{"product_id":"2940156923991","title":"A Courageous Life","description":"Milos Solc was a great example. He was not only a noble, diligent, honest, and well educated man but also an exceptional sportsman and an especially great tennis player.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe represented our country well while he played in many professional tournaments abroad. He played against the best tennis players of his time like Bill Tilden and Karel Kozeluh. His greatest years were before the 1950s when tennis was not sidelined by the communist regime.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI remember quite well when I met him in 1957, as a promising young tennis player, during the Czechoslovak Championship for players up to 14 years old. Our accommodation was in a local college in large rooms for eight players. One evening Mr. Solc came in and suddenly said, \"Not all of you can win. How many of you can pray?\" We looked at him and did not know what to say. So he continued, \"Just kneel down. When you pray you might win a match or two.\" We prayed, and some of us in fact won some matches. I won the same tournament in 1960.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe met from time to time at the Tennis Academy where he was the coach. He shared his masterful experiences with exceptional optimism, and in this way he instilled in us the need to practice hard and to love tennis as he did.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMilos Solc preached, praised, comforted, gave away, honored, and treasured everything that is good.\u003cbr\u003eJan Kodes, Wimbledon and French Open Champion","brand":"Xulon Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47075073425648,"sku":"2940156923991","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940156923991_p0.jpg?v=1764093224","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940156923991","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}