Boss
27-04-2005, 09:59 PM
In this Czechs in History we'll be looking at one of the most famous and enduring Czech organisations ever, the patriotic athletics body known as Sokol - or Falcon - a gymnastics organisation founded in Bohemia in 1862, that soon spread to various countries around the world, including Slovenia, Poland, the U.S., and Australia. For our purposes, though, we'll be looking at the Sokol movement in Canada, which is now 94 years old. Jan Velinger recently spent a month in Toronto meeting Czech-Canadians who had at least two things in common: membership in Sokol and a passion for volleyball..
Serve, set, & spike. Members from two mixed teams urge their fellow team mates on in a heated match at a Sokol gym. This could be anywhere in the Czech Republic but it isn't - this is west Toronto. The ball is set up yet again, and two players clash at the net.
Peter Kazik, 35, never belonged to Sokol in the Czech Republic, but discovered the organisation here: in Toronto. The organisation helped him meet other Czechs like himself, making a new start.
"I began in 1998 when I was here for a six month visit. I met nice people and we had a lot of fun. Volleyball, a couple beers, it was fun!"
He also got to know many Czechs who had been in Canada for generations, but who had never lost their Czech roots.
"That helped me very much, because here there aren't only people who care about money. It's about... Sokol here is about people, To get together, about community, about language, we can talk in Czech. It's really nice to be here."
Charlie Hajkl, a first generation Canadian agrees Sokol is important. He has also taken part in the organisation's most characteristic events: the so-called 'slets': large gymnastics festivals in which dozens of performers take to the field to perform carefully choreographed exercises that are a spectacle to see.
Photo: www.sokolcanada.org (http://www.sokolcanada.org) Photo: www.sokolcanada.org (http://www.sokolcanada.org)
"Sokol for me has pretty much been a way of life since I was about 8 years old. I've been 'gyming' on Wednesdays and Saturdays and was actually the 'director' of men for about five years here in Toronto. I also met my wife through Sokol, we met in 1994, just before we went to the first 'slet' in Prague, the first that Prague had since the fall of communism."
RP: And, let me ask you, for someone who has never been to one of these 'slets' - to one of these huge events - what exactly do you do?
"We do callisthenics, we perform callisthenics, the 'slet' in Prague is the big one so there are between 20 - 30 numbers that various age groups that men and women, boys and girls, all perform. It's all about athleticism: a healthy mind is a healthy body and vice-versa." ...
Serve, set, & spike. Members from two mixed teams urge their fellow team mates on in a heated match at a Sokol gym. This could be anywhere in the Czech Republic but it isn't - this is west Toronto. The ball is set up yet again, and two players clash at the net.
Peter Kazik, 35, never belonged to Sokol in the Czech Republic, but discovered the organisation here: in Toronto. The organisation helped him meet other Czechs like himself, making a new start.
"I began in 1998 when I was here for a six month visit. I met nice people and we had a lot of fun. Volleyball, a couple beers, it was fun!"
He also got to know many Czechs who had been in Canada for generations, but who had never lost their Czech roots.
"That helped me very much, because here there aren't only people who care about money. It's about... Sokol here is about people, To get together, about community, about language, we can talk in Czech. It's really nice to be here."
Charlie Hajkl, a first generation Canadian agrees Sokol is important. He has also taken part in the organisation's most characteristic events: the so-called 'slets': large gymnastics festivals in which dozens of performers take to the field to perform carefully choreographed exercises that are a spectacle to see.
Photo: www.sokolcanada.org (http://www.sokolcanada.org) Photo: www.sokolcanada.org (http://www.sokolcanada.org)
"Sokol for me has pretty much been a way of life since I was about 8 years old. I've been 'gyming' on Wednesdays and Saturdays and was actually the 'director' of men for about five years here in Toronto. I also met my wife through Sokol, we met in 1994, just before we went to the first 'slet' in Prague, the first that Prague had since the fall of communism."
RP: And, let me ask you, for someone who has never been to one of these 'slets' - to one of these huge events - what exactly do you do?
"We do callisthenics, we perform callisthenics, the 'slet' in Prague is the big one so there are between 20 - 30 numbers that various age groups that men and women, boys and girls, all perform. It's all about athleticism: a healthy mind is a healthy body and vice-versa." ...