Coach of the Year 2025.
The announcement of the “Coach of the Year 2025” awards took place this time at the JATKA 78 theater space in Prague’s Holešovice district. It was a convergence of two worlds that are similar in their pursuit of physical perfection through rigorous training, strong mental resilience, and teamwork. Cirk La Putyka adapted the performance St.art for the award ceremony in a sensitive and unobtrusive manner. The individual, elaborately choreographed movement sequences emphasized originality and featured surprising creative elements. The actors, dancers, and acrobats immersed themselves remarkably convincingly in the roles of athletes and, within their parts, delivered fascinating performances using trampolines, giant hoops, and javelin throws. It is never easy to fit the actual award presentation into a powerful performance. This time, it proved wise to save the main ceremony for the end. Petr Fuksa, Vladimír Brada, Ondřej Jílek, and Patrik Augusta—that is, the main award recipients—did make brief appearances in Cirku La Putyka’s performance, but they received the main ovation after the show ended and basked in their glory during a “standing ovation.” As always, this was a valuable gathering of the leading figures in Czech sports and representatives of various sports disciplines. While some prominent figures were absent, representatives of the Czech Olympic Committee, the National Sports Agency, and the Czech Coaching Academy were present, including the doyen of Czech Olympism, former long-time COC president, and friend of Czech curling, Milan Jirásek (91). We would like to thank those who organized this wonderful evening, and so our thanks go to Zdeněk Haník and Michal Ježdík.