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Ice sledge hockey Worlds take to Serbia

“We have to come to be a team. The best players aren’t the ones who necessarily win the games, but the ones who are able to play one game after the other as a team.”

Germany’s ice sledge hockey programme is eager to make another run at the Paralympic Winter Games after missing out on Vancouver 2010.

The delegation fell just one place short at the 2009 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey qualification tournament, finishing behind Sweden and South Korea, both of which advanced to the Games.

The last – and only time – Germany played in the Paralympics, they finished fourth at Torino 2006.

With Jorg Wedde and Franck Rennhack now strong veterans on the squad and a new coach this year, Germany’s road to qualifying for Sochi 2014 begins on Tuesday (13 November) at the 2012 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey B Pool World Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia.

“We were not happy a couple years ago, so we said, ‘OK,’ let’s start again and make a new team,” Wedde said. “We are aiming for first or second place in Serbia.”

Andreas Pokorny, former able-bodied player for nine seasons in Germany’s ice hockey league, has taken over the head coaching position for the nation’s sledge team.

“We feel the difference because of his high level,” Rennhack said of the coaching replacement.

The only two times Germany won medals on the international stage were gold at the 2005 European Championships and bronze at the 2007 European Championships.

Wedde has been a part of the team since 2003, while Rennhack joined the squad just a year later, and now the pair will look to lead the team late in their careers.

Wedde is a double-leg amputee who lost both his legs when he was run over by a train at the age of 12. Now team captain, the Hannover native wants to bring his squad together rather than flaunt individual talents.

“I never say any names,” he said. “We have to come to be a team. The best players aren’t the ones who necessarily win the games, but the ones who are able to play one game after the other as a team.”

Rennhack, meanwhile, was only 15 years old when he made his national team debut 12 years ago, and he is still the youngest player to have ever joined Germany’s domestic league.

Both Wedde and Rennhack insist the team’s defensive skills are honed and they are quick on the ice, but that Germany’s weakness lies in technical plays on the offensive end, where Sebastian Kessler will be depended on quite a bit to slip the puck into the net.

Russia and Sweden will most likely be their toughest opponents in Novi Sad, so the Germans hope to outplay the Netherlands in the tournament’s opening game on Tuesday (13 November) at 17:00 to get the momentum rolling early.

“I think if we go in the first game and win it, that will lead to good results for the rest of the tournament,” Wedde said.

“This season, our team has set itself the task of winning the world championship in B Pool in Serbia and to compete with the world’s strongest teams in the A Pool next spring in Korea.”

The 2012 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey B Pool World Championships will get underway on Tuesday (13 November) in Novi Sad, Serbia, where six teams will compete to move up to the A Pool for next season to become one step closer to qualifying for the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.

Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia and Sweden will all take part, with the top two finishers earning the right to play in April’s 2013 A Pool World Championships in Goyang City, Korea.

The Championships will be held at Novi Sad’s Sports and Business Centre Vojvodina and will run through Saturday. Two round-robin games will make up each of the first three days of competition, followed by two days of playoff action.

Russia will automatically qualify for Sochi 2014 as the host nation, and many teams are deeming them the squad to beat in Novi Sad.

“The successful development of sledge hockey in Russia depends on our future competitions,” Russian team captain Vadium Selyukin said.

“This season, our team has set itself the task of winning the world championship in B Pool in Serbia and to compete with the world’s strongest teams in the A Pool next spring in Korea.”

Austria brings in another storyline, as the programme will make its first major appearance on the international stage, and the squad has NHL player Thomas Vanek to thank.

Vanek, whose father Zdenek is the Austrian ice sledge hockey team’s coach, worked with the NHL Players’ Association to donate 15 sledges and 20 equipment packages to help the programme start up nearly two years ago.

“It’s been a slow process, but it’s been going good,” Vanek said. “When we started it, there were three to four guys, now there’s about 15 or 16. The sport is growing which is good, but obviously we’ve got a long way to go. It’s hard to find sponsors, to find money.

Sylvester Flis, Most Valuable Player of USA’s gold-medal winning ice sledge hockey team at the Salt Lake City 2002 Games, is now a part of Poland’s programme, for which he will serve as both the captain and coach at the Championships.

Sweden and Germany are the only two teams in the field to have participated in a Paralympic Games, though the Netherlands will be an up-and-coming team to watch in the future.

The Opening Ceremony of the Championships will begin at 13:30 at Novi Sad’s Hotel Park on Tuesday, and the first game between Germany and the Netherlands will start at 17:00.

This will be the third edition of the B Pool World Championships, with the most recent event taking place with five teams in Eindhoven, the Netherlands in 2009, when Estonia defeated Sweden in the gold-medal game for the title.

For a complete schedule and results from the Championships, as well as athlete interviews and videos, please check out www.icesledgehockeyworlds.org.

Mareike Adermann © • Photo courtsey of Mareike Adermann

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German women take title

One of the slogans of the Paralympics 2012 was “Inspire a generation,” a slogan that I do not take lightly and try to embody every day.

As this is my first blog for the IPC, I would like to introduce myself to all of you who have never heard of me before.

I am Mareike Adermann, a wheelchair basketball athlete for the German women’s national team.

I currently go to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in the United States. My most recent experiences were winning a gold medal at the Paralympics and winning the U.S. Intercollegiate National Championships in 2012.

Many times, I was told that after winning a gold medal, I have achieved the most I can, so I could quit now.

But I disagree.

Winning a Paralympic gold medal was a great accomplishment, especially as it is the first for my country in wheelchair basketball in 28 years, but still it is not a reason to quit.

When I began playing this sport in 2008, I would have never believed I could get to the top of the world this quick, but my determination and love for the sport allowed me to put on a race that led me to this amazing success.

A success that I want to use to share and make others believe.

Many young athletes do not understand what it takes to become a great athlete. It is not about talent, it is simply about desire, commitment and beliefs - a fact that many forget or never realize.

One of the slogans of the Paralympics 2012 was “Inspire a generation,” a slogan that I do not take lightly and try to embody every day.

Being a gold medalist will not be a personal achievement for me until I look back in 50 years, but until then, it is a task to share my knowledge, experience and fire for my sport with others, especially the next generation.

One of the ways I have started to follow this task is by being a captain and leader on my team at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

It is a great challenge to be part of a college team, because every year there are athletes leaving as they graduate from the university and new athletes join the team.

This is not necessarily a negative thing but it gives me a great opportunity to share my experiences with many young athletes.

I will now regularly publish blogs to allow you to hear about these and other events that influence Paralympians such as myself.

Sabine Ellerbrock plays a shot in her women's doubles quarter-final match on Day 6 of London 2012. © • Getty Images

The quad singles draw has yet to be made but will be headlined by Great Britain’s world No. 4 Andy Lapthorne, London 2012 quads doubles silver medallist.

More than 50 players from seven countries will take part in the Nottingham Indoor Wheelchair Tennis Tournament this weekend (25-28 October), including men’s world No. 2 Maikel Scheffers of the Netherlands and women’s world No. 3 Sabine Ellerbrock of Germany.

Scheffers, a fourth-place finisher at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, is a two-time champion at the Nottingham Indoor (2007, 2009) and finished as runner-up to Great Britain’s Gordon Reid at last year’s tournament in an epic three-set battle.

Reid, ranked No. 9 in the world, will be back this weekend, and his teammate Marc McCarroll and Poland’s Tadeusz Kruszelnicki could give Scheffers a run for his money as well.

In the women’s singles competition, Ellerbrock, a quarter-finalist in singles at London 2012, will be joined in the draw by London 2012 silver and bronze medallist and Dutch world No. 5 Jiske Griffioen. Ellerbrock is the defending champion at Nottingham Indoor, while the last time Griffioen won the tournament was back in 2005.

Great Britain’s Jordanne Whiley and Louise Hunt could also be in contention for the title.

The quad singles draw has yet to be made but will be headlined by Great Britain’s world No. 4 Andy Lapthorne, London 2012 quads doubles silver medallist.

Organised by the Tennis Foundation in Great Britain, Nottingham Indoor is an ITF 2 Series event on the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour and is held at the City of Nottingham Tennis Centre. The tournament is supported by Nottingham City Council and entry is free to all spectators.