Last weekend the 2007 National Inline Hockey Squad went through tough trials to tackle opponents at the up-coming IIHF Inline Hockey World Championships taking place in Landshut/Passau, Germany from 26 May to 3 June this year.
The camp involved a tightly formulated programme of on-court and off-court training, during which all aspects of the players’ game were assessed. Mental stamina and a correct attitude too were top priority keywords. Head Coach Nathan Blair said he was looking specifically for a solid work ethic, fitness and good team players.
Team manager, Ulrike Rodenwoldt, was well satisfied with the high stan-dards set by both coaches and players. “It was also particularly pleasing to see the keen interest taken by Mr Naobeb of the Sports Commission. He attended every day of the gruelling trials and stated that he was most impressed by the way the training programme had been drawn up and carried out,” she said. “The reaction of the spectators too was very grati-fying.  They were definitely impressed by the standard of play”.  Rodenwoldt is confident that Namibia will continue to climb in the world rankings and that continued exposure to international competition can only lead to heightened success in the long term.
Namibia currently ranks 13th in the world and is determined to climb to greater heights under the vigilant eyes of coaches Nathan Blair and Mario Troha. With hard work, perseverance, discipline and the right attitude Head Coach, Nathan Blair’s goal is that Namibia will one day qualify for the A Pool to compete against hockey giants such as Canada, Sweden, Finland, the USA and Slovenia.  Nami-bia is currently battling it out in the B Pool against Japan, Australia, Great Britain, Brazil, New Zealand and Hungary.
This will be the third time Namibia will be participating in the World Championships.