In our new episode of DEB-Podcasts “Coach the Coach” are all about the topic of women’s hockey and we have invited two experts: Franziska Busch and Thomas Schädler are active as national coaches in women’s hockey and have years of experience.
Right at the beginning, we'll dispel the typical myths about women's ice hockey and show that this is also a highly intensive sport and that all the basic requirements are the same as for men. Many young talented female players often even spend time on the ice with the boys.
Franziska and Thomas give us a little insight into the individual league structures. Up to and including the U20 level, the players have the opportunity to play with the boys in addition to their girls' team. In the senior sector, the women's Bundesliga, which consists of seven teams, is at the top and individual regional leagues are formed below. Our two guests tell us that female ice hockey players are spread around the world. In North America, for example, at universities or in the Bundeswehr, women are encouraged to become sports soldiers in order to later become World Cup or Olympic participants.
Nevertheless, there are many suggestions for improvement and demands for a restructuring of clubs and leagues. At the moment there are big, location-dependent differences in the focus of a club. Some train young players, others focus on more experienced players and see their goal in the championship. In the future, more diversity and at the same time an international standard for the training of young players should be set in order to be able to train them in the best possible way for their big dream of the Olympics.
Winning a championship in the league is a great success and also helps with the marketing of the club. “But of course from an athlete’s point of view, the World Cup and the Olympics are the biggest things and I believe that the whole team always benefits from the experiences that the players have there,” emphasizes Franziska. She outlines the path of a young ice hockey player to becoming a national team player and appeals that in the future every regional association should set up its own girls' team and train young talent with targeted base training.
There is a demand for greater equality in the clubs and a broad, varied offering in order to get as many young people as possible excited about ice hockey. Franziska and Thomas would like to see more courage in the industry so that issues such as the prevention of sexual violence are not used as excuses. Rather, women's ice hockey is actively promoted in clubs and players receive full recognition. “It is often still observed that the girls are marginal figures, and that simply needs to be changed,” says Thomas resolutely. “Because we are sure that there is a solution for every problem and that ice hockey and the fun of sport should always be in the foreground and that no one should be excluded.”
Our ice hockey experts are looking positively into the future and see growing numbers of players in women's ice hockey in five years, a uniform comparison of girls' countries and hopefully many successes at the World Cup and the Olympics.
Click here for the new podcast episode of “Coach the Coach”. here.