The journey is not the destination.
There was a lot of nervousness, a lot of expectations, a lot of obligations, some worries, and a lot of work at the beginning of 2021. The Czech national women's curling team was first preparing for the World Championships in Switzerland, only to learn a few weeks before the event that the country of the Helvetic Cross was unable to host the World Championships due to security reasons. It was already looking like the curlers were under a curse, as the 2020 championships were cancelled just before they were due to start a year ago, but in the end the Calgary, Canada bid was accepted and the 2021 Women's World Championships will get underway on the 30th of April. That the preparation itself has been beset by troubles is quite clear and it would be strange if it were otherwise. The confusion, frustration and passive anticipation of things to come has transformed the lives of the Czechs into confusion, frustration and passive anticipation of things to come in all spheres of life, including sport. The state of emergency freely turning into a pandemic mode, coupled with chaotic communication leading to unclear restrictions ignoring the need for exercise, sport and active life, caused difficulties for the whole team, especially mentally. The illustration and consequence is the fatal lack of games played compared to most of the teams in the starting field that awaits us in Calgary. The team's training calendar has been able to fill up quite a bit due to the ability to use the ice at the Roztyl Curling Hall. The set system of regular tests mapping the basic technical skills of individual players served its purpose and the relatively new team composition - two years old - started to work at full speed. After hundreds of hours spent endlessly sending twenty-pound stones back and forth on the ice, after thousands of broom strokes while throwing stones to the necessary positions, after several times shouted vocal cords skipka and viceskipka and after dozens of hours of detailed analysis of complex and simple game situations together with the coach, the day finally came when the team moves to the venue of the World Championships. However, even this does not go smoothly. Flights already booked are cancelled by airlines, then replaced by similar flights, but the previously booked dates no longer work and everything has to be done all over again. Thankfully, most of this Sisyphean work is done by the union coordinator and we are just active participants in the process. The first flight is from Prague to Zurich. The airport is much emptier than we know it from before and check-in could go quickly. However, appearances are deceiving. We encounter the need to install and fill out the Swiss application for arrival in Zurich. However, it contains items we find impossible to fill in, such as the address of the place of arrival in Switzerland. The airport staff suggest that we put in Kloten, which is really the address of Zurich airport. However, we put our home addresses on the form. In the end, it turns out that nobody in Zurich wants to see the completed questionnaire and nobody cares. The flight to Montreal is unusual, with only 24 people on the Airbus A330. It is, among others, five Czech curlers, a trio of the Czech implementation team, three Swiss players and the Danish coach of the Estonians. Swiss Air is therefore sending out a curling special, so to speak. We arrive in Montreal just before 10 p.m. Czech time and there is a break of more than four hours. A small airport meal, a few chapters in a book and a couple of episodes of our favourite TV show keep us awake, as we think it better not to fall asleep now. The domestic Montreal to Calgary connection, lasting more than four hours, is almost sold out. The flight attendants are wearing plastic suits and instead of food we are served disinfectant wipes, tiny bottles of disinfectant, headphones for the info system, water and a small bag of pretzels. After landing, we wait with the Italian women, some Swiss and German women for our suitcases. Here we are. We're still checking our phones and so far no news of the championship cancellation. Let's hope it works out this time.rn
Anna and Misha - Airbus as gym