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TIN

A Viking in Sport and Life

Tin Jelinek is a professional kickboxer, a successful businessman, and the owner of a kickboxing club in Croatia’s capital. This young man captivates with his focus, evident from the first encounter. He trains young athletes to take punches, supports 35 families through his employees, and has been working since he was 15. By the age of 19, he owned a thriving merchandising company.

Entering the world of kickboxing at an age considered ‘old’ for the sport, no one believed he could succeed. No one except himself. His provocative and non-mainstream views on life add an extra layer of intrigue to his character.

In this brutally honest interview, Tin reveals how he stays at the top of his game, deals with setbacks, and shares his thoughts on the status of women, their advantages and disadvantages compared to men. We also discuss depression, burnout, and how to handle bullying in schools – an interview you’ll devour in one sitting!

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Tin Jelinek

I started my private business at 19, in 2008, at the height of the financial crisis. My perception was if we survive this, we can survive anything.

From 2008 to 2017, businesses that made it through faced another challenge with the pandemic two years later. It was really turbulent. I don't know any market where so many trading chains emerged and shut down (editor's note: merchandising services).

35 employees. We built slowly with our own funds, taking steps forward and backward.

One piece of advice, even though I don’t like giving them – always leave room to take a step back. Just like in the ring. The ability to step back in business is worth more than the ability to step forward. If you reach a point where you need to step back but have no room to maneuver, it's the end.

I draw a parallel with kickboxing, which everyone can easily translate to business life. Leaving room for a step back means avoiding being pressed against the ropes. If you're pressed against the ropes, you're in a defensive position.

Your mobility is limited, and your opponent can easily predict your moves. It also drains energy and creates pressure. You lose the rhythm of the fight because limited space reduces your efficiency and ability to surprise your opponent. This negatively affects your psyche because you lose control. So, you always need to be able to step back because then you can redirect the fight towards the center of the ring, where you have more options for attack and defense.

The same applies to everything else; never put yourself in a position where you are repeating an exam for the third time or looking for a new job without at least having an idea or a concrete Plan B.

Honestly, I don’t prepare. No one enters the ring without nerves, without jitters, fear, or a night before the fight where you fall asleep easily like any other day. It doesn’t exist.

Besides, I knew top fighters who didn’t sleep for three or four days before a fight, even those with 50 or 60 fights. On the other hand, there are rare ones who sleep like bears before a fight, get up in the morning, have a coffee, and head into the ring...

I had a two-year break, and when I last went to fight, even though it was a B-category competition, it felt like I was entering the ring for the first time.

No, just nervousness the night before, like I’m heading to slaughter. They told me I had a beginner, a 'punching bag.' I thought, okay, then half an hour passed, I warmed up, jumped rope, and my coach came and said my opponent changed – I now had the Croatian K1 champion.

Nothing, I’m the type who thinks an hour before the fight that I can’t do anything, sweating, but once I get into the ring, it’s great. I visualize putting on the gear, my coach doing the final checks, greeting the referees, taking a few breaths in the corner. The referee calls me.

The nerves are still there until the first three punches land. Once the first three punches land, I enjoy it, I’m in paradise. No nerves, I do what I love, and I get into the 'zone.' Now, when I have a fight every month, it’s like club sparring (editor's note: routine).

Yes. You often see young fighters squeezing their rear hand, wanting to finish the fight as soon as possible. I don’t understand it – you’ve invested years, trained, and entering the ring is the pinnacle of that process, and you want it to end as soon as possible. Why?

Fear. More of embarrassment than injury. Or fear of the audience. But it’s individual. Some can perform in front of 5,000 people, but if their parents are watching, they crumble.

I can't speak for tennis, but I can speak for the ring, whether it's boxing, kickboxing, or Thai boxing. There isn’t a fighter, maybe 1% of us, but the remaining 99% can’t show more than roughly 40% in the ring compared to what they can do in training.

You have another person in front of you who also spent six months preparing to hurt you. You don’t have focus pads, a coach, or club sparring. The element of surprise is greater. It’s certainly one reason, but not the only one.

70% mental. Some are full of tension and adrenaline before a competition, convinced they’ll crush their opponent, but once they enter the ring, their legs give out. They stand there and get beaten.

Others say, 'I can’t do it,' but once in the ring, they fight like lions. Then there are the third type, my personal favorites, who say, 'I can do anything,' and once in the ring, they really can do anything.

I’m the 'puffed up' type, no point in being falsely modest (laughs)

Absolutely. In my case, it’s necessary for success in my sport. I haven’t checked, but I think I’m the oldest competitor in Croatia at 35. Initially, I trained in a B-category club that luckily closed, and then I joined a top kickboxing trainer who told me that even if I were 10 years younger, I’d still be too old.

So, I was too old either way. Generally, he was right. But there are exceptions. He looked at it from the trainer’s experience. Most of those at 24 are too old. But I believed I was an exception.

Around 12 or 13 to build some sense, then start entering the ring at 15 or 16, and have about 20 fights by the age of 18, then move to seniors.

The competition is tougher when someone at 18 can be in the ring with someone at 35. If a fighter proves to be good, they’re a product sold by the number of fights and belts. That’s how trainers view them – how long they can market them.

Often, we see our athletes winning second or third place, and there’s a big celebration at the square. I absolutely respect that, but in kickboxing, second place means you got beaten and nothing more.

Absolutely not. Any public performance, whether it’s dancing, a public speech, or a football match, involves preparation and nerves, and that should be appreciated. Contact martial arts, with punches, are different. It’s not about scoring a goal or a basket and saying the other was better.

The goal is for someone to beat you up. In front of you might be someone with two loans, and if they don’t physically defeat you, they won’t survive the next month, figuratively. The night before the fight, when you close your eyes, you have scenarios of possible injuries, punches you’ll give or receive. It’s a different kind of pressure. Take dancing. The worst that can happen if you win second place in a dance competition is that people around you say you danced beautifully, even if you stumbled.

Absolutely, you need to visualize. But relaxed, it doesn’t have to be a rigid scenario on how to reach the goal. There are multiple paths to the goal.

Visualize the journey to the ring, then putting on the gear, equipment check, walking to the ring, climbing the stairs, your coach tightening the ropes for you to get in, then you greet the referee. Visualize a light warm-up. But do it from the first-person perspective, as we experience it. It’s also important to visualize emotions, but I suggest not overthinking it as sometimes it can backfire.

Yes, of course. But I don’t see them as something bad. Maybe as a warning. An indicator. To stop, think. It’s not necessarily bad.

It depends on what it is. But in principle, do it, make mistakes, until you get better.

Never. Or rather, I give up when I see something is pointless. But from good things, never.

I think I handle them well; I’ve had more failures than successes. Starting late in this sport, I didn’t have the chance to do weak, childhood fights.

My first opponent was a semi-professional with 37 fights, 3 professional, an excellent fighter with whom I became friends. It was a very tough fight. I lost the first, second, third, the fourth fight was the Croatian champion in his fight, the fifth was the Bosnian champion, and so on. I know colleagues who I can beat with my left hand, and they have 5 or 6 wins, but those are very selective competitions. My first win came in my sixth fight. If someone who understands the sport had watched my fights, they would have realized – Tin isn’t easily scared. If he got through the first, second, third, didn’t give up after losses, he knows what he’s getting into.

That’s what I tell my young ones, better to have 3 losses and then a win because then you feel the rise in life. Than to have 3 wins and then when a loss comes, you start going down.

Neither losing a client nor losing a job, that’s all normal. Failure to me would be not trying. For example, the pandemic took away 60% of our revenue short-term. But long-term, it gave us more revenue and highlighted our qualities, primarily resilience. The point is, from a short-term drop, you can sometimes get long-term growth if you can endure.

Also, failure in business is when you get trapped. Let me explain, you have a business deal, and the offer on the table is so good for you that you can’t refuse it. You shouldn’t put yourself in a position where you can’t walk away from the table. That’s failure. That means someone owns you.

Not even that, but if you’ve put yourself in a situation where you can’t refuse. That’s bad, that’s not freedom. Because we all went into private business for freedom, not money. But for what that money represents. Independence and the ability to make your own decisions. It’s bad if you must do something in life.

Yes, my mindset helps. I understand that sometimes you do everything to prepare, and it still won’t go as planned. No whining, we move on. Also, the level of preparation, from running, sparring, lifting weights, equipment, diet, that you put in to prepare for the ring, if you put 30% of that preparation into any business, you will succeed. Continuity, discipline, dedication.

Generally, I don’t like giving advice. I’d say everyone should look at themselves. I generally like to see someone young like me. So, not looking for a typical office job but finding their own path.

It’s dangerous to give advice. Financially, don’t trap yourself.

Pull yourself out. That step back is very important. Once you get to the ropes, and those ropes can be a loan, 3 children you had very early but the partner wasn’t the desired option. So, don’t put yourself in a position where you need someone or something, ask yourself if you want someone or something.

Much harder. Take, for example, weight cutting before fights. For women, that part is much more challenging due to biological factors. Women lose water much harder, or slower.

Furthermore, some fighters have won K1 at 44, which is much harder for most women. Or honestly, in women’s categories, it won’t happen. Most of those women probably want to be mothers, at least some, and after that, it’s very hard to come back professionally. At least in professional kickboxing. But again, there are exceptions.

Losing some small freedoms or some sense of equality through maybe even conservative relationships is insignificant compared to what we lose as a society if we go to the extreme. It will be devastating. What we have today is pushing some weaknesses as virtues. And people are being forced to accept it without their own right to decide, and that doesn’t sit well with me. I’m my own person, and I value people being their own. Disagreeing and still being good, that’s what I value greatly.

To shower with men or to train?

We won’t allow that.

Well, okay, if you want to change the locker room, know that tomorrow is sparring, girls spar on one side, boys on the other side, so see for yourself.

I heard Peterson (editor's note: Jordan Peterson) say that Sweden is the most liberal country in terms of equality and job choice, but it also has the largest percentage difference between men and women in certain occupations. For example, 90% of mechanics are men, 90% of kindergarten teachers are women, this is a caricature, so don’t hold me to it. So, when you give people complete freedom, support, and choice, differences occur. And thank God. I’d rather leave my child in kindergarten with a man. T...

I do. But only because I have a problem with having a boss. Not because she’s a woman. Gender isn’t the problem, the boss is. Of course, within an organization, I can respect the hierarchical structure and be accountable to my clients for results.

Not at all. I look only at values. Values in men and values in women, which are not the same values. Women prefer stability at work, they are less tied to salary and more to the quality of the workplace. Men tend to burn out and strive for higher incomes.

Women. Men are sometimes just 'hungrier' for success. It’s more likely for a female employee to have a seven-year career plan in a company than for a male. Men are more impatient.

Yes, although I look at it individually. There have been positions where I preferred a male employee, such as physical work, but in the end, we hired a woman. There have been administrative jobs where we hired a male, but women dominate.

For example, in the decorative cosmetics segment, where women have proven to adapt faster, I found that some male employees who got the opportunity excelled as top performers. They didn’t look at the product emotionally but classified it as any other and had no di...

Yes, I just wanted to add something on that topic. Most people, athletes use visualization for events happening within a week or so. But long-term visualization, 5, 10 years ahead, is very important. Having a goal while understanding there will be many scenarios, it will be a wavy sea, but not losing focus on that goal.

And of course, being honest with yourself and not being afraid. Not being afraid to lose something that’s holding you back to take a step forward. There’s no security. But if you don...

It depends on the sport. My secondary sport is archery. In archery, men and women are equal. In kickboxing, the differences are greater, and there are categories for a reason, and that’s okay.

False modesty. Worse than someone beating their chest. False modesty is the worst form of arrogance.

I don’t believe in them. Okay, there are situations where a person can be short-term depressed, the death of a family member, someone stole your car, those are bad situations, and it’s normal to feel bad. Depression is something that affects many people, we see it, and that’s a fact, but generally speaking, life will be much easier if we don’t believe in it. If it doesn’t exist, we handle it much better. Let’s go with that.

Okay, see you on day 21. But on day 21, I expect you to be on your feet, we go running, we go to work, we exercise.

I’ve had all those situations. You keep going. If you’re against a wall, take a step back.

Give your maximum. That’s what I tell the young ones. I didn’t know my limit in kickboxing; I didn’t know where my boundary was. But it’s important to keep striving, constantly reaching for new heights, and enjoying it. As for business, it’s a bit different. Because money is a measure, however flawed, although it doesn’t always indicate the quality of the work done.

And that’s why I’d say it’s important to make sure money isn’t the only motive. Focus on the job so that at the end of the month, you look at the result, not the number of hours spent.

For young people, today’s situation is unenviable. I’d even say there’s less violence than when we were kids, but everything is more public, kids fear public humiliation and losing reputation. Everything should always be reported, but the reality of life is that you don’t always have someone to report to.

Young people need to know that if they experience aggression, it’s not about them, and it’s a sign of weakness. Every kind of aggression is a weakness. Among our younger members who have experienced something like this from peers, we see a trend that after about a year of kickboxing training, it simply stops being a problem for them. It’s no longer in their focus. And the environment changes towards them. It’s like the problem disappears, without any pomp or specific event in time.

Yes, but I must emphasize that this shift won’t happen as quickly as in other martial arts. What I mean is, there’s no belt, black or any other color, after a certain amount of effort that can be shown off. There’s no instant reward or recognition, but the long-term goal is what we aim for.