From American football to NASA

Top American politics has many representatives, but when current topics were discussed on domestic television channels, one of their faces was Petr Boháček. The researcher focusing on political events in the United States is known in the Czech Republic mainly for his comments and expert opinions. However, few people know that there was not much missing and instead of political science, Petr profiled himself in a completely different field, namely American football, which is popular overseas. What did sport bring to his current career and why do American recruiters prefer athletes in companies?

Petr Boháček's dream was to play in the most famous league in American football. The path to the NFL led through college football, so Petr first went to high school in Wisconsin, where he experienced exactly the kind of life we ​​know from American movies. Originally a quarterback for the Prague Lions, he settled overseas in the defensive linebacker position. After just one season, American universities began to take an interest in his tough defensive tackles. "Every kid in America plays American football. The few who get to college are extremely lucky and have to prove their talent and, most importantly, their diligence. Suddenly, you're playing on a team with players who are three or four years older, and at a time when boys are becoming men. At the beginning of the season, there were about 120 players starting, twenty of them were cut at the very first camp, and the remaining hundred were made into the A-team and B-team," Boháček described the system he joined as a first-year student at the University of Green Bay, a football town where the most famous league is played by the popular Packers team. During his first year, he fought his way into the starting lineup of his team, and even though it wasn't a Division I university, where scouts select new stars for the NFL, he continued to hold on to his dream, until the end of his second year. "A few players from this division were selected every year in the draft. "Luckily, they were exceptional players. Even though I kept a few individual statistics, over time I realized that I probably wouldn't make it to the NFL. On the contrary, my motivation grew even more. I had several offers to play in the top European competitions, so I worked even harder," he recalls. During his four years at university, he fulfilled his football dream, enjoying a professional approach and an environment full of great coaches, doctors and physiotherapists. “I had maximum support in that environment to reach the peak of my physical capabilities, and I succeeded in that. But after those four years, I also felt quite exhausted and destroyed, so I began to feel that this journey should slowly end. Fortunately, I also enjoyed school. During that time, I also met many people who were truly top university athletes and narrowly missed a professional career, yet they became successful in the field they also studied without any problems. They constantly told us at college that if we only learned to run and play with a ball in those four years, we didn’t understand it at all and we were here for nothing,” he says. The combination of studies and sports is specific to the American environment and is not possible for students in such a quality practically anywhere else in the world. Boháček sees clear benefits in this system. “According to American statistics, university athletes are better students. They are better at managing their time and, by having every day packed with sports activities, they are able to use the remaining time effectively for education. In addition, athletes are trained and disciplined. Of course, there are many more topics and qualities that athletes have compared to other students. Whether it is teamwork, managing pressure, reacting to defeats or implementing feedback,” he says.

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An athlete who goes through such a university program and receives a diploma is, according to Boháček, perceived very positively by the local work environment. “America realizes that athletes are a great asset to society, thanks to the aforementioned qualities, which they then use on a daily basis in the work environment. Recruiters in America are aware of these benefits and are specifically looking for successful university athletes for large companies,” he describes. “I recently attended a conference for space activities and met a businessman at the same table who had previously won the national university championship in American football. On my right hand was a successful woman who, for a change, was the captain of the university lacrosse team. American society is very interested in such people,” Boháček concludes. While studying at the University of Green Bay, he eventually fell in love with political science. After completing the four-year program, he returned to Prague and expanded his education in the field at Charles University. He regularly commented on American political events for Czech Television and leading domestic magazines. Politics still interests him, but today he is focusing on an even more interesting environment, specifically his space mission. "I have long been drawn to space politics and technology. After a few years of intensively explaining to space institutions what technologies they should research and what missions they should conduct, I came to the conclusion that it would be better to throw myself into it. I am not an astrophysicist or an engineer, and as a political scientist I should not be designing missions to the Moon by conventional standards, but I know how to work with information and surround myself with the right people. I have assembled a team of the right people around this idea and now we are working hard on it. My goal is for the Czech flag to be on the Moon by 2030 and for us to build satellites on every continent," he concludes.

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