24. 1. 2024 Daniel Ryl
The return of former Spartans continues! The current second class coach and former agent Zbyněk Hrdel has become Sparta’s new scout, who together with the sports management and coaches of the A team wants to raise the education of players in Sparta to a higher level. “We want to develop players for big hockey, for Sparta and maybe even somewhere higher,” he announced after taking up his post.
Have you checked out the new feature yet?
We are gradually starting to talk with both the sports management and all the coaches, including Pavel Gross. I want to get to know everyone well and set up the most efficient cooperation possible, from the youth to the first class. For two weeks now, I have been talking more intensively with the youth coaches about some names they would like to look at. I know most of the boys, I will still get to know the younger years and find out information about them. I try to be available to all coaches.
How did the reconnection with Sparta come about?
By helping out with the youth and coaching the second grade in Sparta, I know the local environment well. I also briefly played for A, Sparta was always close to me and I have a relationship with it. Maybe that’s why Tomáš Divíšek approached me with an offer. I took a few days to think, because I liked my job as an agent at the Aleš Volek agency, which I did for seven years. But Sparta does not refuse. I had it like that as a player, it is still true now, because Sparta sets the direction of Czech hockey. It’s a big brand, so I take my new job as a big challenge and an honor. I believe that over the years as an agent I have gathered experience and contacts that will help Sparta. As an agent, I have seen where some clubs are ahead and where we can improve.
Will you have to get used to sitting on the opposite side of the table during negotiations?
A little yes, but I’ll be doing basically the same job. The difference is that I will try to attract the best talent to Sparta, and not to an agency. I will be in a slightly different position, but I know how such negotiations take place. I believe that I have a good overview from the youth team to the A’s, because I travel a lot of games during the season and I see a lot of players. I am also at hand for Tomáš with the coaches of the first team, whom I will try to help with anything.
Does connecting youth with A’s school remain one of the priorities?
Definitely yes. In this regard, the contact not only with Pavel Gross is fantastic. I had the opportunity to meet both coaches at the training camp in Milevsko, where I was there for them. Both of them are of great capacity, and when you can listen to their experiences and perspectives, it is a great joy. It’s rewarding to have such a team of people around you. And he doesn’t just stop at words, because especially in this season, a number of young guys have worked in the A team, who have caught on very well. We want to continue this in the future.
So are you mainly in charge of the youth with an overlap in possible reinforcements for the A team?
My role is intended primarily for all youth. If needed, I will be very happy to help the boys from A. When they approach me, which is current with the end of the transfer window, I am ready. But these are experienced fighters who lead the club very well, so I’m just waiting for orders. (smiles)
Will your arrival increase the importance of close cooperation with Litoměřice?
First of all, we want to advance players and develop them individually for big hockey, for Sparta and maybe even somewhere higher. Continuity with Litoměřice gives youth players a chance to establish themselves and prepare for the A’s. An example is Jakub Žmola, who got a chance and took it.
Sparta should be the first choice again
So if you find a talented twelve-year-old boy in the Czech Republic, will you go to get him?
Each player’s situation and approach is individual. If the boys can be at home and maybe even in a smaller club, it’s better for them than being forced to go to Prague. Each situation calls for certain steps, but as long as you can, the home environment is better in my opinion. We can continue to be in contact with them, invite them to training and show children and parents our conditions and facilities. Then when bread is broken during their decision, we would like to be among the first ones they decide on.
And isn’t that so?
Competition has increased, parents no longer only hear the name Sparta. Some clubs are a few steps ahead in certain respects, we have to catch up and ideally overtake them. When I was fourteen and my dad got a call from Prague saying they wanted me, he almost fell off his chair. He had to breathe that Sparta wanted his son. That’s how it should be, but you need to go against it.
Does a smaller selection of players increase competition?
When a talented boy appears in the Czech Republic, he is immediately surrounded by agents and then by clubs. The parents then have their heads full and it depends only on them when they deem it appropriate to choose their representative and club. Most of the time, this transfer happens around the age of fourteen. I have just returned from the championship of the regional selections, where you can see the top of the ninth grade and younger boys. We have some followers, but already there some parents decide whether to take a bigger step.
Meeting A in Holešovice is motivation for children
It is true that tough competition is one thing, but for example Tomáš Tomek is also growing because he can play next to a player like Michal Kempný?
I’ve known Tomáš for a long time and he’s getting better with every match! He’s getting space from the coaches, which is great because the guys are going to put in the work and win. It’s challenging to make it, but you learn from the best.
How difficult is it to find the ideal edge when you are training players for A, but not at the cost of worse team results for teenagers or juniors?
It is difficult. Everyone needs to be approached individually these days. Every player is different. As an agent, I tried to have a personal approach to the boys, which I want to apply in Sparta as well. Even children expect to be able to have fun with trainers outside their category, while parents understandably want to know that their children are well taken care of. If we work well, our boys will grow and be satisfied. In Sparta, there is a great environment in which individuals can jump out, thanks to which results will come.
Are you trying to explain to your children and especially to your parents that even if the boy doesn’t grow up to be the next Pastrňák or Jágr for the NHL, he can still have a nice hockey career, even in the Czech Republic?
Certainly yes, at the same time they can make a decent living doing what they enjoy! And that’s why guys do it. Their parents want them to be hockey players, but it’s a thorny and long road. Some parents already think at a young age that they have a hockey player for the NHL, but there is a lot of work behind that. I would like everyone to go through it and reach their dream goal, but it is a very long and difficult race.
Coming back to you, you are coaching the second grade that your son plays for. Training such children is difficult, but at the same time nice and clean work. Do you take it as relaxation?
I use the fact that I am used to communicating with boys and parents. When I came to the preparation, Víťa Zikmund immediately enticed me to go help him. I definitely don’t consider myself a great trainer, but I have a license and I go to seminars sometimes, so I was happy to take it. My boy loves Sparta, he is a fan of it, and the basis of such children is that they have a relationship with hockey, have fun with it and are healthy. In this category, we must not take hockey so seriously, but I dare say that we have a strong year of skillful boys. I am happy to develop them because I enjoy working with them.
Can your career be used to gain respect if these plugs weren’t around when you played with Crosby?
Their parents might tell them what I’m doing, but these guys are already going to the O2 arena and watching the A’s. They sometimes have a very good overview. (laughs) They know absolutely everything. Sometimes it’s fun to listen to them come back from a match at the O2 arena and discuss it together. I didn’t leave such a mark on Sparta, but I look up to the current players. They are fired up, which is nice to watch.
We are returning to the connection that is increasingly being practiced by, for example, football giants – the A team trains in the same area as the youth team. Is it one of the main tools to motivate children and show them that they too can train there in a few years?
Certainly! The boys have the opportunity to meet the A’s from the preparation. On the weekend, the prep team trained before the A team, so parents and their children stay and watch the boys take to the ice. The Prcks see the big boys up close, which is a big motivation for them. It’s a long shot that of course only a small fraction of them can manage, but it’s nice that everyone has a role model to look up to. It is certainly one of the motivations that keeps them playing hockey.
More could have come out of my career, but I’m satisfied
Your career ended seven years ago, but the year before last you returned to Milevsko for a jump. Did you miss hockey?
That was an exceptional situation and help. I come from Milevsko and help him remotely. When they were short of defenders, they talked me into a couple of games. Even though I’m trying to maintain myself, even the region is already at a different level today, so hockey took a back seat. Sometimes I go to sweat with veterans, but I don’t have that much time anymore, because I keep riding in the winter.
Why did you quit at the age of 31? Couldn’t it go any further?
First of all, I suffered a severe hand injury. And the family also decided, because the daughter went to the first grade and we had a son, so I didn’t want to travel around Europe anymore and be alone without my family. I wanted to be close to my wife, and at the end of my career I started working as an agent for Aleš Volek, so I could stay with hockey. I am glad that I can continue to act in it. Hockey gave me a lot, I was raised abroad, because I went to the youth team of Sparta at the age of fourteen and then to the Canadian junior team at the age of sixteen, so hockey taught me a lot. Not only in hockey, but also in human terms.
Don’t you think that the reputation of the talent who won the Canadian junior with Crosby could have exploded more?
Everyone has their own path. I know where and in what I could have given hockey more. That’s also something I try to pass on to the guys, because I know from my own experience where I had gaps. But I myself am satisfied with my career. It could have been better, but I had the opportunity to play with the best hockey player in the world. Watching Sid already at the age of sixteen or seventeen was a big school. We are still friends to this day, so hockey opened a lot of doors for me. I’m happy for everything I’ve been through and that I can continue to play hockey in Sparta. It is a great challenge and responsibility.
