Choose sport or education, you cannot do both! Common misconception.

The Czech education system is not built for any kind of adaptation to other subjects.

Sports clubs have a similarly stubborn attitude towards educational institutions, and so talented high school athletes face a relatively important choice at an early stage of their potentially successful careers: to prioritize sports or school? Robert Sovík faced a similar question years ago. The then captain of the Sparta junior hockey team had already made it to the extra league. Daily training already influenced his high school studies; after graduating, he decided to continue his studies and chose the Czech University of Life Sciences.

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 “the combination was not ideal,” says Sovík.

Between training sessions, he put on a jacket and went to tryouts.

At that time, he also made eight starts for the A-team of the Holešovice club, where he was able to gradually work his way up, as his peers and junior teammates Miroslav Forman and Daniel Přibyl managed to do.

Because he did not want to close the door on hockey, or even on university education, he decided to go overseas.

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“I studied economics at the University in New York and played hockey on the side,” Robert recalls of three years of study abroad, which subsequently earned him a lucrative internship at a financial firm right in Manhattan.

"University graduates who played sports during their studies and succeeded in university leagues are also perceived very positively by the American labor market. Companies are aware of the qualities that sports develop, whether it is teamwork, reaction to defeats or coping with pressure. Such people, if they take the right steps outside of sports, have a certain advantage in job interviews for interesting positions," points out Sovík, who decided to help other Czech athletes get into American universities while studying. That is why the USA Sport & Study organization was founded, which has already sent several hundred Czech athletes in this direction in nine years of operation.

According to Robert Sovík, young athletes in the Czech Republic must make a choice sooner or later.

Those who prioritize school often lose their passion for life and miss out on possible sporting successes.

Others, who often do not even graduate from high school due to their sports career, may have problems later.

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"It can happen that you do great as an athlete for several years. But sport is incredibly unpredictable. All it takes is one mistake, one intervention, an injury and your career is over. Such a person without education and previous work experience will have trouble making it, and unfortunately, these are not isolated cases" describes Sovík.

The American university system is trying to prevent this problem by supporting student athletes.

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“They have priority in creating the schedule, so they can set up lectures so that they do not overlap with sports activities. In addition, training and teaching are on one campus under the auspices of the university. Czech athletes who achieve good results often achieve scholarships that cover their tuition costs,” says Robert Sovík. Instead of a person in the Czech Republic having to choose between education and sports at the threshold of adulthood, they will gain four more years at an American university, during which they can think about their choice more carefully and develop both directions during this time.

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In the past, the captain of the Czech women's hockey team, Alena Mills, traveled to American universities to play sports.

The well-known Czech political scientist Petr Boháček played American football for four years at the university.

Leon Jakimič, now a well-known entrepreneur and founder of the Lasvit company, received a tennis scholarship at the University of Los Angeles.

The most successful young golfer Václav Tichý also set off on his trip overseas after the summer.

According to Robert Sovík, in the Czech environment, the University Ice Hockey League project is worth mentioning, which brings together university students and organizes hockey matches between universities.

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