At the Badgers Tournament during mid-March 2007 the final squad for this years Team Namibia has been named and awarded official colours by Mr Naobeb from the Namibian Sports Commission.
The core of the Namibian National Squad 2007 once again is build by players from the Swakopmund Coastal Pirates Club. The Coastal Pirates have set the standard for inline hockey in Namibia. They have been successful as the longest running team in Namibian Inline hockey history.
The captain for Team Namibia 2007 is Quintin Kotze a dedicated player from the Cazadores club in Windhoek. Quintin has led Team Namibia through a successful World Championship 2005 in Kuopio/Finland bringing home the prestigious “Fair Play Award”. He is supported by two assistant captains Riyaan Ely and Bastian Faber who both are to attend their third World Championships. Team players are Timo Giersch, Vincent van Biljon, Arne Rodenwold, René Werner, Daniel Asmus, Erik Rodenwoldt, Jörg Güther, Michael Ellinger, Oliver Lohmeier, Michael Lohmeier, Marco Debortoli and Bastian Faber.
During the Easter Holidays all players from Team Namibia 2007 attended a training camp in Swakopmund coached by Nath Blair and the assistant coach Mario Troha. Several of our young players continue to travel long hours on road from South Africa for every training camp and dig deep into their pockets to subsidize their travel funds.
The team was taken through many hours of hard physical training to work on the squads level of fitness. Time and again the hall was crossed at top speed by our players. “What is a good number?” Nath would ask the team. Beware if you like high numbers... how many push-ups or sit-ups would you want to do?
On Saturday evening the team had a practice game that was well worth watching. Now the countdown is on for Passau/Landshut and although the outlook might be somewhat limited on occasions Team Namibia 2007 can look at the 2007 World Championships with confidence.
Please feel free to contact one of the team officials Ulrike Rodenwoldt, Arndt Asmus or Gudrun Denker if you would like to support the team. Your effort would be greatly appreciated.