One puck at a time

With a successful year behind them, NIIHA looks forward to what 2020 may bring.
Evany van Wyk
Evany van Wyk





The National Ice and Indoor Hockey Association (NIIHA) has had an eventful year with the successful participation of their national and development teams at the World Roller and State Wars USA Championships. They are now looking forward to 2020 and to taking on all the challenges that come along with it.

“Our challenges are mainly to keep up with the growing number of players, which in turn requireS more games, which requires time management,” says NIIHA president, Dr Holger Mentzel. “The annual sport calendar is filled to capacity with several events, of which inline hockey is very much part!”

Major events in 2020

NIIHA is already gearing up for five club tournaments taking place next year, namely Badgers, Cazadores, Kamikaze, Scorpions and Coastal Pirates. The NIIHA Championships and the Africa Cup, are two events on the continental calendar.

• 15 - 19 April: Badgers

• 21 - 25 May: Cazadores

• 5 - 9 August: Kamikaze

• 26 - 30 August: Scorpions

• 23 - 27 September: Coastal Pirates

• 30 October to 1 November: NIIHA Championships

Sponsors

Spar Namibia is a major sponsor of the Africa Cup

Theo’s SuperSpar sponsors the NIIHA Championships

NIIHA provides regular training camps throughout the year to ensure that players stay fit and learn to work together as a team.

According to Mentzel, it is important for players, especially children in younger age divisions, to measure their level of skill against other teams.

In 2020, Mentzel says NIIHA has to find and create a new tournament format, so that they can offer more game time and compact all necessary games to be played into the given time. “We also need to market major events more aggressively to make tournaments popular and an event where spectators want to be.”

NIIHA is excited to be participating at the World Inline Hockey Championships in Bogota (Columbia), with the junior men’s national team hoping to improve their position in the top 8 of the world. Mentzel says they would also like to have a bigger turn-out for international team entries for the Africa Cup, which will be hosted for the first time in August 2020. This is to attract more teams from Europe and the Americas to participate.

“Unfortunately, inline hockey is not a major sport code yet and can’t compete against big codes like boxing, athletics and rugby,” Mentzel says. “However, we have improved our facilities tremendously. But at present, due to a lack of funds, we are struggling to manage activities in the three regions in which we currently operate, namely Khomas, Otjozondjupa and Erongo.”

Still, he sees a future where the activities could possibly include the Oshana and //Kharas regions.

PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED

Pic 1- Canada vs Namibia at the World Championships.

Pic 2- Badgers playing against Cazadores.