Smooth roads never made good drivers. To grow in life, you have to challenge your limits or overcome problems thrown your way. No success story has been written without the mention of failures. The story of athlete Neven Kecmanovic is one such example. He took his problems as challenges and never gave up on his dreams, even in the face of adversity. Neven is a national-level gold medalist in rock climbing, but his love for sports started with parkour. Here’s his inspiring story.
Born in a country that was still under sanctions, Neven’s childhood was tough. He witnessed poverty from a close angle and never had anyone to look up to. Neven grew up seeing his mother work two jobs to put food on the table. He and his brother often had no one to look after them. The area he grew up in was a crime-infested neighborhood. Because of this situation, Neven struggled to avoid any bad influences, especially when he saw his friends earning money by illegal means. The nights when Neven had to go to bed hungry were the most difficult to deal with. He often felt tempted to earn money the wrong way but never gave in because of his will of steel.
Neven’s life took a positive turn when he discovered his love for sports. He used to hang around in a group of older boys who did parkour. Although it was a game of fun for them, for Neven, it soon became a passion. The more he practiced parkour, the more he fell in love with the sport. This is how he found his talent. Neven kept growing better every day with parkour and decided to record some of his killer moves. As his videos started getting positive attention from people on social media, Neven became a content creator advertising the sport he loved.
To take his love for parkour to the next level, Neven formed a group with other traceurs (parkour practitioners) to teach young talents the techniques of the sport. The group actively trains freshers on ways to avoid injuries and get better in this sport. One of Neven’s friends from this group introduced him to rock climbing, and Neven was instantly fascinated by it. He immediately joined a bouldering gym to hone his rock climbing skills. Neven wanted to earn recognition in the sports arena, and winning the state-level rock climbing tournament was the only way to do so. Unfortunately, Neven fell badly in one of his parkour sessions, and he ended up with a broken knee just three weeks before the tournament.
It took him months for his knee to recover, and even after that, his bones would hurt while practicing. His family and friends advised him to give up on his dream and think of other career options, but Neven persisted. He started exercising even in excruciating pain until he noticed positive changes in his body. This unfavorable turn of events did delay his achievements, but Neven came back stronger and better from it. He proved himself by winning gold at the national championship for three consecutive years.
Neven believes that nothing is impossible if you decide to put your heart and soul into it. He wants his story to inspire others struggling with hope because hard work never betrays anyone.
