Dane Kastelic

Dane Kastelic is the second President of the Slovenian Paraplegic Association. On 14 May 2008 during the Electoral Assembly, he was elected unanimously by representatives from all nine regional associations. Mr. Kastelic had succeeded Mr. Ivan Peršak, the initiator and founder of the organisation of Slovenian paraplegics, who successfully and diligently acted as President during a thirty-nine-year period.

Mr. Kastelic permanently resides at Veliki Kal pri Ivančni Gorici and drives to work in Ljubljana on a daily basis. Before the onset of paraplegia (in 1990), he was employed by Livar. Shortly after, he was retired based on the then employment policies and the nature of his work. Following retirement, Mr. Kastelic enrolled in a higher education programme which he completed successfully to be bestowed the title of BSc in metallurgical engineering.

As an ambitious persons and a successful athlete he soon became involved in the activities of the Association of Paraplegics of the Ljubljana Region, being appointed president in 2000. His bold plans were realised successfully in cooperation with colleagues, soon yielded promising results. Within the regional association, Mr. Kastelic succeeded in introducing solid and promising elemental programmes as well as providing for the adequate working and living quarters where the current administration still successfully develops his concepts.

He also left a mark in the field of sports, in particular wheelchair basketball. His participation in wheelchair basketball began in 1995, when Mr. Kastelic was an active member of the Slovene national team and the head of wheelchair basketball within the Slovenian Paraplegic Association, and concluded with 2002, the year the national team achieved the most prolific result since the independence of Slovenia. Within the scope of the Leonardo da Vinci project titled “Training for life,” Mr. Kastelic together with four colleagues from European-member states assisted in creating a manual for young players of wheelchair basketball and contributed to the organisation of the 1st European Wheelchair Basketball Conference in Athens in 2003. His prosperous and active sports career was concluded in the very same year with his heading the Slovene national team during the European Championships at Sardinia. Also, in 2002, based on his initiative, an international basketball league was founded with the purpose of bringing together teams from nearby countries in the Alpine–Mediterranean region.

Following his distinctly successful four-year term in the regional association, Mr. Kastelic accepted the invitation and challenge to become in 2004 the Deputy President of the Slovenian Paraplegic Association, subsequently being elected President in 2008.

Dane Kastelic is the President of the Council of the Republic of Slovenia for Persons with Disabilities, member of the Administrative Board of the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia and Vice-President of the NSIOS - e-naslov