Foreign Trips of the Czechoslovak Volleyball Players: Foreign Countries as seen through the Eyes of Czechoslovak Athletes in the 1950s and 1960s
Abstract
The present paper focuses on the resumption of individual sports associations foreign relations after 1945, and how it was affected both by the resumption of international sport matches and by exit permits of Czechoslovak athletes. Travelling abroad used to be highly regulated in this period and not many citizens met the strict conditions applied.
Athletes thus received a status of state representatives, became to an extent, privileged and had to, therefore, meet certain requirements. They also gained access to information and insight unavailable to ordinary citizens.
The study analyses the differences between the trips to the so-called "friendly", i.e. communist, countries and to the West, from the amounts of money spent on representations abroad to the reception by the host countries. The study focuses mainly on volleyball representatives whose golden age spanned the 1950s and 1960s and who were therefore considered the sport elite promoting volleyball in the world, in this period.
Athletes would commonly share their experiences from abroad and pass these on to their fellow citizens during organised discussions or personal meetings. After finishing their active career, some sports representatives were approached by foreign organisations and offered further engagement.
Even such matters were, however, regulated by The Czechoslovak Union of Physical Education and Sport. The life experiences and paths of selected athletes, through documents, diaries and oral history interviews, map out their reflection on foreign countries and on the issue of otherness.