National coach Marco Sturm praises his team after a demanding week of training
Shower, pack up the equipment and head home after lunch together: At the end of the German national ice hockey team's one-week preparatory course ("summer camp") in Füssen, the national players said goodbye back home on Tuesday. “The week was very good,” reported national coach Marco Sturm of his impressions: “Despite the demanding program, the boys worked well and carried out the units in a disciplined manner.”
In fact, the past few days have been quite challenging. Every day the players toiled in the new weight room at the Federal Training Center, where the focus was, among other things, on coordination exercises and speed strength. There were also individual exercises on the bike or the gymnastics mat. In the afternoon we went out on the ice again for around an hour and a half. “They were always long days, but the players endured everything without complaining,” praised Sturm.
Which was probably also because there was some relaxation in between. It's no secret that in addition to hard work, the national coach also attaches great importance to joint activities. The team particularly had a lot of fun rafting in Elbingalp, Austria. The players were allowed to have fun on the water in their boats for almost two hours. “It’s important that we have fun together. It’s the variety that counts,” said Sturm.
Meanwhile, the focus is on the Olympic qualification from September 1st - 4th, 2016 in Riga, Latvia. The national team has to come first in the group with Japan, Austria and Latvia (all players live on SPORT1) in order to be able to buy the ticket for the games in Pyeongchang in South Korea in 2018. Sturm: “We have refined our system again this week. This course was particularly important for the new players. We will then work on the fine-tuning in Mannheim.”
On August 22nd, the German selection will meet in the square city for four days and train in the SAP Arena. From there we go to Minsk for two test matches against France and Belarus, then on to Riga. NHL stars Dennis Seidenberg (most recently Boston Bruins), Philipp Grubauer (Washington Capitals) and Thomas Greiss (New York Islanders) will also be there.
Sturm then has to reduce the squad for the Olympic qualification. While there were 27 players in the squad in Füssen, “22 or 23 players are initially planned” for the next preparation, as the national coach put it. There are also three keepers. “After this week we can go into the second phase of preparation with confidence,” said Sturm.
The national coach himself isn't taking a break for the time being, but is following the U20 to a tournament in Dresden. Sturm also uses the preparation time in the DEL and will most likely take a closer look at their upcoming opponents Japan at the “Gäuboden-Volksfest-Cup”. In addition, Sturm will also be present at other DEL team preparatory games.