Siim-Sander Vene and Holm Bank extend partnership

Holm Bank has helped to kick-start a range of local initiatives which show that even one person’s worthy idea can grow into something much bigger.

Recently, Siim-Sander Vene and Holm Bank extended their partnership in support of the Lääne County basketball club Herilased. “Years ago, during a summer spent in Haapsalu, I got to thinking about the comparatively poor state of its basketball scene and came up with the idea of trying to do something myself to help Haapsalu liven up, especially outside of peak season,” Siim-Sander explains. “This chimed with the way I’ve always sought to get young people exercising by setting an example myself and passing on my experience.”

Locals stick together

Siim-Sander says he’s a true fan of Haapsalu. “For the last 10 years I’ve tried to spend as much of my summers here as possible, soaking up the atmosphere and just enjoying the easy living it offers,” he reveals. He was quick to find support for his plans to establish a basketball club. “Both the City of Haapsalu and Holm said yes,” he smiles. “Our club and the bank have sort of kicked along and grown up together. Our team is slowly but steadily and very noticeably improving, and the same is true of Holm. When Herilased started out, Holm was still a very small bank, but today it is already a solid company offering its bonds on the stock exchange. It’s been fun charting our progress – how two modest and very different undertakings in the same small city have grown by supporting each other and bringing some brilliant plans to life.”

Kaspar Kalvet, CEO of Holm Bank says the bank has indeed seen a growth spurt in recent years, expanding across Estonia and offering financial services in Latvia. “Good people with good plans play a key role in our success, and we always do what we can to get great initiatives off the ground,” he explains. “We recognised the worth of the idea that Siim-Sander came up with straight away. It’s the kind of initiative that adds a splash of colour to local life and makes it better. Both he and Herilased are role models to the youngsters – so many kids are bitten by the basketball bug when they watch them in action. It’s only taken the team a couple of years to reach the topflight, which is an amazing achievement. It shows that Siim-Sander was definitely onto something when he set up the club. His initiative in doing so really spoke to us. Local plans that do good matter to us, which is why we get behind them whenever we can.”

Setting an example

Siim-Sander understands only too well how kids’ idols can influence their attitudes to sports and active lifestyles. “You might say I was born on the court with a basketball already in my hands!” laughs Siim-Sander, whose both parents were also basketball players. “Mum and dad didn’t have anyone they could leave me with, so they used to take me along to games and trainings, apparently from when I was just four months old. I started training at the age of 6, when I started school.” So began a glittering career that has now seen him play 18 seasons abroad, winning the EuroLeague Next Generation Tournament, being crowned Latvian champion once and Lithuanian champion three times, coming out on top in the Baltic League and winning a silver medal in the Champions League. In fact, he has played as many as five seasons in the EuroLeague as part of two different teams. On top of which, he is also the captain of the Estonian national team.

Discipline helps you reach your goals

Siim-Sander says that if you have your target in sight, no other motivation is needed. “You might come across some obstacles along the way, and there might be tough moments, but if you think about where you want to reach and why, it’s much easier to push on towards it,” he feels. “Discipline helps a lot, particularly in overcoming difficulties, and yourself when you’re feeling lazy. You just have to force yourself to stick to the path that will take you where you want to go. The things you know you have to do during the day you need to tick off first before you do anything else. Your goals are your own. You can’t let anyone else influence them.”

Herilased and basketball are cool!

Kids of all ages are welcome to take part in the basketball training they offer in Haapsalu, Siim-Sander says. “We normally start with kids who have reached school age, but we don’t turn away any younger kids who want to give it a go,” he explains. “Most of the kids training with us at the moment are between the ages of 8 and 14. Autumn should hopefully see us start a group for younger kids, 6- and 7-year-olds. Girls are welcome, too, although basketball doesn’t tend to draw them in as much as it does boys, so it’s harder to get groups together. That’s not just here, but everywhere in Estonia. But our aim, in the fullness of time, is to get girls loving the sport as well. If there’s anyone out there who’s interested in training girls’ groups, just let us know!”

Siim-Sander doffs his hat to Herilased’s fans, who are passionate about the club’s growth, the team’s games and, of course, their victories. “Basketball is a great pastime, on or off the court,” he says. “It really gets people going, especially in winter, when they’d otherwise just lounge around at home. We get crowds of more than 200 fans at our home games, while around 100 come to cheer us on in our away games in the play-offs, which is in a different league. We’re hoping to see even bigger crowds at our top-flight games, because they really will be in a different league, more competitive and more interesting for the fans. It really does bring the community together in its own way. That’s why I’m trying to attract junior competitions to Haapsalu as well, so that our kids get the chance to play in front of a home crowd, too.”