“We made our first basketball steps thanks to Kobe Bryant, so we decided to pay our respects to him in this way and emphasize the impact he left on the sport”, a group of guys from Gradiška who worked hard on painting the mural for the past ten days. The mural is the largest in Europe in terms of its dimensions.
– Kobe Bryant was one of my role models and when we heard that he tragically lost his life, we came up with the idea to pay tribute to him. That is how we made a mural on the wall of the school next to which we spent time on the playground – said one of the initiators of the action, Igor Damjanović.
His friend Dejan Gajić emphasized the greatness that Bryant represented in the world of sports in general.
– Kobe Bryant is an icon on a global level and I am really glad that we have shown respect for him in this way. He is a man who was synonymous with hard work, stubbornness. He was persistent to the very end and consistent with his principles. I am glad that we managed to show all that – said Gajić.
Author Deni Božić said that the work was demanding, but that he did it with pleasure. As he says, his wish is for Gradiška to get more murals in the coming period.
– I am glad that in addition to the mural of Kobi Bryant, Gradiška has recently received several more murals. I hope that this will become a trend in other cities of our country as well – said Božić.
To the great joy of the new generation of Gradiška basketball, the field next to the Danilo Borković Elementary School was renovated. After having rather bad training conditions for years, the players, but also the coaches, agree that now they can finally dedicate themselves in the right way to the sport they love the most.
– We are really glad that this renovation took place, and the mural itself was made, but I must mention that I took the first steps here as the founder. The whole settlement has always been on this terrain, and it has one specific weight and importance for this part of the city and Gradiška itself – said the coach of “Stars Basket”, Zoran Lukić.
In the end, they say that they want to continue with similar activities in the next period, and they have already proved that with a little desire and will, anything is possible.
TST