What is Sokol?

Sokol Dallas has many educational activities to offer including Gymnastics, Tumbling, Camps and  Czech School. 

For 145 years in the United States, American Sokol has helped to shape the lives of Olympians, Diplomats, Artists, Athletes, and most importantly, every-day-wonderful people like you.

Sokol has been in Dallas since 1912.

We are a non-profit organization interested in teaching quality Gymnastics, Dance, and Czech and Slovak language and heritage. Many of our coaches have over 30 years of gymnastic experience. Sokol also supports the Czech community of Dallas by hosting Movie Night, meetings, socials, educational and cultural events throughout the year.  Come and join our Athletic Center.

The idea of physical education as well as the promotion of moral values was formulated by Dr Miroslav Tyrs, a professor of the Charles University, and by Jindrich Fugner in 1862 in the Austrian Czech lands, which later became Czechoslovakia and now the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. Their program, Sokol, was based on the democratic principles of the ancient Greeks and their idea of developing “a sound mind in a sound body”. Tyrs was the creator of calisthenics and exercises, placing the whole system on a firm scientific basis and the philosophy that only physically fit, mentally alert, and culturally well developed citizens can make a nation strong and give life to the honorable spirit of patriotism.

Sokol came to the United States via Czech-land immigrants in 1865. Well into it’s second century, Sokol continues today around the world as a vital, thriving entity dedicated to both youth and adults participating in its programs, the local communities served, and to the physical, mental, and cultural advancement of its members.

The word “Sokol” translates to “falcon” and is symbolic of the Sokol ideals: Courage, Strength, Endurance, Fraternalism, Love of Democratic Principles & Pride of Country.

The falcon is a bird known for its courage, endurance, lighting speed, sharp eyesight, and love of the great heights of the blue skies.  Thus, it symbolizes the ideals of the Sokol organization of fitness, strength and lofty goals.   While Sokol is Czech for “falcon,” Sokol is English for a great group of people bonded by a common ethnicity, heritage or interest.