Šitbořice cycle ball in winter 2024
The new calendar year started very intensively, particularly for the Šitbořice youth categories. The pair Dominik Šabata and Šimon Urbánek was especially busy, completing a total of 5 tournaments by mid-March. It is worth noting that the pair hit a winning streak and managed to win 3 times and finish 2nd twice.
In the 1st Junior League — the key competition of this season — Dominik and Šimon share the 1st qualifying spot with Zlín after two rounds. The goal is clear — win the 1st Junior League and then the Czech Championship and qualify for the season's pinnacle — the European Junior Championship, which will take place on 10–11 May in Germany. In the under-23 category, Dominik and Šimon managed to win the 1st qualifying preliminary round against noticeably older opponents. In the second preliminary round, they finished in the silver position.
The second junior pair Ondřej Valíček and Petr Novotný also compete in the 1st Junior League. The boys are managing to challenge more experienced teams and currently hold a mid-table position. Both junior teams train with maximum intensity in this crucial season and support each other.
In the youth category, Matěj Šabata and Vojtěch Nečas built on their successful autumn, winning the 4th round of the Czech Cup in Zlín in mid-January. At the next Czech Cup round in Svitávka, Šitbořice 1 played in a substitute lineup, with eight-year-old Filip Kyzlink standing in for Matěj. Filip performed brilliantly in his first ever tournament and the pair went home victorious once again — thanks to Vojta's flawless play, they took first place. The considerably younger second Šitbořice youth pair of brothers Vítek and Mikuláš Doležal also performed excellently and came home from Czech Cup tournaments with 3rd and 4th place finishes. Vítek and Mikuláš have another 2 youth seasons ahead. Besides the youth category, Matěj Šabata and Vojta Nečas also compete this year in the 2nd Junior League. Against older opponents, they currently sit in 5th place.
The elite category season has not started at this point. This year, Šitbořice will play the 1st and 2nd Elite Leagues.
The highlight of winter for Šitbořice was the traditional February international Grand Prix Šitbořice tournament. The home teams achieved a significant success when for the first time in history the home players won tournaments in all three age categories. In the juniors, Dominik with Šimon and Ondra with Petr competed. The first mentioned team won the tournament and managed to beat their arch-rivals from Zlín twice. In the youth, Vojta with Matěj confirmed their favourite status. The second team featured Vítek Doležal together with Filip Kyzlink, who substituted for the injured Mikuláš. The boys finished a nice fifth place. In the main elite category, the purely local Martin Drabálek competed for Šitbořice together with Šitbořice academy graduate (currently playing for Brno) Robert Zvolánek Jr. Although neither of them are regular partners, they delivered a phenomenal flawless performance and managed to win all six matches. It should be noted that this year's Grand Prix featured truly quality teams — the 2 best Czech teams, the 4th team from the World Championship, the European U23 Champions, and a German first league team. This makes the result all the more impressive.
The entire organising team put a great deal of energy into the tournament's organisation, which was ultimately reflected in the result. The tournament was a success both in terms of results and organisation, and noticeably more spectators came to the venue than last year. Thank you to everyone who came to support Šitbořice cycle ball!