He has football in his heart, he could not survive without sports. You will understand that this is so after a few sentences of the interview with ČAFC reserve coach Radim Fulík. As the head coach, he leads the team for the first season and spends the winter with it in the sixth place of the 7th league I.B class group B. In the fall, he also played one game for the A-team in the sixth league. In an interview with fotbalpraha.cz, he talked about why he doesn’t support Baník, but keeps his fists to midfielder Jiří Boul. And why did he check with the Hradec goalkeeper Adam Zadražil to see if he was roped in by Sparta.
We’ll start with your starting point. It is usual for the coach of the first team to reach for talents in the reserve, but it is not seen that he would choose a coach. How did it go?
“A year ago, I was still actively catching as a goalkeeper, which I would certainly still be able to do at my age, but when a coaching colleague ended up with the B team, I thought I would give it a try. And as for the start, I sometimes trained with the A team, I also play futsal, and one Friday during training, the A team coach wrote my name on the board with the lineup.”
Did you investigate what led the coach to do this?
“The first goalkeeper Kryštof Pospíšil couldn’t catch at the time, he was sick. Otherwise he wouldn’t have let me in the goal. So I went for it, I’ve been at ČAFC since I was four years old, I’m a pupil. I’m not saying that sometimes I don’t feel like jumping into a match again, but I also catch in futsal and I think that now I’m more valid for ČAFC as a coach.”
You started against the team of Prague and conceded in the 5th minute. That wasn’t much, was it?
“There was a bad bounce of the ball and there was a finishing player in the small area. Of course, you have it in your head, but after a while you have to get it out and move on.”
You cashed in the locker room for the second time. How did you carry it?
“I think it was actually a blow for the whole team. It was otherwise quite an even match. But I have to admit that Pragovka was more on the ball. Our striker Müller from the B team also got a chance up front here, he scored nine goals for us in the autumn, but in this match the strong defense of the opponent did not allow him anything. In the end we lost 2:1.”
Wasn’t it tempting to join the B team?
“That would only happen in a crisis situation. I have an experienced goalkeeper Procházka in reserve, and there is also a young goalkeeper Sládek, year 07, in fact we have withdrawn the whole year to the B team.”
I see, so you are a legitimate trainer in B. How do you feel about that role?
“Before matches as a coach, I’m more nervous than when I was as a player. I enjoy coaching a lot. We built a completely new implementation team, I got a fitness coach. But it’s true that we didn’t do well in preparation at all.”
Has improvement come with competition?
“I think that the first match against Uhříněvsi started us off, when we played at ten from the 25th minute. The team pulled together incredibly, pulled together. The match ended 2:2, but there was still a tie in the 90th minute. But the point was golden for us.”
And the result is sixth place. But you also have to watch A in the higher competition, right?
“In the second half of the season, we will definitely focus on the first team. We will want it to move up the table. But most of all, we look at everything with sober eyes, the young guys have to rub it in, play. When we manage this, then we can maybe think about some higher ranks. I must also say that it helped the B team that four guys returned to the team after taking a break. That was key.”
Malinka, I digress: there is a lot of connection with ČAFC, miner Jiří Boula, you played together. What do you think about the fact that he also took a look at the national team?
“It was a few years ago that Jirka came to watch our U17 match, the boys took pictures with him, he signed cards, it was very nice. We played together. I’m older, but he played in a higher age group. He was great, he played with boys who were three years older, but of course I never thought at the time that he would go to Baník via Břežany, Sparta, the seventh English league and Táborsko. When he time, so I watch him on TV. You can see that he was hardworking, humble and football rewarded him.”
Can it be said that you became a Baník fan because of that?
“I didn’t go that far, I support another club. But I wish Jirko. The same as Adam Zadražil.”
But he didn’t catch in ČAFC, right?
“We know each other from our cottage in Chýnov near Tábor. I was there for the alternate start. He shines in the goal of Hradec, it’s magic. So I wrote to him now to see if an offer from Sparta was already on the table. And he wrote back that there was nothing on the table.”
Another interesting thing is that, in addition to coaching football, playing futsal and teaching, you also manage a combined university course in Olomouc. How do you actually prosecute it?
“When I cover the match with lectures, it’s difficult. I’m in Olomouc on Friday evening and on Saturday morning I get on the train and go back. A player from the bench usually waits at the station and takes me to the match.”
It is admirable what you are able to sacrifice for the team. The players have to appreciate that, huh?
“I hope they see that. (laughs) We’re happy with being sixth. But there’s still a lot of work ahead of us. Now we have nowhere to run, but as I said before, I wanted us to play for fifth place. Then they asked me if I was serious. And I about the fact that we have to be hard on ourselves. The whole autumn was a huge encouragement for everyone, everyone is enjoying it and I’m happy.”
Have you already rewarded yourself for the difficult autumn?
“I try to maintain myself, I go to the gym two or three times a week. I probably wouldn’t be able to live without football and sports, or even just sit and watch it. Otherwise, what I started to do, I improved my time. I used to be at ČAFC from Monday to Friday, and that was the matches. Now I have two days off. But rest? I’m twenty-eight, there will still be plenty of time to rest.”
In the future, would you be attracted to a higher position as a coach?
“I probably wouldn’t defend myself, I don’t know. I had some offers as a goalkeeper, but I’m a staunch supporter of ČAFC. There’s a great group, it would be a shame to leave them.”
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