As part of the EHF Strategic Plan 2010 – 2016, Marijke Fleuren as the President of the EHF (together with Brigit van Kempen as interpreter) visited Moscow to meet with the stakeholders involved in Russian Hockey.
The President said “As President of the EHF I am mandated to assist, where possible, the work of our Member Associations to develop hockey in their regions, the possibility to play and enhance their competition structures and systems.
Together with the President of the Russian Hockey Federation, Sergey Chechenkov, and all Russian EHF committee members I had the honour of meeting with the CEO of the Russian Olympic Committee Nikolay Tolstykh and later in a next meeting with the Deputy of the Minister of Sport, Pavel Kolobkov. Both conversations made clear that there is a lot to do for hockey in Russia. We stressed the possibilities of hockey not only as a sport, but also as a culture and environment where families can meet each other and enjoy the game. We spoke about hockey as a fast, modern game that can be an example for other sports. The Russian National Competitions were discussed and the vital role that these competitions have to ensure the development of young dedicated Russian hockey players, boys and girls. Pavel Kolobkov was very happy with the approach of the EHF to send specialists to Russia to educate trainers and coaches in their own region and to teach them how they can they can teach other trainers and coaches in Russia.”
On day 2 of her visit, Mrs. Fleuren met with the Deputy of Mayor of Moscow Alexander Gorbenko. The main goal of the meeting was to emphasize to him that the development of hockey in Moscow relies heavily on the proposed construction of the Olympic Hockey centre “Moscow”.
This centre would put Russia in a better position to bid for EuroHockey Tournaments from 2016-2020. Besides that the centre will offer the Moscow region the possibility to play on their pitch.
The President has evaluated her visit as an extremely valuable fact finding mission of the work being done and the work to do in Russia to continue to develop not only the number of players but to ensure they have facilities and well trained coaches.
Source: EHF Office
