Dear Hockey Lovers and Friends,
I hope that you and your loved ones are all safe and sound. At the club it appears most of us are doing fine, or at least as well as is possible in these difficult circumstances. Most are at home, and some like Nacho decided to go back to Spain. It is also at times like this that you see the solidarity and team spirit come much more to the forefront, and I certainly wish to thank everybody for the encouraging messages that have been sent to the managers, coaches, teams, members. It is fantastic that even at times like this, we keep the spirit high despite the lack of trainings, matches and any social activities.
COVID/19 is everywhere, and it has impacted all our lives. It has affected our day-to-day and possibly our future in ways that we could never have imagined, and so it definitely also has hockey. The special circumstances have moved boundaries. Hockey is no longer just the game we play on the field, at the club. It has now more than ever become a part of our lives at home, in the garden, in the park, at the fitness, and anywhere else.
Hockey is after all a real team sport and in a period like this it is a very good test to see how strong this group is and it is more than encouraging to see how from all sides ideas come forward to either train at home, do the theoretical courses, and even funny videos! My children for example organise House Party calls with their teammates and friends. HCL and the team spirit has never been stronger than in this very isolated period.
In the past weeks it has been difficult to determine what will happen in the next months, and even what the next season will look like. For now the Belgian League as well as the EHF and IHF have cancelled all the competitions for this season. The next season is still scheduled as originally planned ; kick off mid-September. As for the trainings we follow the governmental advice which is that all sports’ facilities in Luxembourg are closed until July 31. This means no group trainings, no Family Day, no hockey camps and we subsequently also cancelled this years Luxury Tour (July 11).
We are nevertheless already in full mode to give 2020-2021 the best start possible. Hence, if the circumstances will allow and considering we will be limited for our travel, we will start with as many activities as possible in August. We will plan at least 2 weeks of Camps, of which at least 1 week that will be for free for our members. We will continue to post training videos, and in the coming weeks we will share more technical and theoretical trainings which can all be done online. Especially the indoor and outdoor rules course is a must, considering it is compulsory to pass as of U14 and above.
On behalf of the HCL Committee I would like to thank everybody once again for your un-limited spirit and support to keep Hockey our beloved sport and to make us stronger than ever before. We all live those challenging times, but as all of us, you make the best of it, and that is no different for HCL.
We will provide you with a next update in May, and I certainly hope that we will then be able to share more precise information. For now, I wish everybody all the best of luck. Stay safe! Keep moving! Keep playing hockey.
Sportive Hockey Greetings,
Yours,
Francis
HCL President
