Preparing for the 2026 season: another big turnout and plenty of enthusiasm, on the pitch and off it

The traditional Old Boys Praha spring training camp took place on 7.3. 2026, once again in Úžice, where, in glorious sunshine and despite several players crying off for health reasons, a really sizeable group gathered to prepare for this season, both on the sporting side and the social one.

Many players treated the 14:00 meeting time as merely a rough guide and eagerly turned up early, while the pitch was still being prepared by a local expert with finely tuned machinery. So by the official start at 14:30 all the players had long been out on the pitch, warmed up and ready for coach Dalmoš’s tough training doses. Over the next two-plus hours the players got plenty of fitness, technique, passing and tackling work and, in the end, the much-requested full-contact rugby that we rarely get round to in training because of the smaller numbers. The session was really intense, and after the final stretch nobody even pushed for the closing game of football; after the team photo everyone headed for the changing rooms, where great refreshments were waiting to top up sugars, minerals and vitamin B. Old Boys Praha also used the team photo to send a photographic greeting to the French club Poulaoussie from Les Angles, whom we played in Petrovice two years ago and who celebrate the 20th anniversary of their founding this May.

After the sporting part of the camp was over and everyone had checked in at the nearby Sen resort, the players moved on to the evening part of the camp at the Úžická hospůdka restaurant. After dinner together we congratulated Petr Nakládal, who has turned fifty and received the traditional gift of a rugby figurine. Congratulations, Petr. This was followed by a talk by Milan Haitman on the laws and what’s new in them, rounded off with some tough quiz questions from the speaker, which the Old Boys handled very respectably. Milan was very pleased with our knowledge of the laws, and Gríša Děmidov, who really enjoyed his role as coach Dalmoš’s buddy, particularly excelled in the quiz. The discussion of the laws ran on for quite a while thanks to the many questions from the audience, and in the end the speaker had to wrap it up himself so as to make it to his next engagement in Prague. Once some technical problems had been sorted out, the evening continued as planned with a recording of the Six Nations match Scotland-France, where the players could compare their newly gained knowledge with reality at the top level. Everyone agreed that the laws are fine, but that the match was apparently being shown at some higher speed. After dessert and coffee came a free-flowing discussion, again with singing and dancing, which ended in the early hours even though plenty of topics remained open and unresolved. So hopefully there will be another opportunity. The end of the camp the next day, Sunday, belonged to a morning walk round the Svět resort and a visit to its models of the world’s famous buildings. With that, the camp was officially over.

Thanks to everyone who helped prepare the camp, especially Robert Votípek and the Úžice club for providing the facilities, Karel for the hospitality in the changing room and, of course, the players for their commitment and hard work, which we hope to turn into good results this season.