Inline Hockey

Henru Jessen
Inline Hockey is a team sport played on a plastic surface, in which players use a hockey stick to shoot a hard plastic hockey puck into their opponent's goal to score points. Inline Hockey is considered as a contact sport but body checking is prohibited. Inline hockey teams are composed of five players: a goaltender and four players.
Inline hockey is a very fast paced game, where balance and agility is very important. There are two 12-minute periods. Inline hockey is a contact sport. Although body checks are usually not allowed, injuries can still happen often. Protective equipment is highly recommended and is enforced in all situations. This usually includes a helmet, elbow pads, protective gloves, shin pads, and skates at the very least. In addition, goaltenders use different gear, a neck guard, chest/arm protector, blocker, catch glove, and leg pads.
Namibia has National teams but this year only the junior men went over sea due to the fact that there were not enough players for the senior and junior ladies. On the 23rd August the junior men went to Nanjing, China where they played against many different countries. Our very own Head Boy of 2018, Danilo von Ludwiger, was also part of the selected team and said: “Overall it was an amazing experience! We had a great time together as a team, getting to know each other better, becoming like a family. I met many great people from all over the world and made numerous new friends”. The junior men’s team came 3rd overall in the Nation’s Cup which is the first medal brought to Namibia for Inline Hockey.
Inline Hockey is a sport that can be played by anyone: children, elderly, men and woman. The best time to start Inline Hockey is as a young child but you can start Inline Hockey at a later stage as well, and still reap the benefits. “It might be more difficult for an older person to learn Inline Hockey but if he trains hard he will be able to become an excellent player”, said Jürgen Tegethoff.

If you are interested in seeing what the sport is all about, join the players next year at the Iron Man competition in the 2nd week of February. This competition puts two teams against each other for 9 straight minutes without any substitutes. It is a shortened version of the game that will allow spectators a glimpse into the exciting world of Inline Hockey.