OPTIMISTIC MODESTY

The Hockey Clinic with the coach from The Netherlands and the member of the national team of The Netherlands was held in Sport and Recreation Centre “Mar.UK” in Novi Sad.

In cooperation with ROOTS HOECKY, partners from The Netherlands and OPENS, the Hockey Clinic for children who train hockey and for those who are on the pitch for the first time. The ROOTS HOCKEY company is the company for the equipment for hockey which participated in this event and it will donate the equipment to Serbian Grass Hockey Association.

This year, hockey in Serbia celebrates its seventy year but the event was, among other, organised with the purpose of the promotion of this sport.

“Young people are not interested in this sport enough because it has not been promoted enough, and also, Novi Sad has no grass hockey pitches like even some villages in The Netherlands have. Today, we have children who do not train grass hockey, but also those who do not. We want as many young people to come and train in Novi Sad because these trainings are free of charge. We also have the member of the national team of The Netherlands here, so that is interesting for young people and they have partly come for that reason”, the coach of 4 Europe grass hockey in Serbia, Bojana Stanković says.

The event was also attended by Pleun van der Plas who plays for HC Den Bosch and who is the last year’s champion of The Netherlands and Europe in grass hockey, as well as Ingmar Bakermans, the player of the first team of Eindhoven.

“I have noticed enthusiasm and optimism among young people from Serbia, and I can compare them with young people from The Netherlands who are also here today. The conditions here are much worse than in The Netherlands. I see that the sticks made of wood used here are much worse than those used in The Netherlands. The Dutch can learn from children of Serbia about modest conditions and minimum material which can be used for amazing play and experience of hockey. They can learn a lot from each other here and to hang out”, Mladen Ćirić, the owner of the ROOTS HOCKEY company says.

Roots Hockey will donate the equipment for grass hockey training which will be free of charge in Novi Sad.