19.1.2018 / North-West Cup

Recognition, knowledges & friendship

During weekend 16. – 18. of December I had a chance to attend a competition in Moscow, Russia. I did not hesitate, it was a great opportunity to see Moscow. The flight took over two hours and Boris Vsekhsvyatsky awaited us at the airport. He took us to a hotel, where the weighting took place. I think all of us looke
d forward to it. After the weighting we went to the city.

The first surprise was the subway. It is older than ours and the stations look like you were in a church. At first we went to a shopping centre for dinner. Even the shopping centre surprised me, because the ceiling looked like sky. It felt to me like from American movie. We dined in Burger King and went to the city centre. The streets were nicely lit. I think I have never seen so many lights together. Through this streets we came to the Red Square. Many lights again. Important buildings such as Kremlin, Lenin’s Mausoleum and Saint Basil’s Cathedral stand there. Altogether it felt to me like from some fairy tale. At the end we visited Gorki Park. The park felt like from romantic movie. Then we took the subway back to the hotel, so we could rest before the competition.

In the morning we travelled to the sports hall where Boris took care of us. Next big adventure for us was when Vladimir Svanda told me and Aneta Zelinkova to hold Czech flag during the ceremony and to do what the Russians do. Surprise was that they even played our national anthem. It was a great honour for us. After the ceremony we started to compete. We discovered that we should also perform patterns for the next belt. We were not ready for that and unfortunately we lost because of this almost every time. We did not get as many medals as we usually do, but it was a great experience that we can use in the future. I was little bit disappointed of the competition, I expected more people. For example in my weight category for sparrin g we wer e only two of us so I felt sorry for that. In patterns I lost in third round. But really nice was that Russian instructor came to me afterwards and told me that I practise well. And also one girl - Kate Shebashova came to me and asked for a picture with me. And then she brought me a chocolate. It was so nice from her. I met one other girl, we have been chatting from then. After the competition we went to Burger King again and then back to hotel. In the morning we had last breakfast, where the main instructor Genadij Popov of Boris’ club came to us to say goodbye. We received Russian sweets and adults got Russian vodka. Then just journey home awaited us. It was a great trip and I hope we could came next year again. I would especially like to thank to Boris for all Sonkal, because he treated us well and showed us Moscow!