12.5.2014 / Cup of Czech Taekwon-Do ITF Federation 1st round youth, juniors & adults1 coment

About Moravia journey

Saturday, 3:45 a.m.
...
Ring, ring, ring
...
3:45 a.m., really?
...
Yes, it's true. Get up and do the wake up drill. Not really a wake up drill but dress up, take the stuff and leave. Pick up one almost sleeping Tereza (Štekerová) on one end of Prague and then head for another Tereza (Žilinská) on the other end.

It's 4:50 a.m. when we enter the highway and leave Prague. Girls are quite surprised that the sun ALREADY rises - it should rise at around 6 a.m. ... The journey is fast, the traffic is low in this early time. At one roundabout me and my navigation don't understand each other - it sticks to its planned route but a diversion and no entry signs mean one more round and then slalom between traffic cones :-). Next surprise awaits us near Gingerbread cottage - six does on the roadside. Luckily they hop back to the forest but after few kilometres next surprise follows - very narrow wooden bridge which capacity is limited by columns which are distant only 5 cm from car mirrors on each side. Finally this was the last surprise and the rest of journey to Ostrava goes without any complication.

It is 8:20 a.m. and we arrive to Bonver Arena in Ostrava.

After registration and weighting girls have some time to rest, have a breakfast and also do the stretching. Then the rest of our gang comes. Their journey was much shorter than ours. Jirka and Ondra Faltin were et grandma's during the weekend so they came here to make it more diverse.

The competition starts short after 11:30 a.m. and right on the first ring in second group competes Ondra Faltin. He wins every match although this group has better quality then the first one. Also the final match is easy for Ondra and he wins the whole category. After kids, our juniors - both our girls - follow. Tereza Štekerová experiences her premiere in red belt cathegory unlike Tereza Žilinská who performed a lot there. Unfortunately there is not enough red belt competitors so they are merged with black belts. Štekerová has some little but visible flaws so she ends up at 4th place. Tereza Žilinská wins four matches out of five - she loses only with the winner of category, Jana Nevludová.

Last medal four our team gets Jirka Faltin who fights in category called just "Patterns Senior Male". Yet, there are only three competitors and Jirka has to perform patterns against blue and red belt. It's a pity that he makes a mistake against the red belt from Kangsong because otherwise he might be the winner of this category. But silver medal is nice.

Right after patterns the competition continues with sparring of kids. Our girls are waiting for their opportunity. Štekerová goes first and she fights against unknown blue belt. The strength is obviously on our side and Tereza wins. Second match is against Andrea Lampartová who fought with Tereza just a week ago at STM competition in Nymburk. Tereza follows advice to punch right after kick and another advice follows - it should be punch and not this brutal destructive hit. Also this match ends after two minutes with our victory.

Last category of the competition is junior female -52 kg where Tereza Žilinská starts. Four opponents are waiting for her and the result is similar as in patterns. Tereza loses one fight and ends on second place. In this lost match it was essential to connect punches into a combination, not just punch with right hand. In defence she should try punches with jumping because she can do it really well.

After 4 p.m. the competition ends with cup awarding ceremony. At first, most successful competitors are awarded - all four of them are from Frýdek-Místek. Frýdek-Místek is also the first club, second is Joomok (also from Frýdek-Místek) and surprisingly third is Sonkal. :-)

After the ceremony we pack our stuff. At 5 p.m. we begin our journey back to Prague. Sun is shining very bright which supports our plan to stop on the way back to shoot some exhibition photos. The original idea to shoot photos at Kunětická Hora can't be done because it's too late. So improvised plan comes up and we stop at oilseed rape field. But the plants are already too high.

So we have to do the plan C. But we don't have plan C ;-) We pass Mohelnice and ride up hill when suddenly we see great green field (probably some grain). This place calls for shooting - there is a nice place to park nearby. The panorama with rape field creates beautiful background. We hop out of the car, we don't have much time. Doboks on, set the cameras and action. We spend an hour shooting, feet dirty from mud but happy smiles are shining on our faces.

We continue with steep climb uphill and continue in direction to Hradec Králové. On this way we have to cross the narrow bridge again. Now I see the traffic light which I haven't noticed in the morning. Did I ride on green light? Girls say yes so it makes me calm and a vision of unhealthy dinner at uncle McDonalds pushes me forward.

Strengthened with food we head for last 90 km to Prague and to shorten the time we discuss TKD theory with Tereza Žilinská. We are all tired ant Tereza is lost in meaning of patterns Hwa-Rang and Choong-Moo as usual. It reminds some sci-fi story. The other Tereza wakes up, she tries to participate in our discussion but she is able to produce just some indistinct humming. She tries to make a meaningful sentence for next four minutes and then she gives it up.

We drop out Tereza Ž. on Černý Most and the last stage goes through Prague to southwest city whera I drop out Tereza Š. and at 10:45 p.m. my 19-hour-long Saturday adventure ends. Despite it was very exhausting, I am glad it's not 24 hours of Jack Bauer. I am glad, it was totally worth it.

Look at the pictures.