History

When Mayor of Nehvizdy showed me the sports hall in the winter of 2017, I couldn't believe my eyes. A small town outside Prague has a multi-purpose sports ground that many larger cities can only dream of. I immediately thought there might be a race in it besides the coaching. After a few minor events for the children, a vision of a national meeting for the senior leader began to emerge in my head, peppered with competitors from Slovakia, for example. I have in the past gathered experience of running and organizing larger events from both an athlete and an organizer position. First of all, thanks to the experience and advice of Mr Coach Sečkář, who was always able to advise me and sportingly raised me in Brno. He was like Uncle Google to me.

Ambitions grew and on January 18th 2018 Nehvizdy hosted first year of a very well-staffed international gathering of competitors from three continents and 18 nations. But the main driver of the meeting from the start has been the desire to combine races for as many children and young people as possible, for disabled athletes whom the meeting helps raise funds to buy special wheelchair clothes. The enthusiastic reactions of all involved made me think that it had been done.

Second year managed to raise the profile even higher and we were able to welcome a strong athletic squad. Many participants of the Olympics, WICs and the biggest continental events as well as medalists. The race has already affected almost the entire world, with the number of participating countries reaching as high as 33. To do this, we extended the meeting to two days so that child participants could get more space to compete and the day after to look and watch to their athletic stars and idols. And the quality of the meeting is also evidenced by the fact that the national record for the Jamaican athletic super-country in the shot put was set. On top of that, the very high scoring of the meeting in the IAAF world tables, and the fact that for some competitors the performance from Nehvizdy was the most valuable (SB) of the season, this means the quality for me.

We had big plans for third year, and I'm happy that we managed to fulfill much of it. Thanks to the support of the ČEZ Foundation and the world record holder in the shot put of Mrs Helena Fibingerová, we were able to acquire a new shot put sector, and perhaps because of this the world's best performance in a shot put by Tomáš Staněk was set. Including this performance, the competitors managed to improve a total of 4 meeting records from 5 disciplines. And that's a sign that we have to do it right. In addition, Brazilian high jumper Fernando Ferreira has improved the national record of the event, adding star Jamaican shotputter O'Dayne Richards, who had improved last year's national best in the shot put. The hall was bursting at the seams, and I'm glad that athletic fans and enthusiasts once again helped the competitors to great performances. The racers' announcements were similar to those of previous years - they thanked us for the exceptional atmosphere we had managed to create together again in Nehvizdy. What they experience in Nehvizdy is found nowhere else in the world. A place in a small sports hall, with a family atmosphere and maximum effort to create the best conditions for athletes, racing children and spectators. I'm thrilled that this is today's image of the Stars in Nehvizdy. To see the contented faces of the athletes after their performance, to see the children watching every move of the world and Czech athletes, who give the children inspiration and motivation for their further not only sporting growth, and not least to see a full hall of chanting spectators doing their best to make every single athlete's performance as good as possible, all of this is a touching and fulfilling moment for me in this unconventional Czech meeting. A place that, thanks to our efforts and help from Nehvizdy Elementary School of Art, has also its anthem TO DÁŠ!(YOU CAN MAKE IT) a doplnil

We're happy that the meeting is also having an impact on our smallest and that interest in athletics has been growing in recent years. I believe that in Nehvizdy the athletic stars of future years will grow up, for we have several promising talents here.

International meeting Hvězdy v Nehvizdech is without doubt a fulfilled dream.

Tomáš Vojtek, meeting director