Dancing boar conquering the world of handball

Theoretically it is a only a piece of plush with eyes, ears and tail. You need to take special care of it, regularly wash and dry when smells start to be too aggressive for your nose. But in practice it is much more than some material. It’s an eighth player, always ready to support the team and entertain the fans.

Although the mascot of Vive Tauron Kielce is only seven years old, it already has experienced many adventures. Kiełek travels not only with the club but also follows the steps of Polish national team. Mostly he elicits smile on the faces, but he sometimes inadvertently becomes a dark character in children’s nightmares.

From tusks to the boar

What is the recipe for a mascot? An Idea, a piece of inspiration, a pinch of manual skills and lots of material. For Kielce it took only two months to create Kiełek, in 2009 the club wanted to expand their offer for the fans and make the matches more attractive.

“We had lots of ideas, but the mascot was one of the best which caught on very fast”, says Paweł Papaj, marketing director of Vive and the mascot designer.

He was looking for different boar characters on the Internet to create his own which could become the club’s icon. The finished project was delivered to the company that sew the costume.

But why a boar? It is connected with the legend about the town foundation in 11^th century, which owes its name to the boar tusks found by the son of the then king. The mascot’s name was chosen by the fans from five propositions.

Nightmares with a mascot

In its history, Kiełek has enjoyed mixed fortunes. “We tried to create the whole family of boars including his wife Mrs Kiełkowa and son Kiełek Junior,” says Paweł. “Mrs Kiełkowa jumped from a pie for his second birthday and the result of their relationship was Kiełek Junior. Those characters, however, were not popular, so we gave up the idea.”

However, Kiełek Junior provided a chance for Mikołaj Rej, the fledgling student of Engineering Management, who used to be the mascot in high school. “I started as Kiełek Junior, I wore the costume during some matches and then I received an offer to become the main Kiełek. I advanced,” he laughs.

Mikołaj admits that being a boar caused many funny stories. “I had a very good relationship with Denis Buntić. Always when he came onto the court for the second half, we played ball for a while. Once he tried to take my head off, but luckily somebody, Ivan Cupić I guess, stopped him.”

He also recalls situations, when children mistook him for a real creature. “Thorir Olafsson’s kids were afraid of me. Once he told me that his son had a nightmare involving Kiełek, so we went together to the locker where the costume was hidden to show the boy that it’s only a mascot. When he understood that, we became friends.”

Bite the costume

With graduation from school approaching and the job needing more engagement, Mikołaj passed the baton on. Eventually it landed in the hands of Adrian Wałdon, who has been a boar for the past season and a half.

Thanks to his Latin American and break dance experience, he put a new quality into Kiełek’s performances, now including spectacular evolutions such as spinning on its head! As Adrian admits, it is not an easy task.

“Kiełek costume has got a big head and that is the biggest obstacle. It has even fell off before, but luckily I reacted fast so almost nobody saw it,” he laughs.

“Usually I just bite a piece of costume now. My eyes are at the boar’s muzzle, so I just put the piece of material on internal side of its chin into my teeth and the head doesn’t fall down anymore.”

Adrian admits that it’s a great fun for him to become somebody else for a while. “When I wear the costume I am a slightly different man. Nobody sees me, I can do whatever I want. I’m more confident, I have fun and simultaneously entertain the others.”

His work has even inspired an interest in handball, a sport he had no idea about before. “Now, when I’m Kiełek, I follow the events and it has even became my passion.”

Kiełek conquers the world

The role model for Kiełek is the NBA Chicago Bulls’ mascot, Benny the Bull. Both Mikołaj and Adrian concordantly say that they got inspired by him while looking for ways to catch public’s attention. Following an example of American strategy, Vive wants to expand its mascot role.

“We’ve got a vision of Kiełek development. We would like him to become a personality of Kielce,” says Paweł Papaj. “We make various videos with him, we involve him into initiatives for kids. We are happy that Kiełek became a character recognisable not only among them but also among adults. When players go to the kindergartens or schools, the first question is if Kiełek will visit them as well.”

But Kiełek is not only connected with Kielce. He also supports Polish national team. He was present at major championships in Denmark, Spain and Serbia. In the last destination he was even treated as a VIP, as he was the only person that could freely move around the hall, without security checks during the visit of the Serbian prime minister.

In the near future, there are plans for Kiełek to have his own blog and shows with simulations of other characters. Whatever comes next for the beloved mascot, be sure not to miss any of Kielce’s home matches this season in the VELUX EHF Champions League.