Jan Presučil is now the first ambassador of YMCA in the Czech Republic , which is part of the largest and oldest youth organization in the world. Jan Blažek, YMCA Chairman in the Czech Republic, Vojtěch Rálek, Secretary General of the YMCA in the Czech Republic, and Petra Otrisalova, Director of the Prague YMCA Palace - a building in Na Poříčí 12, which commemorates the 90s since its opening .
Jan Přeučil, who celebrated his 81st birthday in February, has been guided by his principles throughout his life. And it is still fitting thanks to the regular exercise and swimming that he started with right now in the YMCA Palace swimming pool. To swim in here he will be able to go to the public at any time - YMCA representatives gave him an unlimited ticket.
"We were delighted that Jan Přeučil, who had personally experienced the post-war era at YMCA as a little boy, had never forgotten this experience. And the appointment of an ambassador is evidence that even the YMCA has not forgotten him. We greatly appreciate the fact that he accepted this honorable function, " says Petra Otrisalova, Director of YMCA Palace.
And reminds that, like Jan Přeučil, Ymkou went through other personalities: perhaps the writer Jack Kerouac, American presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton, actor Anthony Hopkins, boxer Rocky Marciano or swimmer Janet Evans. In the Czech Republic, it is the actor Matouš Ruml, the philosopher Jan Sokol, the sociologist and publicist Jiřina Šiklová, the pedagogue and ecologist Jakub Trojan, the founder of the maternity centers Rút Kolínská and many others. All of them YMCA changed their life in their youth. Just like years ago, Jan Přeučil.
Community of gentlemen
"It was after the end of the Second World War, when YMCA was restored after the Nazi ban. I was eight years old then, and my dad said, "I'll take you to Ymka. He explained to me that it is an association of young Christian men and that the model is British and American, in short, Western. And then he brought me one day and from autumn 1945 I started going to the Palace in Na Poříčí street myself, regularly always on Saturday afternoon. Alpha and omega here was a gym for me. I got acquainted with basketball here, running on a knocked oval. And then there was a great swimming pool. I loved swimming very quickly and love remained to me today, " recalls Jan Přeučil.
"It was a beautiful time in a community that led young men to honesty, coherence and gentlemanhood. The community that laid the foundations for my future life. As a little boy, the YMCA has formed not only in terms of sport, but also morally. Because this organization has always directed young boys and girls to morality - to Christian and human values in general, " continues Jan Přeučil, who also adopted YMCA's lifelong tolerance to various religions.
Kipling and a couple at the Na Poříčí House
As a little boy, Jan Přeučil was enchanted at the Na Poříčí House as well as the lift of the floor noster, which always went up to the fifth floor. "There was a boys' department. There are ping pong tables, clubs with fireplaces, and bulletin boards in Czech and English, and various information on what is being held - for example, competitions, which have always been a lot of interest to us as boys, " he says.
"I also remember how the lead readers also read the passage from Kipling's poem When. They have always read us in a couple of ways and have explained to us what it means - what is its content and how it has a sense for the character of a person, for his life, for his thinking and for the whole of his existence. It impressed me like a little boy, "he adds. A great adventure experience was Ymka's summer camps, where he, despite the low age, immediately boldly signed up. The very best he was, however, was looking forward to for a while in a small buffet on the ground floor of the Palace, where he could buy a couple for food tickets. "I always felt like a king," Jan Přeučil laughs.
Actor with Yamara's heart
His father, the then deputy and successful publisher František Přeučil, wanted to register a small Jeník for an English lesson. And he wondered if he would send a son to England for some time to improve his language. Communists soon came to power. And the youth organizations, like the Nazis, quickly forbade them.
"I can never forgive the Communists that, apart from other things, they suppressed the beautiful ideas of fair sport, but also the mutual tolerance, comradeship and respect that YMCA brought to young people. We were then and then meeting - we were such a bunch. We were staying together, riding on canoes, on rigs. But the YMCA was really over, " he said. He wanted to study acting, but his father was in trial with Milada Horáková for life. And so as "the son of the enemy of the homeland" he had to start to feed himself as a laborer.
However, thanks to his perseverance, he became an actor. Hercules with inimitable charm, speech and noble. And in the 1960s, he even went on a trip with the Divadlo Na Zábradlí, where he was in the engagement. "Whether we were in West Germany then, in France, or in Italy, wherever I saw the YMCA, it always gave me a heartbeat. And I thought that I am still one to this organization, people and traditions, " adds Jan Přeučil.
Source: tz, edited editorially