Our History

By Markús Máni M. Maute, co-founder and CEO

My home in sports

Growing up with a local community sports club had a profound and positive impact on my life, and I am very thankful for that experience. There’s a saying that “it takes a village to raise a child”. In this case, the local sports club was my village, which sparked an idea that would eventually grow into Abler.

My story is that of many. I moved to Iceland from Germany when I was six years old. I grew up without my German father, and my Icelandic mother and I did not have a big local network when we arrived. However, I was very fortunate to have a good sports club in my neighbourhood that was welcoming and easily accessible. 

The coaches were good and caring, sensitive to my situation and became my father figures. I also felt warmth from my teammates and their parents, and being part of a team and club gave me a sense of belonging and made me feel part of something bigger. These feelings were very valuable for me during those transformative years of my childhood and helped me integrate into society with my dual national identity.  

I spent most of my childhood playing multiple sports at the club. The club grounds were, in many ways, a hangout for my friends and me, and the environment was motivating, encouraging us to practice and play as much as we wanted. I grew up moving through the ranks of the club and later became a professional handball player. I played at the highest level in the world and represented my country with the national team, eventually becoming a professional handball player in Germany´s highest league. Handball was Iceland’s national sport in the 1990s, so this was my childhood dream come true. 

Looking back, I now see that it was not reaching the top of my sport that was most valuable, but rather the journey and personal growth formed through childhood and adolescence that yielded the most benefits and continues giving beyond the field today.

Sports for people and society

It´s common knowledge that sports teach individuals values and critical life skills, and you build important social connections that last a lifetime. We often focus on being tough, competitive and resilient. And while those are important qualities to have, it's also essential to cultivate kindness and compassion, which are critical attributes during difficult times and adversity.

Participation in sports exposes individuals to self-doubt, self-evaluation, and comparisons with others, which can be mentally taxing and hard to overcome. Athletes often find themselves asking questions like “Am I good enough?”, “Am I being valued?”, “Is someone else better than me?” and so on.

As an athlete, you are often your own harshest critic. However, it is during this suffering that positive self-talk and compassion towards yourself and others can be the most powerful. These methods are especially important in today's society, where orientation towards competition, comparison, and success has led to widespread negative self-perception and mental health issues among young people.

There is a wonderful  opportunity to learn how to manage these feelings effectively from an early age through sports. These emotions touch our deepest levels of human existence. By educating parents and promoting sports as a means to develop emotional awareness, we can significantly impact the future of our next generation. (Pilot studies conducted by Abler in collaboration with leading academic institutions have delivered impressive results in this regard).

Abler recognizes the effectiveness of the sports system in Iceland, where organised sports are a cost-efficient and productive means to promote physical, mental, and social health. Extensive research has demonstrated the long-term social and economic benefits of such programs for communities and individuals. People at Abler have personally experienced these benefits and firmly believe in the systematic utilisation of organised sports as a tool for fostering individual and societal growth and that those who work in the sports industry should be acknowledged and valued accordingly.

Serving the heroes and getting started

Since I wasn’t a coach but wanted to contribute to the industry, I decided to develop a product that would support the people in the field to enable more people and communities to experience the life-developing power of sports. I approached my cousin Jóhann Guðmundsson to join me as the co-founder and take on the role of CTO.

Jóhann, the father of four children who all participated in youth sports, has been involved in the youth sports industry for a long time as a parent, player and organiser. He started as a coach for his son's Taekwondo team and quickly became more involved, eventually taking on the role of chairman in the local Taekwondo division. Through his years of experience, Jóhann has gained extensive knowledge about the industry, including the challenges and opportunities that come with it. 

He’s passionate about ensuring that every child has access to a positive and inclusive environment to experience the benefits of organised sports, and he works tirelessly to make that a reality. His dedication and expertise make him a valuable asset to the youth sports community, and he continues to inspire others with his leadership and commitment.

When I approached Jóhann with the idea for what would become our product, he applied his considerable firsthand knowledge of working for and with sports clubs and immediately understood the value this product could bring to coaches, clubs and families. Together we began designing a solution to address all the pain points we’d seen or experienced through our various interactions with organised sports.

Both of us wanted to support and celebrate the fantastic work of coaches, organisers and volunteers and to raise the profile of their vital role in our communities. These people are the true agents of social change and deliver a great deal of social and economic value to our communities.

After consulting with multiple sports professionals and people in the industry and drawing from our own experience, the Sports Hierarchy of Needs (which we refer to internally as “the Pyramid” and which every Abler employee knows by heart) was born, guiding us on our mission to this day. 

According to this hierarchy, the primary and fundamental need for most organisations is to improve the working environment of key stakeholders, particularly regarding administrative tasks that can be repetitive and time-consuming. We believe that addressing these needs with our solutions improves operations, and increases work satisfaction and overall professionalism, ultimately enabling better working conditions to build sustainable and impactful sports programs.

In short, the more efficiently organisations can tackle the foundational level of this hierarchy, the quicker they can ascend to the Pyramid’s top levels and focus on character coaching, and the application of skills learned through structured teamwork.

Dedicated to the mission

Our goal is to provide a product that consistently enables the life-changing aspects of sports participation, and we feel honoured to serve the people in the field who are making this a reality.

Additionally, we are expanding our collaboration with leading researchers and institutions to utilise our data and insights to develop effective strategies and methodologies that can benefit sports organisations and communities worldwide.

We believe that we are at the beginning of something extraordinary, with the power and potential to transform our society for the better - through sport.