Together with Tomáš Plekance, they are planning a big restart from next season, and the rescue of the extra league in the playoffs, which starts on April 17, is therefore crucial.
We try to have most of the exercises in this school that helped me get to the top and that I’m still doing to keep up. I believe that even now they will help the children to be of better quality and bring it somewhere to my image. So that they can continue and the coaches don’t spoil them.
TK with Jaromír JágrVideo: Sport.cz
What I’ve seen is doing the exercises I do. And which are the most important in hockey. One-on-one exercises, shooting exercises, all you need to be a difference player. You have to focus on that. I’m not a supporter of anyone trying things you use once in a lifetime. You score a goal that everyone sees on YouTube, but you only score one. Train things that you can use ten times twenty times per match. Repeat them a thousand times a day so that you do not think about them at all and the body does them automatically. I have always believed that hard work and repetition is far more than talent.
Talent has an advantage at the starting line. When he stands up to it for the first time and there is an untalented child next to him, he will do better. But that doesn’t mean that when the untalented child repeats the exercises more often, the forces won’t equal. I say hard work is 80 percent and talent 20 percent. But if a talented child trains as untalented, he should win.
Today’s children are the next generation for whom you are a role model. Do you feel responsible?
The main responsibility for me should be here in Kladno. For me, it would be best if I could say that in five or seven years, we will have the best youth in the republic, which should be our goal now. When I left, we had one of the best youth in the country. A lot of players headed to the NHL from here, but we haven’t been able to do that in recent years. On the other hand, the advantage is that if we have those talented children and youth, the chances of them getting an opportunity in our extraleague or 1st league are greater than elsewhere. We really want to have it based on offspring and we can’t afford to buy expensive and finished players. I will be happiest if we succeed, because it will be the cheapest for us.
Pleky (Tomas Plekanec) wants to get a much bigger role for young people, he should lead her from next season. But that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t play. We want to bring the Kladno youth back to the level they used to be here. That is the biggest goal for me. And it’s a bit of a shame for me to be where we are (Kladno juniors fell out of extra league this year). There will be big changes for young people. It will be a restart, because we have nothing else left.
Will it help for better results?
I believe so. I can’t be in the winter all the time and I have to find people who absolutely believe in my things and pull together. To be loyal. That when I’m not here, they still do the same things. I have to trust them because I can’t clone. When someone else has an opinion, they have to go training elsewhere or adapt. Because when you come out of the coaching booth, you have to have a unified view and one goal. You have to pull on one rope, otherwise you will not reach the finish line. When everyone pulls away, you wander in a vicious circle. Not that someone will drop something because I’m standing next door, and when I leave, they do it their way.
Are quality coaches a big pain of Czech hockey?
Yes. Most people have problems throwing on children that have lost movement, that they have little. I think it’s a lot about coaches. Training can be done in different ways and a person who does not understand it will not recognize the difference. But the person who played it at a high level knows every detail. We are always with Rose (Martin Ručinský) they enjoyed that the coach can’t find out for a player who leaves 80 percent of the training. It’s in the players and the difference of 20 percent is huge. Youth coaches need to be more action-packed. It bothers me that a lot of coaches stand there, leaving the children free.
The coach should be a teacher, an educator. He can’t just give it space. I believe that a lot of the problems that the union has can be saved by the quality of the coaches and their approach. But not everyone wants to be a coach because it is not financially rewarding. There’s a whole buried dog. I can also see it in Kladno. When you give a coach 35 to 40 thousand, it’s a below-average salary for someone. I know they only have two hours during the week, but they have to do seven days a week because they have matches over the weekend. They can’t take care of the family. They have to sacrifice themselves to the children, they have to take it that they are actually your children. And there are not many such coaches. I believe it’s all in the coaches and it starts with them.
So how crucial is it for Kladno to manage the barrage you will go to against Vsetín or Jihlava?
This is extremely important for the future of our club. Every child needs role models and has the greatest goals. And for everyone, the goal should be the extra league, the national team and then maybe the NHL. Like we had it. So the play will be important. That’s why I told the players in the booth that they didn’t play for themselves. Although it is their job, their profession, they have to provide for their family, but at the same time they are responsible to all the players from the younger generation who come after us.
