Projects
Government Bodies
Flag Tuesday, 19 March 2024
All news
All news
Sport
25 May 2017, 12:50

Major problems of Belarus' national ice hockey team named

MINSK, 25 May (BelTA) – Chairman of the Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation Semyon Shapiro named major problems that hinder the development of the Belarusian national ice hockey team at the meeting with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on 25 May, BelTA has learned.

Semyon Shapiro stressed that the national team is the main indicator of ice hockey development in the country. Unfortunately, the team has failed to achieve the desired results at the recent championship. The chairman of the federation named the major problems of the national ice hockey team.

“The first one is the lack of necessary competition for a place in the roster. An inflow of young players will play an important part here. Today, however, we have a choice from 60 players. The number is small, and we also lack players with truly leadership skills,” he said.

As for the coaching staff, Semyon Shapiro said that the national team should be led by a highly-qualified foreign specialist. “The analysis of the team's performance at the world championships showed that only under foreign coaches the team could reach the group quarterfinals. I also think it is not wise to combine the posts of the head coach in the national team and HC Dinamo Minsk. Not a single national team coach, who also coached Dinamo, was able to stay at the post till the end of the KHL season. Contracts with them were rescinded in the course of the championship,” he said.

The chairman of the federation stressed that the head coach of the Belarusian national team should be assisted by head coaches of HC Dinamo Minsk, Dinamo fan club and the junior national team training center.

“Unfortunately, the performance of the national team at the world championship was also affected by a complicated situation within HC Dinamo Minsk. Prior to the 2017 IIHF World Championship in Paris the players voiced the following problems: wage arrears, unpaid playoff bonuses and uncertain prospects for the next season,” Semyon Shapiro said.

Semyon Shapiro added that the situation may worsen if Belarusian players start changing citizenship and signing with Russian clubs. “We will lose players not only for the club but also for the national team. We will be working on the issue in the near future,” he stressed.

The chairman of the federation added that the main strategic document outlining the main areas for ice hockey development in the coming years will be the state ice hockey development program for 2018-2021. The main goal of the program is to train the reserve of the national team, increase the number and quality of the coaching staff, popularize the sport and improve the infrastructure of children's and youth sport schools.

Subscribe to us
Twitter
Recent news from Belarus