Marko Petrović and Borna Hržina are the volunteers of the marketing team at the European Universities Games Zagreb – Rijeka 2016. When they’re not setting up banners or taking care of the sponsors, they put on a Hrki costume and animate the audience and the athletes at sports venues.
Marko is 14 years old. He just finished 7th grade and trains boxing. Although he is young, he already has a lot of volunteer experience, and he especially likes volunteering with children. He met a lot of playful children at the Sunce rehabilitation center in Zagreb. Lately he has been reading bedtime stories at pediatric hospital wards; for those children, Marko is a beautiful lullaby of sorts. Five months ago he applied to volunteer at the European Universities Games 2016 through the Zagreb Volunteer Center. Juvenile volunteers didn’t talk to volunteer coordinators via Skype, and Marko met them in person at EUG headquarters. At the first meeting, he inquired about Hrki, using the opportunity to immediately try out the costume of the most famous hamster in Zagreb and Rijeka. He didn’t have a problem with the heat when wearing the costume; he liked being Hrki, and had his premiere performance in April at a Cibona basketball game. The Cibona wolf mascot showed him the ropes, helping him relax and have fun.
Borna is 21 years old and he’s a student at the Faculty of Kinesiology in Zagreb; he wants to be a football coach. In his spare time, he enjoys cycling and playing football. He was delighted to become Hrki, and he especially liked the costume’s embedded cooling system; the professors of the Faculty of Textile Technology in Zagreb had developed the first costume cooling system, making it easier for the wearer to endure the temperature inside. Borna explained that thrusters were installed in the costume’s lower back, with air tubes along arms and legs which stimulate air flow. This reduces the temperature inside the costume by 30 percent, allowing the wearer to relax and have fun.
However, it can still be hot inside the costume. Marko is constantly joking that he had chosen the role of Hrki in order to lose weight, as wearing the costume is similar to being in a sauna. When we asked him if he would go to the gym in a Hrki costume, he just shook his head.
‘When I’m Hrki, people approach me all the time, asking if I’m hot. However, I can’t talk much while wearing the costume, and I like talking, so I have to express myself through movements.’
Borna says that athletes want to take selfies with them, and sometimes they they throw them into the air like they were rock stars.
‘Yesterday some rugby players came and pushed me. I didn’t expect that so I ended up on the floor. Had that happened while I was playing football, I would have been annoyed, but I didn’t mind it as Hrki. I thought it was funny’
The boys say there’s plenty of laughter at the Games.
‘We joke all the time; the atmosphere in our team is great. The head of the Marketing Committee, Krunoslava, and our team leader Mary throw great jokes all the time, and Tomislav and Ivana, volunteer coordinators, are always in ina great mood. Every morning we come to volunteer happy, looking forward to the new day’
Fran Bilić helps them as well, putting the costume of Hrki when Borna and Marko can’t make it.
We had some quick questions for the boys, who had to answer as if they were Hrki:
Mornings or evenings?
Borna: Evenings, or early in the morning, no later 11.00 hours, when the temperature is not that high.
Marko: Evenings, there’s no sun, so Hrki sweats less.
Indoor halls or the outdoor venues?
Borna: Hrki would have liked outdoor halls the most.
Marko: Hrki likes the outdoors the most.
Sleeping or training?
Borna: Sweet sleep after a lot of training.
Marko: Training, Hrki starts running the moment he wakes up.
Training or fun?
Borna: Is there a difference? Training is fun.
Marko: Fun, we expect to see you at Roko on July 16, Hrki will host a party.
Sportswomen or hamster women?
Borna: Sportswomen, they are athletically built…
Marko: …and Hrki is easily infatuated.
