Sport

Quite recently, there was opened a new aqua leisure center in Barrandov Prague district. It is quite small “aquapark”, but quite pleasant and thus offers a nice way how to spend your free time, especially with children. There are two quite long toboggans, one classical whirpool with hot water and a kind of pool with something like “a bit wild water”, plus there is a normal pool of 25 m in length and a small pool for little kids. So every member of the family can find here something he or she likes.

There is also a bar, they call it “water bar” because it is in the “water area” so you can refresh there during your water activities. Plus after you leave from there, there is another bar close to exit/entrance so you can also refresh yourself here, as well as to eat something. In the summer season, there is opened a meadow for sunbathing and a playground for a volley-ball.

I went to the Aquadream with my friends on Friday evening last week, and I quite liked it there. It was fun to go on toboggans (and they are quite save because there is a light system which avoids people to hit to each other on the way, you can take your ride only when the green light is on), and the whirpool was very relaxing, just to be have a rest and chat with friends. Only the swimming pool is pretty small, so it is not really suitable for some “big swimming”. Unfortunately the bar by the cash desk, at the entrance/exit room was already closed when we were leaving so I do not know much what they offer and it is good, we just bought some biscuits in the automatic machines, which are also there. And they also have vapor rooms, but we did not try them on Friday, maybe next time.

The opening hours are from Monday to Friday from 6:00 am to 11:30 am limited operation (only some attractions are opened) and from 11:30 am to 22 pm all of them work. On weekends the center is opened from 8:00 am to 22:00 pm with full operation the whole day.

And what about the entrance fee? Children under 3 years are for free. And the others: during the hours of limited operation, it is for 73 Czk for 100 minutes, during the full operation it is more complicated. Adults are for 79 Czk for 60 minutes, 136 Czk for 100 minutes and 199 Czk for 190 minutes. Students, seniors and disabled and children up to 15 years old are for 53 Czk for 60 minutes, 93 Czk for 100 minutes and 115 Czk for 190 minutes. Plus there is a possibility to buy a family ticket for 199 Czk for 60 minutes or 359 Czk for 120 minutes (and a family must consist of maximum of 5 persons, only two of them can be adults) and cheap are Mondays, every Monday, the entrance fee is for anyone for 63 Czk for 100 minutes. But it should be also noted that there is no more time for changing and so on. So since you buy your ticket the time is running, so one hour is not usually not enough, because in that hour should be also included time for changing before and after as well as some time for drying.

And how to get there? It is in short walk distance from the tram stop Sidliste Barrandov, so you can there for example from Malostranska, there you take tram 12 and go to the end station.

The information on Barrandov Aquadream Here

“Dance is your pulse, your heartbeat, your breathing. It’s the rhythm of your life. Its the expression in time and movement, in happiness, joy, sadness and envy”. ~ Jacques D’Amboise

Stop for a moment and think about this quotation. Do you have a feeling that something is missing in your life? Something what would give you energy, positive emotions and euphory? Yes, there are some ways how to make your life more cheerful. One way is dance. Dance is as old as humankind. Dance expresses your feelings, your mood. When you are dancing you are forgetting all troubles and you are only concentrating on your body and rhythm. Have these lines captivated you? So read on.

I recently found the Centre of Dance. It is the biggest dancing-school in the Czech Republic which offers classes of various styles of dance. The main office is in Prague, but this agency has its branches and assembly rooms in the whole Czech Republic. It was established as the Centre of Oriental Dance in 1996 and since 2006 it has been presented as the Centre of Dance. Nowadays more than 3500 dancers attends classes under the direction of almost 90 instructors.

Originaly Oriental Dance was being taught and then flamenco, African dance and Latin dance (Salsa, Samba, Cha Cha, Rumba, Paso Doble, Jive) joined. Teenagers and children are especially interested in Reggaeton, Hip Hop, R’n’B and Modern dance.

Besides ordinary lessons, the Centre of dance arranges seminars with native dancing-masters and with dancing-masters from abroad as well. Also tours with lessons of dance are being arranged. The Centre of Dance is the special guarantee of dance competition Miss Orient and the main organizer of the international dance festival Let’s Dance 2006 Prague International Festival, which took place in summer 2006 for the first time.

As mentioned above, the main office office of Centrum Dance (Centrum tance) is in Novakovych 20a street in Prague – Palmovka. You can contact them on telephone number +420 222-719-050 or by e-mail info@centrumtance.cz. For more informations see the websites here.

Ice hockey is one of the most popular sports in the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic belongs to 64 members of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and since 1993, when Czechoslovakia split, the Czech national ice hockey team has had 5 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals from the Ice Hockey World Championships. Many Czech players are also in NHL (about 160 players). For example Jagr and Hasek. They are the most famous players and known all over the world. In the Czech Republic there are 14 teams which play national hockey league called “O2 Extraliga”. Two teams of Extraliga are from Prague. HC Sparta and HC Slavia.

Hockey Club Sparta is one of the most successful and best known hockey clubs in history of Czech ice hockey. The Club was established in 1893 under the name AC Kralovske Vinohrady and one year after it was renamed on Sparta. Beginning of Canadian hockey in current time was in 1909 and since that time the club which stood at birth of national league has belonged to its most frequent participants. Nowadays HC Sparta Praha is one of stable participants in fights for medals and is regular participant in play-off final matches. Their home matches are played in T-mobile arena, which is the second biggest sports stadium in the Czech Republic and its capacity is 14,000 viewers.

First note in Slavia’s chronicle is in 1901-1902 when Slavia players defeated Vienna players in Vienna. But at that time played mostly footballers. Hockeyists of SK Slavia belonged to the best Czech teams before the first world war. Goal tender Josef Gruss was a historical personality who among others translated the rules of football and ice hockey to Czech. Slavia advanced to play-off ten times during twelve years of Czech “extraliga”. Currently their home matches are played in new Sazka Arena, but they practise in winter stadium Eden.

After the beginning of the individual Czech Extraliga in 1993, Sparta and Slavia played 68 times together. Sparta won 34 times, Slavia won 28 times and 6 times it was a draw. In play-off they played 4 times together. The first semifinal won Sparta in 2002 and then they became champions of Extraliga and one year later Slavia advanced to final and became champion of Extraliga. The historical fight took place in 2005/2006. These two rivals met in final. Sparta was more successful and became champion.

Prague is the site of many sport events, national stadiums and teams. Every Czech knows the two most famous football clubs Sparta Prague and Slavia Prague. It is always a festival for the Czech nation when these two rivals play the match.

Sparta was founded in 1893 and in 1906 played in their typical dark red jerseys for the first time. Club symbols: blue, red and yellow colours were the typical colours from the beginning. Now it is maroon colour and the big S. The name Sparta was inspired by the fighting spirit and courage of the people from the ancient city of Sparta.

Slavia was founded in 1892 and from the very beginning it was the elite Czech club. Currently there are some economic problems. Their symbols are: white colour – the symbol of fair play and olympic idea, red colour – the symbol of heart, red star – the symbol of hope and good mind. The fact that the jersey is half white and half red should symbolize the dichotomy of life.

First time when Sparta and Slavia met on the football pitch Císařská louka was on 29. 3. 1896. Sparta won 1:0. The club Slavia had more money and their own football stadium on Letná while Sparta was poorer and had no stadium. But what is strange it is the fact that Sparta always defeated Slavia. Later Sparta moved to a big new stadium on Bubeneč so it became the equivalent rival. Supporters of Sparta were mostly working-men and journeymen so Sparta were considered more democratic and people’s club. Slavie had supporters from the “brain power”, the wealthier people.

Currently supporters are not divided according to money but mostly according to tradition in their family. Sparta has their new large modern stadium on Letná. It began to be reconstructed in 1994, now it has places for almost 21 000 onlookers and got the new name – Toyota Arena. Slavia will have the new large modern stadium as well. The old stadium Eden in Prague 10, city district of Vrsovice, has being reconstructed since October 2006. Eden has capacity of 21,000 seats and should be built by March 2008. All Slavia supporters are looking forward to the first match.

Informations about these clubs are on their official websites: http://www.sparta.cz/ and http://www.slavia.cz/ . If someone would like to know some more informations about history of these clubs or some famous players look at the websites http://www.wikipedia.org/.

The Czech ice hokey team is ready for the coming world championship in Riga, Lithuania. At least that’s what the coach says. The latest results though, show the situation completely different. And with NHL still going strong and many known players not coming to play for the national team, the chances for the Czech ice hokey team to be able to defend the world champion title from Vienna last year are still low.
Let’s keep them the fingers crossed and for sure they will do a good job in Riga!
“Češi do toho!” (tcheshee do toho, or GO CZECHS!)