa Smrikve and future ATRIVM SMRIKVE HOTEL, for your accommodation in Stinjan (Pula) if you decide to spent your holiday in Istria, Croatia. In Villa Smrikve you can enjoy tennis, sea, good Istrian food, Smrikve wine and olive oil, and events in Pula and Istria.
