Czech Olympians played sports with Ukrainian children

They had fun together! The school playground in a small town of Řevnice near Prague was buzzing with activity on Saturday, 12 March. More than fifty people came to an event entitled Olympians for Ukrainian Children, where children enjoyed doing sports with athletes Jan Kudlička and Štěpán Janáček and Paralympian Jiří Ježek.

The event organized by the Czech Olympic Foundation began with a warm-up for Ukrainian children and their parents. Then the children tried their hand at shooting hoops, kicking a football, or hurdling.

Olympionici ukrajinským dětem - Řevnice

At the end, the children played a game of soccer. One of the teams was led by Jan Kudlička, the Czech record holder in pole jumping; the captain of the other team was Jiří Ježek, a six times Paralympic champion. Before the game, the children and their parents were addressed by Maksym Talovyerov and Taras Kacharaba, two Ukrainian soccer players for Slavia Praha.

„Sport makes both our bodies and our minds strong. Sport heals, and a healthy body makes a healthy mind. Slava Ukraini!” said both players in a video address to the children, and their words were met with a round of applause.

Pavel Dolejška’s magician and illusionists, medals and small gifts cheered up the young participants. And it will not stop here. While Czech athletes were doing sports with Ukrainian children at a school playground in Řevnice, ideas were born how to follow-up and engage them not only in sport activities.