Professional sport

Become a professional?

Although I’m not a professional athlete, my attitude towards professional sport is quite positive. I often say that I’m a “big sports lover”. I like different forms of doing the sport but I prefer the activity with a lot of motion. I play floorball for a team in my town but I have no ambition to become a professional, especially because of the fact that this sport hasn’t any professional league in the Czech Republic. The top floorball league in our country is only semi-pro. Floorball is a young sport which was born in Sweden and there is one of three professional leagues in the world. The second one is in Finland and the third in Switzerland. So if I wanted to be a professional player, I would have to move to one of those countries. The main sense of doing this sport in the Czech Republic is amusement of young boys and girls. The development of floorball stars who could earn some money by professional playing is not the highest target. But I’d like to point out that each sport should be done in this way - especially children’s sport. On the other hand, I have to admit that I know a few parents who force their children to take sport very seriously to achieve the top, to be the “Number One”. This is quite common especially in ice hockey and in tennis. I think that’s caused by the high price of the equipment which is required for these sports. But this method is absolutely wrong. Such parents “teach” their children to hate sport and after that experience, children can be discouraged.

If I should talk about completely professional environment in sport, I would choose football (soccer) because it’s one of my most favourite sports. But there’s a little disadvantage because I don’t know exactly the backstage of professional football. Sometimes I read something in newspapers but I follow the professional football scene only as a fan. But a passionate fan, I must say. Sports fans go through the wins and losses together with their idols, admire the athletes and criticize them. And I’m not an exception. I like watching football, talking about it and playing it, of course. The best matches are when the Czech national team is playing. All the country is attentively watching the performance of “our boys” and if we win that’s the best thing they can enjoy. My greatest experience was my visit to the World Cup in Germany last year. Unfortunately, our team lost two of three matches and ended up very early. In spite of this, I still love professional football. And not only me, but millions of fans in the world around.