Is Time for Africa... in Roller Hockey

Rolling Together is not death :)
Due to my professional situation is being difficult to find time for roller hockey.
But the current roller hockey time obliges me to write about the unbelievable event that is coming next weekend  on our sport:

The 41st Roller Hockey World Cup, for the first time ever in Angola and in Africa.


The roller hockey fans still don't believe about the two Arenas where the matches will take place, in Luanda and Namibe. Two new Cathedrals for roller hockey is what all of us hope, something like the "African Aldo Cantoni" (Roller Hockey "Cathedral" in San Juan) .

Arena de Luanda, The new Roller Hockey Planet

 

Arena do Namibe

The Championship will start next Friday, 20th September with an African derby between Angola and South Africa, at 20:00 (local time +1GMT).
And what better for the first African World Cup than a match between two African countries.
This article is really about this dream to see this Continent rolling for hockey. A Continent with a lot of opportunities for our sport but still with some disorganization, lack of financial resources, including places to play, material to play, sport know-out...

Roller Hockey needs Africa Dream

But we hope this event can change forever the actual moment of roller hockey in Africa, and why not in all World.

Some "Roller Hockey Dreams" are already taking place in Africa and I'm sure you will be aware with them.  

1. Cameroon On for Roller Hockey in 2014

Kouokam Pa'Hom Dream comes true next year

An incredible dream is coming true day by day on the head of the great Kouokam Pa'Hom. Since young he had the crazy dream of being able to play for it country, Cameroon. And because this is more than a dream he started to think how to turn it real.

Wheels and Wheels to put Cameroon Rolling

"Roller hockey is a great sport whose practice has had a very important place in my life, this sport has given me troubles, but the joys that I have made are comparableness; early years in this club Mont St Aignan, who was (and remains) for a long time as a second home, and then the first step to Nationale 1 (1st French League) with Noisy le Grand debuting the European Story of this club, and finally the pleasure of being able to touch the highest level in the most prestigious French club,  the SCRA St Omer.  

Today, it is time to make all this Fund-rising. I've always a crazy dream of being able to play for my country Cameroon, unworkable, but today I want to share roller hockey in my country. Cameroon is a country located in the Gulf of Guinea wedged between Nigeria, Chad, Congo and Gabon, the king of sports is of course football. Not only by choice or lack of resources but also by lack of diversity in sport.This dream is becoming a reality thanks to a multi-sports facility located in Douala, led by Mr Djitta. Already offering his services to football, tennis and sports outings, the structure now wants to diversify and incorporate roller hockey for 2014!  

Skates waiting for Cameroon future Players

This is a great news for our sport. After Angola, Mozambique, South Africa and Egypt, it will therefore fifth African country, and a 36th country in the world practicing roller hockey. In this Olympic period, we must keep in mind that with more countries playing hockey, greater are the chances to see hockey in Olympic Games. Launch this kind of new activity, and in a country unaccustomed to fund sport in addition, is a challenge that requires a significant amount of equipment, new or used. It is able to cope I therefore appeal to everyone from the roller-hockey: 
 We need sticks, wheels, shoes, hilled, bearings, pads, balls, matter state even if they seem you useless. and all sizes. Then you can choose between giving me or selling them to me. How do I send the material? Just entrust the various sponsors of the operation or myself. These sponsors then charge it to me. On this page, we will keep you regularly informed of arrivals in stock.In advance thank you to all of you, is counting on you to, hockey in Cameroon in 2014!

 Sponsors of the operation: Vanessa Daribo Anthony Leroux, Mathieu Ruckebush, Flora Michoud Godard.

In my opinion this is an unique Project that must me copied not only in Africa, but also in Asia and Latin America. Visit this incredible project on Facebook Page and see how the Dream is getting Real day by day. 
https://www.facebook.com/OkCameroun2014


2. Hockey spreading in Mozambique

Bamboos Sticks?? why not when there's nothing more to play??

If there's one African country with tradition in our Sport it is Mozambique. Since the Portuguese colonial time, roller hockey had an important place in Mozambican sport life. After than the Portuguese left the country and due to the civil war the situation worsened. In the past years roller hockey was most concentrated in 4 Maputo's clubs: Desportivo, Frerroviário, Estrela Vermelha and Liga Muçulmana. Fortunately and probably also because of the success of Mozambique in last World Club (4th place, best ever for an African country), some young players from another regions of the country started to dream also about being one day in their National team... 
Thus, at this moment there are 2 clubs growing and growing each day in the cities of Quelimane and Nampula. It's increadible the willing of this young players, that even with lack of resources don't give up and keep training and playing each week.
As you imagine also them need a lot of new or used stuff. If you want to keep their dream of playing one day for the national team get in touch with them or with the "Great" Bruno Pimental, Mozambican Federation Member and responsible for the massification of the sport in another regions.

Visit Quelimane Facebook Page on
https://www.facebook.com/patinagem.quelimane

Match between Quelimane and Nampula

Because when we have a FIRS that doesn't care about our Sport, only the people that really loves it can put the World playing this Sport. Keep Dreaming!! Tweet

Recruit, Develop and Retain-New Strategy for Australian Hockey

Stephen has been involved in Roller Hockey for more than 25 years,  with success at many levels. His Roller Hockey journey started as a young player based in Geelong Victoria, and from these humble beginnings, he progressed through the ranks and played for Victoria and Australia for many years.
Stephen also enjoyed time in Europe playing hockey for a number of clubs in Switzerland, Spain and Portugal. His proudest moments in his playing history was captaining the Australia Senior Men’s team at 5 World Championships along with numerous other international events from 1998 through to 2006.

Stephen Hoey holds a Masters in Business Administration and has more than 20 years of experience across a diverse range of industries.  Stephen ‘s focus is on the management  of  large projects incorporating dynamic teams and the delivery of key initiatives . He is currently employed by Australia Post as a senior manager.
Next you can read his message to the Australian Roller Hockey Community:


"Hello Roller Hockey Community,
As of January 2013 I have taken on the role as Chairman of Roller Hockey in Australia which
I am both honored and feel privileged to do so.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thanks the previous Australia Roller Hockey
committee for their contribution and in particular Jamie Reid for leadership and never ending
support for Roller Hockey – I look forward to working with Jamie in the future.

The future of Roller Hockey is in the hands of all of us – not 1 person, club, federation or
association has the responsibility to ensure the heath or growth of Roller Hockey in Australia,
the responsibility of Australian Roller Hockey is ours , the existing community and we need to
come together to rebuild and grow this fantastic sport.
The recent Australia Day Cup that was held in Melbourne demonstrated the community
strength. With more than 100 players coming together, over 200 spectators, including past
players, friends and family and media were present. It proved we have a great sport with
great people. I spoke to many people and discussed Roller Hockey and the priorities we
need to focus on, the common theme was participation and growth at all levels is required
which I couldn’t agree more. More impressively it was acknowledged that we all need to
come together and drive towards a common goal and that it is our responsibility – the
existing Roller Hockey Community. 
Our immediate focus has been to ensure stability across clubs, states with ensuring that both
Skate Australia and Skate Victoria are supporting Roller Hockey and its key objectives –
participation and growth. I am pleased to advise that Skate Australia have the best
interests of skate sports at heart and have agreed that Roller Hockey members and the
participation of players and teams will have no negative consequence for any affiliations with
non-recognised associations such as Skate Victoria.

In regards to key priorities for 2013 we have a lot to do. Roller Hockey Australia has the
following key objectives - increase the number of games, number of referees, number of
coaches and number of new players. These 4 components are key and crucial for our
success. To achieve our objectives we need a simple and direct strategy which I expect us
all to contribute.

The strategy is made up of 3 key stages: 
Stage 1: Recruit 
Stage 2: Develop 
Stage 3: Retain

Stage 1 - Recruit
This stage will focus on people – people at all levels and stages of Roller Hockey. We need
to focus on recruiting personal and players who are willing to contribute. 
New and existing players, coaches, referees, time keepers, clubs and supporters are our
focus. We will establish a strong foundation of people and players that ensure the operation
of Roller Hockey can continue without risk of an individual, club or association failing to
contribute. I encourage you all to look into your existing or past player pool of people for our
recruitment.

Stage 2 - Development 
Development of players, clubs, coaches, referees is vital for our success. We will continue to
create relevant development opportunities for all areas Roller Hockey. International
competition will be reintroduced onto our agenda, however in the next 12 to 24 months we
will be ensuring our local competition is strong and supported by strong clubs and officials. 
Stage 3 - Retain 
Retention of our players, officials and clubs is an area for improvement – our focus in stage 3
is to ensure we have the necessary structure and opportunities for individuals and clubs to
keep active and involved in our sport. We will achieve this increasing local competition, state
and international representation for players and officials.

In summary: our focus will be Recruit, Develop and Retain to ensure a foundation for
success is in place and that Roller Hockey can continue for years to come. I indicated earlier
this strategy is simple and direct and something we can all contribute to - our journey will
take a number of years and I encourage you all to participate and be active in Roller Hockey
where you have the passion and willingness to participate.
I look forward to the months and years ahead and hearing from you 
Regards
Stephen Hoey"

Text copied from Skate Australia

2013 Victorian Roller Hockey League Comp 
To prove this new Era of Australian Hockey will start in 24th February the 2013 Victorian Roller Hockey League Competition.The venue of this League will be Skate Victoria Rink "Exhibition Pavillion, Greaves Reserve, Dandenong Showgrounds, Dandenong".
According with the plan there will be 6 teams disputing the trophy: Mordi with 2 teams (the second a young team), Warrnambool, Lisport, Melbourne and Dangenong; and it will run for 6 months (1 League Day each month).

Don't miss the opportunity to LIKE the Australia Facebook Page and read all about this sport in Australia!!

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Austria still growing and will organize the 2nd Youth Camp in Villach

Group photo from the roller hockey youth camp 2011

Trainer team of the youth camp 2011

For the second time, after the big success of the 1st Youth Camp (in August 2011) a roller hockey youth camp with the U20 Portuguese national coach Luís Duarte, will take place in Villach, Austria. This event supported by CERH, will take place from 5th to the 11th of August and will have the presence of players from Austria, Switzerland and Germany.

  Since 2010, Rollhockey Club Villach has the goal to train new young players. An important factor to reach this goal was, the fact that roller hockey became a part of the "Neue Mittelschule Auen" (Auen is a part of Villach),  in September, and since then, each Monday a group of 20 pupils play during two hours roller hockey. A year later RC Villach organized the first championship of Villach region, with four teams (Villach I, Villach II, Auen I, Auen II) in Under 15th category. 

Group photo in a primary school

The format of the tournament was like this, because the other clubs in Austria are about 500 kilometers far away, what becomes difficult at this moment  national competitions. Once again, even the big interest of kids to play roller hockey, the staff and the place to play are the biggest problems. Concerning material as we know roller skates are a bite expensive.

RHC Villach I in Regional Championship 2012

 In other hand concerning the place to play at this moment there are two big sport halls, but one of them will be demolished, thus there will be only one hall for all sports in Villach ( at this moment, the first team can only train 2 times and all youth teams can play only 4 times). The entities of the club are sure, that with the right conditions they could have 80-100 players, through visits among the region's schools, and maybe they could introduce roller hockey in other school, becoming possible a school championship. 

Senior Team

Concerning the senior's team, they play in Italian Championship Serie B. At this moment the directors of Villach are trying also that their youth teams can also play in Italy, although it's getting very difficult to reach this objective. The Italian Federation said that Villach must dispute it home games in Italy, in Pordenone (it's about 200 km away from Villach). This situation is not good for the supporters, that just have the opportunity to see the Austrian championship, and it 3 home games.

Until the end of 2012 RHC Villach wants to reach the 1000 Likes mark on Facebook page, so please just click on it :)

http://facebook.com/rhcvillach

More details about RHC Villach also on:

http://www.myownpage.at/rhcvillach/index.php
and about youth camp
https://www.facebook.com/rh.camp.villach

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French Federation promoting Roller Hockey for Kids

CD cover (source:FFRS) Because Rolling Together loves to promote the good examples which exist in our sport, this time, we talk about French Federation, FFRS. With an innovating program, the Roller Hockey Committee of FFRS, had published a CD, called by "Le rink  hockey à l'école." (The Roller Hockey in the School.). As the title says, this document has the goal to promote our sport in the schools near of Roller Hockey Clubs. The Committee  has defined two main objectives: 1. Introduce the practice of Roller Hockey for more children, hoping the future grow of players. 2. Attract teachers to this sport and hope to see some executives to join the staff of sports clubs (one master teacher managing a group of children received a pedagogical training that can quickly make the necessary transfers to supervise a team of Roller Hockey).   Watch a brief Video Presentation of the School Program

The CD is composed by a part "Discovering Roller Hockey", with a presentation of the sport. 
The second part presents two teachers teaching at different levels (beginners and advanced). They were designed for the autonomy of the teacher in the conduct of its meetings. Any kind of qualification is necessary to start skating and therefore don't need permission of the hierarchy.


Discovery Offer 2012

Roller Hockey Committee also presented "DISCOVERY OFFER" to get new members aged under 13.
The information about this second initiative will be available in all Roller Hockey clubs, Region Committee and the Roller Hockey Committee in La Roche sur Yon.

The French Federation hopes that this two initiatives will allow the development of Roller Hockey and increase the number of Young Players. We can't forget that France will host in 2015 the World Cup!!!!


Source: Roller Sports French Federation Tweet

New Rinks to be build in Argentina and Israel

The construction already started in Israel (israel blog)

One of the most important aspects to play Roller Hockey is the Rink.
There are several kinds of Rinks, one best than others. When somebody consider a Rink, must take care about the size, the lines, the kind of floor, if is indoor or outside...

Taking a look in the best Roller Hockey Championships you can confirm that is clarified that indoor rinks are the best, because you don't have problems with weather conditions, something that could be danger with the skates.
In other hand it is not proved which floor is the best. In Portugal, Spain and Italy there are wood and concrete floors.

The main reason to right this article it's not just about the type of rinks existing, but other really important aspect, the appearance of new Rinks.
All of us know that for example, in Football each year many Stadiums are built or rebuilt having better conditions. In Roller Hockey unhappily the things don't run so fast as football, but is possible to see some good news around the World. Was reported some days ago the construction of a new indoor rink in Israel

Actual conditions of the floor in Alumni rink  (eldiario.com.ar)

and the reconstruction of a new floor in an Argentinian rink.

About the Israel new rink it will be for Ramat Yishai Roller Hockey Club. After several years playing in a poor field-level asphalt rink,  and a lot of requests for assistance in the development of our sports, at the local and regional councils, they did it finally!!! At this moment the works are advancing and the new rink is being constructed. This will be one of the best in all Israel, and one of the few with roof.

In the case of Argentinian new floor it will be constructed for Club Atlético Alumni with an important support of National Government, represent by Sports Minister Adán Bahl. The total investment by the government will be around 40.000 pesos ($9.221), and will allow the substitution of the entire floor.

Alumni Young Players wait for this Gift

Like in most countries this kind of Works is just possible with the support of public entities like National Governments or Regional Councils.
Hope that these two examples could have continuation and bring more examples in other parts of our planet!!

source:
apfdigital.com.ar
eldiario.com.ar
rink hockey in israel blog





Interesting documentation and websites about rinks:

Official Markings of the Rink in Roller Hockey approved by CIRH

Fabrigimno-Portuguese Company that sells fences to rinks Tweet

Aldo Baraldi returns to prepare the Montevideo 2012

Mr. Aldo Baraldi (source:Gazzetadimodena)

An amazing news for Indian Roller Hockey!!!
After some years without come back to India Aldo Baraldi was invited again by RSFI to be the national coach of our country.
As we know India have this year two important competitions to dispute, FIRS B World Cup (held in Montevideo), and the Roller Sports Asian Games (not decided the city yet).

The Italian newspaper Gazzettadimodena has reported that Mr. Baraldi is  traveling, at this moment, to Faridabad, where will be hosted the national championship. The plan is to select over 30 players to the first conduct training and to meet with the leaders of the Federation, and State Associations.
Thus Mr. Baraldi will be in India during a month with our players for an initial preparation.
After this first stage, the group will have other meetings that will require the continued presence of Mr. Baraldi in India to select the final fifteen players.  

About is curriculum, Mr. Baraldi belongs to the legendary team of Amatori Modena, which has won two national championships. At the end of his brilliant career, was coach, of players like Davide Malagoli, Andrea Pontiroli, and his son Massimo Baraldi.  
Once again his knowledge of hockey has convinced the leaders of India Federation to return. His work in India allowed an effective progress on the technical-tactical and excellent results in the international competitions. Aldo Baraldi, will be accompanied by his wife Joan.

This is the right way and it is an excellent news that RSFI had done this agreement with an International Coach which can bring new ideas to develop our Hockey. Like other countries as Israel this is an important partnership to prepare the 2012 Competitions.

Source:
Gazzettadimodena
Rh-news
HockeyPista Tweet