With a name like this, it can't be a coincidence. Valéria Jíchová is representing the Czech Republic at the U18 Women's Handball World Championship. And she is indeed the daughter of the legendary Filip Jícha. Her path to the sport in which her father was one of the best players on the planet was, however, rather complicated. "I wasn't good at it before, I couldn't even throw a ball. I've only been playing handball competitively for three and a half years, but after just a few training sessions I discovered I really enjoyed it," she revealed to Sport.cz.
Valéria Jíchová, daughter of the legendary Filip Jícha, is representing the Czech Republic at the U18 Women's Handball World Championship.
She was born in the summer of 2009, a year before Jícha had the season of his life, in which he was named the best handball player in the world. Valéria, however, does not have many memories of her father's active career as a two-time Champions League winner. "I didn't really enjoy handball before. I used to go to his matches mainly to draw pictures and look forward to good food afterwards. But I remember that people liked him," she smiled.
While her brother Vincenc, three years her junior, fell for the sport immediately, Valéria resisted for a long time — something Jícha himself has spoken about. "At first she didn't like handball at all. When I was still playing professionally, she felt that handball was taking her dad away from her," he said in an interview with the International Handball Federation's IHF website.
Young Valéria played basketball and danced for many years. "But one day we were playing in the garden where we had a goal for our son. And she suddenly said: 'I want to throw too.' I told her: 'Alright, give it a try.' And from that moment on she never stopped," recalled Jícha, who after retiring in 2018 turned to coaching and led Kiel to the top of the Champions League again in his new role.
His daughter quickly discovered she had inherited some of her father's talent. And above all, she put in a huge amount of hard work to catch up with her peers. "She knows she started later than the others, but she is enormously hardworking and truly passionate about handball. I never pushed her. I'm just a supportive parent. That makes it all the more rewarding that she found her own way to handball and fell in love with it herself. It's no longer just my sport, but hers too. And that is wonderful for our family," Jícha said proudly.
Valéria also plays the same position — left back. "Dad sometimes gives me advice, but only when I ask him something. Otherwise I play my handball and he played his," she noted.
Handball player Valéria Jíchová at a Czech junior team training session.
In a short time she has worked her way into the national team. Interest from the German national team could theoretically have come, as she has lived in Germany since birth. "I thought about it too, but when I got my first call-up from the Czech national team, I didn't hesitate. I just wanted to play handball, so I'm very grateful to be here," she said. At the U18 Women's Handball World Championship in Romania, she made her mark both in the high 42:16 victory over Mexico and in the narrow 23:24 defeat to South Korea. "I'm really enjoying my first senior national team event.
It's a completely new experience for me and everything here is a little different from what I was used to. I'm looking forward to the next matches," said the player from German club Handewitt. To advance to the round of sixteen, the Czech girls need to beat the favoured Denmark today at 5:30 p.m. And Jícha will be cheering on the national team in person, right on the spot. "Watching my daughter is quite emotional — I wish the whole team all the best," said the 44-year-old Pilsen native from Craiova, Romania.
sport.cz / gnews.cz