Luxembourg Hockey Club appoints a new technical director

 

By recruiting Maxime Halflants, the Luxembourg Hockey Federation and the capital’s club are demonstrating their ambition, on both a sporting and educational level.

 

It’s the 6th of September 2020, at the dawn of the new season, and the blues and whites are showing faultless determination under the watchful eyes of their new coach. In sport, as with most other meaningful human endeavour, it is total commitment which drives results that even if not translated into the score line, develop the individual and group spirit. Joining the defensive line for the last 5 minutes of the match, in order to consolidate a good draw (1-1 against Taxandria), M. Halflants demonstrates that, also with a stick in his hand, he has lost none of his touch…

 

 

“Sport has always been an integral part of my life,” says the new sports director and coach. “From the age of 5, I started playing hockey with a lot of enthusiasm. Competitiveness and passion are the driving forces that led me to emerge into the honour division with Racing (Brussels) and to achieve national selection in the under 21 age group. That was a great experience that enabled me to develop alongside the golden generation of the Red Lions, who later shone at the Rio Olympics".

 

 

You may be thinking that M. Halflants could harbour some legitimate regrets for not having continued with the Belgian national hockey team, but other sporting successes have punctuated his unusual career. Selected by the Belgian tennis federation, he has spent the last 6 years in the highly respected Serie A club (Belgian top 30) and what’s more, only 4 years after taking up the sport, he plays golf off a handicap of only -2! The icing on the cake, these achievements - which many sportsmen specializing in only one of the three disciplines would be delighted with - were obtained whilst simultaneously carrying out law studies and an internship at the Brussels Bar ...

 

 

"Maxime's profile is most bespoke", confirms the President of the Luxembourg Hockey Federation, Francis Parisis. “So, we have taken the opportunity to tailor-make his outfit (laughs). For more than three years, we have been working to develop synergies between the Federation, the Olympic Committee and the Luxembourg hockey club, with a clear focus on youth development. Our ambition must, however, conform to strict and sound budgetary management and that means we need to be very selective in the positions we fill. This is the reason why a profile of a lawyer with a deep knowledge of elite sport seemed really interesting to us, in order to work in tandem - for the facilities and youth development programme - with Ignacio Gomez. Beyond the very encouraging first results, we share a management vision that places the individual at the centre of the system”.

 

 

"It is obvious that finding each person’s place within the structure of a team requires an individual approach", replies M. Halflants. “As such, I am particularly attentive, wearing my coaches hat, to the human and athletic development of our players. Sooner or later the newly acquired skills of an individual spill over into the group. In my new professional environment, I rely a lot on the experience acquired with my previous professional exposure. By following Arthur De Greef (110th player in the world) for a few months on the ATP circuit, during 2019, I felt with particular acuity how much the mental aspect transcends technical and physical parameters. It may seem obvious but, in our results-oriented and competitive society, we often forget that emotions govern our destinies. Also, the understanding that we have of ourselves, our capabilities and limitations, are strongly anchored but not unchangeable ".

 

 

It would be very premature to make any predictions already, however the home crowd who savoured the victory in the third league game were not mistaken: the mood was, like the weather, radiant. No doubt the 4-0 defeat inflicted on Jaguars was a big contributor to the party atmosphere that reverberated around the club during the post-match barbecue. Obviously M. Halflants feels good in his conductor’s costumery. Long may it hold together and develop into a game-changing asset for the Luxembourg Hockey Federation and the bourgeoning club of our capital.

 

 
Dear members,
 
Yesterday evening we held a committee during which we worked on the feasibility to resume trainings before the end of the current season.
 
It has been decided to move forward and to present to the Ministry of Sports how the club will proceed in regards of the application of the required safety measures. Once approved, we should be granted access to Boy Konen. We can't know how long it will take, but we will be acting to fasten the process.
 
We have taken the decision to go step by step regarding which teams are going back to trainings.
 
We will start with the men’s team and the older youth teams (U19, U16 an U14). Should everything go fine, the younger youth teams (U11, U10, U8, U7, U6) which require more control and supervision should resume trainings in a second phase.
 
More information and a detailed agenda, with most probably a new training schedule (as the number of players on the pitch has to be reduced), will be sent in due time. 

Please feel free to contact us should you have any questions.
 
Kind regards
 
Ivan

 

 

The last few days we have had good news in many ways: deconfinement is finally happen and as you read last week (some) sports are now on the 'allowed' list. Of course all of you must be very anxious to see when we will get back to play hockey. To be quite honest, it is unfortunately not so simple. The VDL has still not full opened up the facilities, but even more importantly the precautions, measures that have to be taken during the trainings are quite challenging. So, we are looking into everything and we will let you know next week, probably only by Thursday, what we will decide to do… But we will do everything to get ut playing again! That I can assure you!

See you soon and best hockey greetings,

Francis

Dear Hockey Lovers,

For those who are following the government's press conference on COVID-19 and the de-confinement, you will have heard the hopeful news that outdoor sports will be allowed again, obviously in a reduced format.

We will update you as soon as it is clear what this will mean for the trainings and any other activities around our club and federation. The current advice from the VDL is that the facilities remain closed until further notice, but that may change based on the new information.

As for the games in the Belgian and German league, it remains confirmed that there will be no further games until August/September. Simone, our German League rep has participated to the last meeting, and we should be receiving an indication of when all we start again for the German league in June.

For the Belgian league we should have news in June as well.

Good news, however we need to remain extremely vigilant and need to continue respecting all measures to keep things safe.

Hockey Greetings,

Francis

 

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

 
Dear parents and players,
 
​As of this week starting March 2, we resume OUTDOOR training.
 
We keep training schedule from first half of outdoor season, which is available on the website.
 
Welcome back to Boy Konen !
 
 

Calendar for indoor matches with Arlon Hockey Club for the 2019-2020 season

 

 

Cliquez ici Cliquez ici 

 

Dear parents and players,

 

Please find below some information for the coming holiday break and start of the indoor season.

 

General rule for holiday breaks

There is no training the first and last Saturday of school holidays.

 

All Saints break 

There will be no training during the All Saints school holidays. That is, the last training will be on Thursday October 25 and we will resume trainings on Tuesday November 6

 

All Saints hockey camp

Remember that we organize a hockey camp during All Saints school holidays from October 29 to October 31. More details available on www.hockey.lu. Please contact me (hclyouth@hockey.lu) or Nacho (nacho.gomezacebo@gmail.com) to register your children.

 

Indoor season

The first half of the outdoor season will slowly come to an end. The indoor season will start in the second half of November, with first indoor training sessions taking place during the week starting November 19.

We will communicate the training schedule and location shortly.

 

Indoor league

As you might already know, for the indoor season, all teams, except U6 (no competition), are registered to play in the German indoor league. This will require less often travelling for our teams. Your team manager will communicate you the matches’ schedules. All teams have a large pool of players, so we really hope you can make it to have a complete team for each date so that we do not have many cancellations (although we know there will be cancelations for teams playing in the outdoor Belgian league which resumes end February).

 

St Nicolas day

On December 1, we will have our traditional St Nicolas day, together with some teams from Trier. Details to follow. 

 

Outdoor season – 2nd half

The outdoor season is scheduled to resume beginning of March. Please keep in mind that we might need to delay the opening of the outdoor season depending on the weather. Should temperatures in early March 2019 be as low as in 2018, we will not be able to use our pitch (being a water irrigated pitch, it can not be used when outside temperatures are below 2/3 degrees, as it could be damaged). 

 

On behalf of the HCL committee, I thank you all for your involvement since the beginning of the season. A special thanks also to every parent and player (youth/adult) who continues, or started, to dedicate some of her / his time to the children and to the club. 

 

Let’s continue to pro-actively participate to the trainings, as this is where, in an enjoyable atmosphere, skills are learned, players are prepared, teams are built and, last but not least, where children have good time with their team-mates. 

 

 

 

For the 2018 and 2019 season, our teams will participate in the following leagues :

 

Outdoor Season

Belgian league : U16 Boys, U14 Boys, U14 Girls, U10 Boys

German league : U16 Girls, U10 Girls, U8 Boys, U8 girls

Friendly matches when possible : U6

 

Indoor season

All teams are registered to participate to the German indoor league (except U6), starting 2nd half of November

Dear parents and players,

Below the list of team managers for the 2018-2019 season.

Please note that we are actively looking for team managers for our U14 Boys and U8 Girls teams.

Parents, please write to hclyouth@hockey.lu should you be willing to give a hand and assist your child team.

Thank you

 

Girls teams

U16 Girls : Girls born from 2002 to 2004. Team manager : Simone Hamacher

U14 Girls : Girls born from 2005 to 2007. Team manager : Isabelle Alexander & Bart Swankhuizen

U10 Girls : Girls born from 2008 to 2010. Team manager : Miron Ziekman

U8 Girls : Girls born from 2011 and 2012. Team manager : Miguel de la Serna & Catherine van Wesemael

U6 Girls : Girls born in 2013. Team manager : Ivan Bouillot

 

Boys teams

U16 Boys : Boys born from 2002 to 2004. Team manager : Nacho Gomez Acebo & Lokdeep Singh 

U14 Boys : Boys born from 2005 to 2007. Team manager : Nikolay Stefanov

U10 Boys : Boys born from 2008 to 2010. Team manager : Wendy Crompvoets & Ivan Bouillot

U8 Boys : Boys born in 2011 and 2012. Team manager : Ivan Bouillot

U6 Boys : Boys born in 2013. Team manager : Ivan Bouillot

We particpate again to the Fresh Vibes tournament

 

HCL Youth teams are joigning the Belgian hockey championship

 

 

 

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