When the Municipal Futnet Club of Modřice organized the World Club Cup in 2022, the representatives of France and Spain were so impressed by the campus and the facilities of the whole complex that they came up with the idea to use these conditions to organize an international youth training camp.
Preparations for the camp started already a year ago. The Czech Futnet Association became the oficcial organizer, with the team of MNK Modřice providing material and human help. In the meantime, a contractual cooperation was established between the association and the town of Modřice, which became the official partner of the association in the field of national selections. The Czech Futnet Association was able to rent the sports facilities of the Modřice Municipal Hall for this event at discounted prices.
From the very beginning it was a sure that the Czech Republic would be represented at the camp by a selection of U15 prospects. The following players were nominated for this year's selection: Tomáš Jahoda and František Dlabka from MNK Modřice, Jan Bálek, Michal Červenka and Antonín Blažek from Český Brod, Tobiáš Gregor from Karlovy Vary, Matěj Mlejnek and Patrik Strcula from Dolní Počernice, Matěj Sobotka from Žďár nad Sázavou, Antonín Katz from Čakovice, Ondřej Tolar from Stříbro and Kryštof Kalianko from České Budějovice.
Subsequently, it was decided which other countries would join. The committee of representation and foreign relations did a really great job, when especially Martin Flekač and Martin Spilka took on the whole communication with UNIF and its member countries. Thanks to their commitment, apart from our players, the teams of Slovakia, France and Iraq participated in this camp. Since the U21 World Championship will be held in the Modřice Municipal Hall on 4 and 5 November this year, the foreign countries took the camp as a preparation for the championship. Players who will most likely be on the national teams at the upcoming championship arrived in Modřice. Iraq has also included older players in its squad, three of whom even represented the country at the men's championship in Prague last year.
In total, 12 Czech U15 players, 4 Slovak players, 6 French and 8 Iraqis participated in the event. Two officials came with the Iraqi team to the Czech Republic and the French had their coach available, who patiently translated from English to French throughout the camp. Marek Líbal, Petr Tolar and Michal Hostinský acted as coaches at the camp. Jan Vanke, Lukáš Rosenberk, Martin Spilka, David Višvader and Petr Gulda helped them on different days and passed on their skills to the players.
Campers arrived on Sunday, July 4, 2023 in the afternoon and evening. All were accommodated in the Town Hall and meals were provided in its Hall of Fame and restaurant. Even though Sunday was not supposed to be a game day, the players of course couldn't stand it and started kicking immediately. Everyone was keeping an eye on the other squads, because before the camp it was a bit of a question mark as to what quality of futnet the individual players would possess. Right from the start the first balls showed that this would not be a problem. The highlight of Sunday evening was then the mutual match of the Iraqi players under the spotlights.
Monday was the first full day of the camp. After breakfast, the official opening of the camp took place, the participants were personally welcomed by the mayor of Modřice - Mr. Libor Procházka. Afterwards Marek Líbal gave all the necessary information to the players and then the futnet could start. In the morning the coaches divided the players into three groups. Each group was nationally mixed. During each day, one part of the training was dedicated to practicing game activities (with the contribution of our national players) and the other part was game activities. During the camp there were also video meetings, balance and compensation exercises and swimming in a nearby natural water habitat. Each day started with a common warm-up.
On Tuesday, the "small world championship" was played, which was attended by teams CZE U15 A (Jahoda, Gregor, Bálek, Červenka, Dlabka, Katz), CZE U15 B (Tolar, Kalianko, Sobotka, Strcula, Blažek, Mlejnek), Iraq A, Iraq B, Slovakia and France. The teams were divided into two groups. The system of doubles, triples, singles and doubles was played until 3 points were reached. Each set played to 15 points. The winner of the group advanced to the semi-finals and the second and third place teams played a preliminary play-off. The groups were dominated by both Iraqi selections. In the first preliminary round, our "A" team beat France 3:1, while the "B" team beat Slovakia 3:0. In the semi-finals the Czech A team went to face Iraq A. Coach Líbal, unlike in the group, set up the roster aimed at the result. The first pair Gregor-Jahoda perfectly "sold" the strong Gregor and technical Jahoda, the trio Gregor – Jahoda - Červenka then benefited from the great field and passing behind the blocking tall man of Karlovy Vary. František Dlabka was sent out for singles and his very good performance meant a smooth progression to the final. In the second semi-final, the Czech B team lost 0:3 to Iraq as our players failed to convert attacks into quality defense of the opponent. In the third place match, the B team then lost to the Iraqi A team very narrowly in the last game of the pair 2:3.
The final match pitted the two best teams against each other. Our A-team again put the proven Gregor - Jahoda duo at the start. Both of them continued their great doubles ride and defeated the Iraqi duo 15:10. Unfortunately, I am not able to introduce the Iraqi players by name, because their names are simply a problém to me. Also the trio Gregor – Jahoda – Červenka succeeded again 15:9. Thus, only one match was missing for the prestigious victory. Coach Líbal sent Modřice's Dlabka to singles. Although he lost his singles match with the Iraqi in the group, he was eager for revenge. The coach's choice turned out to be very good. Dlabka's active style of play forced his opponent to make mistakes and did not allow him to attack vigorously. After the 15:11 win, our players were overjoyed.
It is fair to say that the whole camp received a lot of attention. People stopped by and watched the training units and the tournament. The varied mix of national team jerseys and nationalities along with the quality of play gathered many spectators. On Wednesday, editor Martin Kozak made a report from the event, which was broadcast on ČT SPORT in Sport news of Czech national TV.
It was also great how the different teams naturally mixed with each other from the first moments and the players communicated with each other about futnet and other things. Even the language barrier, which was especially big for the Iraqi team, was not an obstacle. A beautiful demonstration of how sport brings people and nations together.
We offer you a look back of TOMÁŠE DULAVA, player from Slovakia: "I and our whole Slovak team evaluate the camp very positively. Since we don't have the same training opportunities in Slovakia as you have in the Czech Republic, the whole training process was a complete novelty for us, from the warm-up, stretching, training game activities to the game itself. Personally, I think that the basis of these camps, camps and training camps is not so much the performance in training, but rather the group of people you have fun with after training, and this time this group was amazing. I really enjoyed the confrontation of players from other countries and everyone could learn something from it. Our only regret is that we already had a week of futnet in our legs before the camp, which also reflected on our performance. But it doesn't change the fact that we will take away a lot of experience and experience from Modřice."
JULIEN CRESPO, coach of France, also spoke about the camp: 'The whole organization of the day from the warm-up to the evening meeting and the evaluation of the day was excellent. The French players are fully satisfied with all the training sessions. They learned a lot of things that we can do now in France to improve. All the coaches were friendly and professional and were able to answer all our questions. The visit of some great Czech players was also a big plus. Thank you for the invitation and we are looking forward to next year."
The head coach of the event MAREK LÍBAL adds his evaluation: "The 1st year of the international youth camp in this format is over. It was a challenging week, which fulfilled the expectations of each team and us coaches. I am glad that our players confirmed their high qualities of futnet, managed to match the game of players a few years older and even won the tournament played. A great benefit of the camp are new friendships that otherwise could not have been formed. At this point I would also like to thank everyone who participated in the realization of the camp. We will now take a short break and start preparing for the next year soon."
In conclusion, I can say that the idea of organizing an international youth camp was right and the camp was a success. Great conditions of the Modřice areal together with quality coaches and quality Czech players created the basis for an excellent camp. Such events show the way how to improve the quality of futnet in other countries and at the same time to bring the countries playing futnet even closer together. Already at the end of the camp the coaches and local organizers were working out in their heads the idea of further expansion and improvement for the following year. Keep your fingers crossed that we can build as long a tradition as possible.
Petr Jahoda
Member of the Youth Commission of the Czech Futnet Association
03 Aug 2023
21 Iul 2023
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