MY LIFE, PART 20: Thank you Mr Sequens

Jiří Sequens was one of the sport symbols of Plzeň. He was a patriot, a selfless man, he loved athletics and football. He could run 100 metres in under eleven seconds in his time, and he used to play football in lower divisions. He started coaching kids at Luční back in 1955, and this is what he said about me in one of the local newspapers: “I used to coach one Václav Čech in track and field, he was a solid sprinter and decathlete. And one day he brought me his boy, told me to have a look at him. His name was Petr. He was a bit languid, but had a great talent for sports nevertheless.”

And that’s how I met Mr Sequens. Unfortunately he passed away in 2013. He was 86 years old.

But it was thanks to his “compromise” that between second and fourth grade I would, depending on the match at hand, be either in the goal or in the midfield. If the opponent was a difficult one, I would be sent in as goalkeeper. If the game was easier, I played as left-winger.

We had matches every weekend and I never knew where I would go on the pitch. And I didn’t mind, as long as the coaches stopped arguing over me.

Truth be told, I liked attacking as much as I liked goalkeeping, I was always curious where I would end. But, just to be on the safe side, I bought a pair of goalkeeping gloves. My parents must have thought I was getting ahead of myself, but I announced: “I need those gloves. I play in the goal now. And maybe I will keep on playing in the goal. I’m a goalkeeper.”

And Mr Jiří Sequens was instrumental in my becoming a goalkeeper. So: Thanks, coach.

P.S. Next week - Suprise!