Interview for radio Wéčko: Motivation to get on the winner's box drives athletes further and further

Over four thousand students from around the world gathered in Rome, Italy in November for the Intercollegiate World Championships. Among them were also students of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. Four of them came to talk about this topic to Radio Wéčko.

Selected athletes who represented the University of West Bohemia at the Interuniversity World Championships in Rome on 6-10 November, met with host Ondřej Líbal on radio Wéčko to discuss listeners to share their experiences and impressions of the Italian capital. The Centre of Physical Education and Sport of the Faculty of Education of the University of West Bohemia and two other faculties of the university sent the following to the student radio:

Adam Matoušek from the Faculty of Education (FPE) - football,

Matěj Kostka from the Faculty of Engineering (FST) - football,

Simona Kadlecová from FPE - tennis,

and Kristýna Lukešová from the Faculty of Health Studies (FZS) - futsal.

"You have to know the sport well, it is impossible to go to the championships as an ignoramus," one of the athletes said at the beginning of the interview. "We started training from about the second week of September together with a professional coach the school got us. We tried to prepare properly and give a better performance than we gave at the championships last year," she described.

For the footballers, the hardest part was being able to get everyone on the team together for the training sessions before the championships. "There were 17 of us going and everyone has hobbies, school, work, so this was probably the most difficult," said the athlete.

The athletes across the disciplines came to support each other in their free time during the championships. This also contributed to the friendly atmosphere of the event. "Last year at the championships we were housed separately within the universities, we were spread out all over Paris, whereas this year in Rome we were housed in one big campus and about four thousand students were in one place, which was very nice," said a student.

Was the atmosphere throughout the championships just friendly, or was there also rivalry between the athletes? And where did the four athletes place? This and much more can be heard on radio Wéčko.

The ZČU sports programme under the Western Stars brand, which allowed sportsmen to attend the championships, includes sports representation of ZČU and sports for students, employees, the public and companies. It also aims to actively develop healthy physical activity, reinforce positive habits and attitudes and be an essential part of a balanced academic programme. It also includes cooperation across the faculties of ZČU, with the University Hospital in Pilsen and with universities and partners in the Czech Republic and abroad.