We are a proud partner of the Czech Olympic Committee and, since last year, also of the prestigious Coach of the Year event. We honored 16 outstanding coaches with personalized PRIM watches.
Ronen Ginzburg is the 2019 Coach of the Year in team sports, while Petr Lacina won in individual sports
From early morning he had a pleasant feeling that this might just be the day “D”. During the final match he nearly lost his voice cheering on his athlete so powerfully. And judoka Lukáš Krpálek repaid him with gold at the World Championship in Japan. Petr Lacina, head coach of the Czech judo national team and Krpálek’s personal coach, as well as the winner of the Coach of the Year award in 2016, repeated his triumph three years later. In team sports, the Czech Coaching Academy, a division of the Czech Olympic Committee, chose Israeli Ronen Ginzburg as the winner — he had guided the national basketball team to a historic sixth place at the World Championship.
“I am very happy about what we achieved. I would like to thank the Czech Basketball Federation for their support. And above all, the players for their great attitude, because without that we could not have succeeded,” said Ronen Ginzburg at the gala evening, following up on his victory from the previous year.
“These are unforgettable moments, hard to express in words. I am very glad I was able to experience them,” added Petr Lacina, coach of judoka Lukáš Krpálek, who at Tokyo 2020 will be aiming for a medal in the highest weight category — which he moved into after his victorious Rio 2016 and in which he claimed last year’s world championship title.
The CCA Hall of Fame now counts 76 personalities
At the UNIQA Coach of the Year 2019 evening, six personalities were also inducted into the CCA Hall of Fame: football coach Ladislav Škorpil, gymnastics coach Stanislav Vyzina, successful table tennis player and coach Zdeněk Šváb, rhythmic gymnastics coach Zdeňka Schinzelová, badminton player and coach Petr Lacina, and Jiří Zídek Sr., an exceptional basketball player and coach, inducted into the Hall of Fame by his son Jiří Jr., the first Czech player in the overseas NBA. In the eight-year history of the award, 76 coaching personalities from 28 different sports have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Coach Hejková, honored by the international FIBA federation, received the award for outstanding contribution
The award for extraordinary contribution went to basketball coach Natália Hejková, who last year — just like Jiří Zídek Sr. — was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Basketball Federation FIBA. The Coach Discovery Award went to Otakar Mareš and the Coach Influencer award to Josef Bruk, both of whom coached the legendary goalkeeper Dominik Hašek.
Hašek helped the national team not only to three bronze medals at World Championships, but above all to victory at the Olympic “Tournament of the Century” in Nagano. During sixteen seasons in the overseas NHL he won the Vezina Trophy for best goaltender six times and even the Hart Trophy for most valuable player of the league twice.
“I have very fond memories of Mr. Otakar Mareš,” Hašek was heard to say. “He was an outstanding coach. Thank you very much, Mr. Coach!”
Josef Bruk, as the then coach of the junior national team, actually cut the talented player from the squad at their first meeting. “Did I influence him? I think it’s the other way around, because Dominik fundamentally influenced my coaching career,” recounted Josef Bruk. “It was a successful mission. Everything we touched worked out. To coach with the best goalkeeper on the planet — not everyone gets to do that.”
An endangered species
Coach of the Year is voted on by members of the Union of Professional Coaches, which is part of the Czech Coaching Academy. It comprises 140 experts from nearly 40 different sports federations. “The coach is an endangered species. On one hand we must support them, and on the other push them to be better,” says Zdeněk Haník, Vice-President of the Czech Olympic Committee. “We are trying to elevate the prestige of the coaching profession.”
For the third time the gala evening — this year hosted by Marek Eben — carries the name UNIQA Coach of the Year. “It is an honor for those who stand behind the successes of Czech sport, yet are often not so visible. Coaches are immensely important not only at the elite level, but especially with children and youth, where they help shape their relationship with sport. That is why we are proud partners of this event,” said Martin Žáček, CEO of UNIQA Insurance, which has long supported sport, including whitewater slalom and its personalities, as well as volleyball.
Source: www.olympic.cz
