Sparta’s coaching staff is complete, after the end with the Knights it was completed by Vejvoda | Hokej.cz

In the next extra league season, Pavel Gross will lead Sparta not only with Antonín Stavjaňa, but also with Otakar Vejvoda, who thus completed the coaching staff of the Prague team.

“At the request of Pavel Gross, we decided to expand the coaching team by one more experienced coach,” explains the head of the sports department, Tomáš Divíšek, about the hiring of Otakar Vejvoda.

The world champion from 1996 spent the last two years in Kladno, which was only saved in the play-off each time. However, a week after the successful rescue mission, the Knights announced that Vejvoda (like Skrbek) would not continue with the team.

But he didn’t stay without work for long. “It was only a few days ago that Pavel Gross called me. Then it went quickly. It was the end of April, I had a few offers from Sweden, but now I wanted to stay in the Czech Republic,” reveals the 51-year-old coach, who nodded at Sparta’s offer.

“Honestly? I would have no need to go to other engagements than two extra league teams – Kladno and Sparta. My dad played for her, I went to watch him in the Sports Hall. That was during my teenage years, from 1981 to 1986. I’ve loved it here ever since. I still remember how I used to sing the song Tarzan Boy here as a kid after goals,” he admits.

“Otakar Vejvoda is an incredibly passionate hockey player. He got along very well with Pavel Gross and we believe that he will be an asset to the functioning of our team. His main role should be in the preparation of special game situations, especially in power-ups,” explains Divíšek.

One of the reasons for the arrival of a man who worked in Sweden for years is Spartan ambitions. “I really liked the boys in Kladno. In Sparta, however, the rhetoric is completely different, the same can be said about the composition of the team, assumptions and vision of the season. And of course there is a completely different goal. This is where Sparta differs from most clubs,” Vejvoda knows.

Vejvoda played with Stavjaňa at two World Cups

He is familiar with Pavlo Gross and Antonín Stavjaňa, but certainly more so with the latter. “We played together in two championships. At one championship, we even played on the same line, he played at fullback with Franta Kaberlo,” recalls the new member of the Spartan coaching staff.

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