Swiss Hockey started a plan last year to increase its number of players by at least 30% in the next 4 years. Hockey is currently an emerging sport in Switzerland with around 1700 players. The development of the number of players is therefore a major goal of the EHF member National Association.
Swiss Hockey have several projects for this and are preparing strategically to land them. A project recently completed is the ‘Hockey Tour’ which took place from Tuesday, August 31st to Saturday, September 4th. Swiss Hockey organised the tour of different cities and have organised a youth Hockey 5’s tournament to finish off the week.
The tour was supported financially by an EHF Solidarity Grant and with the help of SportWays and the support of the member clubs. This helped to build a vibrant field in the cities to hold promotional actions to recruit new members and make hockey visible to a wide audience. Offering clubs youth hockey ‘clinics’.
“It was so much fun to travel around Switzerland and show off the most beautiful sport in the world. It was great to see how many kids that are not familiar with field hockey were happy to try it out and enjoyed it as well” Tessa van Vliet explained.
The ‘Hockey tour’ went from Coppet at hockey club USTS, through Bern at Berner HC and onto Geneva at Servette HC.
“It was a great success at all three clubs. Ending the tour with a Senior Hockey5 tournament in Lausanne on Friday evening and a Youth Hockey5 tournament on Saturday. SportWays built an inflatable field so the kids could try their hand at ‘Funkey hockey’ in between their games and initiative from KNHB” beamed Wouter Bosmans from the Swiss Hockey Federation
