I’ve always been interested in rollerblading, says the Czech, who will be skating on the ice already at the third world championship

Lapčíková joined the former Ostrava Palace of Culture and Sports shortly after its opening in 1986 as a locksmith. “But the roller skates took me. I liked how the guys rode them, they were dudes to me. Well, I wanted to try it too,” she revealed.

And she begged for so long that they once allowed her to ride. “It was once, twice, and then the master caught us. And when he found out that I enjoyed it, he suggested that I get the papers for a roll,” she described.

After completing the course, it didn’t take long for her to establish herself permanently among the Ostrava roller skaters. “One of them got sick and I took over for him temporarily until he got back. Well, I’ve already got it.’

Lapčíková pointed out that even though she likes to sit in a roller skate, she is not just a roller skater. He is still engaged in locksmithing in the arena. “I’m in charge of all the doors, I repair handles, locks. Now, before the championship, I changed I don’t even know how many inserts in the doors,” she pointed out.

In Prague and Ostrava, preparations for the hockey championship are coming to an end

Homemade

If cars are divided into so-called manuals and automatics, today’s cars are only automatics. “They have a lot of little things that you have to wrinkle to get everything done while you’re driving,” she said of the machines, which she nicknames the princesses. Lapčíková considers hitting the line to be the most difficult, especially for newcomers. “You do one lane and then another right next to it. It has to be just a tight overlap, no gap between the stripes, nor too much overlap,” she explained.

The Ostrava skater does not know that she has a follower somewhere. “I only knew one colleague in Frýdek-Místek. But it’s over now.” When asked why that is, he shrugs. Then he bursts out with a laugh: “That’s discrimination, that only men can do it. Or girls just don’t like it. I freaked out,” she laughs.

Lapčíková does not know how many hours she has already spent on the roller skates and how many kilometers she has traveled on the ice. “It will be enough. Thousands of hours,” estimates the woman who always plays the radio while driving on the ice.

“The radio has to be. When the last roller skates were being ordered for the arena, the guys laughingly reminded me not to forget to put a radio in there,” commented the woman, who considers the ice preparation for the World Championships.

“I think the championship is the most prestigious event, every roller skater would like to experience that,” says Lapčíková, who is preparing for her third championship. Even so, as she said herself, she is happy like a little girl. “I’m already getting goosebumps,” he points to his hand.

The only thing a roller skater is afraid of is that her roller skate won’t stop in the middle of a ride on the ice during a tournament. “God, I would never want to experience that. Because you have to lift the bed, open all the valves, manually lift the blade and push it away,” she explained.

Even after thirty-eight years, Lapčíková still enjoys rollerblading. And he dreams of what it would be like to groom the ice for the NHL at least once in his life. “But I can’t do it,” he sighs at the impossible dream. “Or I’d like to experience ice conditioning for an outdoor game,” she concluded.

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