Hokejbal Czech Championship!

Written by Jadon

A couple of weeks ago, Brittany and I had the chance to watch a friend play in the Czech Championship in Hokejbal (Hockey Ball in English)—a sport that since the beginning of the school year, it seems, has been mentioned once every week or so in one of my English Conversation classes—and being fans of hockey, we had so much fun!

Basically, Hokejbal is ice hockey without the ice and without skates. The game we saw took place on a pavement surface similar to blacktop, and the players, though dressed in all the other typical hockey regalia (pads, helmets, etc.), wore tennis shoes and ran back and forth rather than skating. The other major difference is the “puck.” Instead of being a flat rubber disk, Hokejbal is played with—you guessed it—a small orange plastic ball. There are a few other minor rule differences, but they are somewhat technical, and I won’t get into them. This means that someone like me—who can’t skate worth beans—could play Hokejbal, although it still takes a lot of skill with a hockey stick.

Hokejbal face off

The last game of the Hokejbal Championship—the one we watched—took place in Kladno, a medium-sized city only a 25 minute train ride from Prague. Kladno is where all the best Czech ice hockey players are from, and quite a few of our students as well. This was our first time in Kladno, and we are glad that we went with Czech speaking friends, because there is not nearly as much English spoken in Kladno as in Prague, and our Czech is still quite limited. But Kladno is much more similar to Bourbonnais/Kankakee in size and atmosphere than Prague, and it was great to get out of the city.

In the stands with my former student Nikos and his brother!

And they won!! It was so much fun to watch Jakub and his team become the best Hokejbal players in the Czech Republic. And we really enjoyed hanging out Nikos and Vašek –the four of us were the best fans, except for the guys with fireworks… And, Jakub, if you are reading this, let us know when your games are next year!!  

Crazy Hokejbal fans celebrating the victory!