21st July 2018: A little later than usual we bring you our usual Friday Focus blog.
From 28th June – 3rd July Dick Besters and Tomislav Jamičić took the EHF hockey caravan to Bratislava and Budapest….
“On the afternoon of 28th of June with our hockey stuff packed van we departed from Arnhem and after long 17 hours of driving, we have reached our first stop Bratislava. Where we would present a three-day clinic from 30th of June till 2nd of July. Just like last year a lot of young players from all Slovakian clubs joined the Caravan this year as well. They were very surprised that for this year we made again a completely new programme with a lot of challenging skills, new fun games, magic tricks and crazy sticks.
Beside inspiring young Slovakian players we have worked with a selected group of coaches, also from different clubs. We shared with them our coaching insights and experiences and worked on the structure and focus during exercises. The local coaches were invited to experiment with that and to take their own initiative, which produced some very creative exercises on the pitch.
The special visit came on the second day of the clinic from the Slovakian National Television. They came to make a story about field hockey in Slovakia. During the whole day, they were filming players and coaches in action from different angles and holding interviews.
On the 3rd of July, we travelled to the capital of Hungary, Budapest, for the second stage of the Caravan. There again we presented a full three-day clinic. This time a smaller group of players, but very committed. With their limited hockey resources, they had quite a good level and were eager to learn and improve.
In Hungary, we have worked with a group of new young coaches who haven’t participated in the Caravan’s yet, which meant a good news and more involvement of different Hungarian clubs. Every morning we had a coaches meeting and evaluation at the end of the day to support their development. For us, it was nice to see how they grew in their roles during the three days. Some of the really showed some coaching talent and that can mean something for the future of Hungarian hockey.
In spite of very warm weather boys and girls stayed amazingly well focussed all three days, practising technical skills and cool magic moves. We closed the clinic with a mixed tournament, which was a big success. After that, we headed for a long journey with a big smile back home to Arnhem.
We would like to give a special thanks to the Slovakian and Hungarian Hockey Federations and the people we worked with for a great hospitality.”
Thank you to Dick Besters and Tomislav Jamičić!