MY LIFE, PART 11: The world is (not) ours

Eighteen guys in a classroom, eighteen chaps who thought they would rule the world one day. It used to be quite wild at the beginning, our teacher Mrs Klučinová had a full plate. To this day I admire her for bearing with us.

We used to play games at the back of the classroom, which I think must be unimaginable to today’s kids as they mostly play games on their mobile phones and tablets. We had these little plastic toys called “céčka” – originally used as door hangings, and we played a game similar to pitching pennies with those. Or we played football with a tennis ball.

Later we made small plastic hockey sticks in an arts and crafts class, got a table tennis ball, pushed the desks out of the way to make space and got down to playing. Serious hockey matches took place almost every break. We argued, poked each other, played foul. You know, a class full of small sportsmen. We had so much energy, we had to let it out somehow.

Some of the guys acted as sentries positioned at the door, ready to stop the play the moment one of the teachers came close.

We were together all the time. First at school, then at football practice. Football in the afternoon, school in the morning. If someone lost in a school match, they wanted a rematch during practice. And vice-versa. Our main motto was to win, get payback, give them a thrashing! And that was how it went, over and over again.

It was a constant whirl of activity and I was enjoying myself tremendously, without realising how useful a sports mission it was. And I’m still enjoying myself today.

P.S. Next week - Chapter 12