I discovered water sports in a local rowing club in my hometown Piestany when I was 11 years old. I represented Slovakia at 2 junior rowing world championships and finished my rowing career during the studies at Faculty of physical education and sports, Comenius University in Slovak capital Bratislava. There I discovered other water sports thanks to my teacher and good friend Martin Pach. He introduced me to windsurfing, kitesurfing and stand-up paddleboarding in 2014. I have immediately fallen in love with these sports. The first SUP races started to appear in Slovakia in 2017. Martin owned a board shop where I also worked at the time and offered me to become a “team rider”. He gave me an inflatable race board and I started to race. Long story short, I am 11-times Slovak national champion and compete at international races where I am capable of getting a podium finish. Nowadays I mostly race at Czech Cup competitions and other races in central Europe because of lack of the competition in Slovakia. Thanks to newly formed Slovak Independent Surfing Association (SISA) and an ISA SUP Development Nations Program I am able to compete at the 2024 ISA World SUP & PADDLEBOARD Championships in Denmark. It is my first ISA competition and also the first time Slovakia is taking part. I hope this helps to show young paddlers in Slovakia and other smaller countries (in terms of SUP racing community) that it is possible to compete at highest level even if SUP is not the biggest sport in your country.