TOMÁŠ VIDLÁK: FOOSBALL

There are two ways of looking at table football in the Czech Republic: you go to the pub to drink beer and play table football, or you go to the pub to play table football and drink beer. My wish is that the first one would no longer exist. I live table football. After I finish work, I practice and help others improve. Every Thursday, I organize tournaments in Kutna Hora. Table football is a mind game, like chess. I like to develop new tricks to surprise my opponent, and teach others my techniques.In high school, I was one of the best players. I played with friends in pubs, and I thought I was good - until I met a more advanced player. He destroyed me. And I thought "No, this is not happening". That's when I started to practice - every day for half a year. I'm the worst learner but I wanted to get better. Then I began competing in Prague, and in my first two tournaments I was out in the first phase. But when I succeeded in my third tournament, it was a turning point: maybe this was something bigger...

After that competition, I came back to Kutna Hora and decided to start my own team. It took three years to create a stable group. Eventually, I found people that were just as crazy about table football as I am. By now, we're a community of around thirty people, and we're at first league level. At the moment, table football is only played seriously in Prague. I would like to promote it in other cities, so their teams can compete against each other. My goal is to take table football out of the pub and put it on the map as a sport in the Czech Republic.