Following a recent visit to Buenos Aires, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) reports positive progress being made ahead of this October's Youth Olympic Games (YOG).
During meetings with the YOG local organising committee, the FIH were given comprehensive updates regarding all aspects of the event, including visits to the Youth Olympic Village and the Youth Olympic Park where 12 men's and 12 women's national Hockey5s teams will go head to head between 7-14 October 2018 in Argentina's capital city.
Speaking about the visit, FIH's Director of Olympic Games and the Hockey Pro League, Hilary Atkinson, said: "The Buenos Aires 2018 YOG team are making good progress across all areas. It is both inspiring and exciting to see the detail of the innovation and activity being undertaken in the planning and implementation phases and we will continue working closely over the coming months with the local organisers as they finalise the venue's construction and bring this event to life through some exciting initiatives."
Plans were also developed to engage competitors with hockey's Athlete Role Models, Helen Richardson-Walsh (GBR) and Matías Paredes (ARG), giving them opportunities to personally interact with the Rio 2016 gold medal winning stars as part of the athlete education programme.
Discussions surrounding on-site activities for fans and an exclusive demonstration involving Parahockey players and hockey stars were also held which will support hockey's 'Equally Amazing' values during the event.
Legacy was another important talking point, with a joint group involving the local organisers, the Argentinian Hockey Confederation (Confederacion Argentina de Hockey Sobre Cesped y Pista) and FIH working together to ensure the facilities continue to benefit the sport in Argentina for many years to come.
Some cool digital activations were also shared, which will be rolling out over the next few weeks, and with significant content being broadcast by the Olympic Channel - anticipation for this event will really ramp up over the coming weeks.
The next key milestone for this event will be the confirmation of all qualified teams by their National Olympic Committees in August once the final continental qualifiers have concluded.
For more information about YOG 2018, visit the official website.
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