At the invitation of the Swedish Hockey Association, the President of the Hockey Federation of Turkmenistan Jora Hudayberdiyev visited Stockholm, which was organized with the support of the Ministry of Sport and Youth Policy of Turkmenistan.
The President of the Hockey Federation of Turkmenistan participated in a three-day seminar on the training of athletes of various age and professional categories. The correspondent of the newspaper Neutral Turkmenistan asked the President of the HFT Jora Hudayberdiyev about the course of the seminar and other important events in the life of the national hockey school.
— Particular attention during the training event with the participation of representatives of federations from many countries of the world was paid to the development of children’s hockey. The seminar leaders introduced the training program for young hockey players in Sweden.
It is noteworthy that in this Scandinavian country, children are enrolled in hockey sections from the age of five. But there are often rare exceptions when especially gifted kids are enrolled in children’s teams, even from the age of three. A specialist who conducts training with him according to an individual program must be attached to such a child. Subsequently, as a rule, world-famous hockey players who play for the leading clubs of the National Hockey League and Kontinental Hockey League hockey leagues grow out of young geeks.
To complement the picture, it is worth saying that the Swedish Hockey Association itself was formed in 1922. Today, in four regions of the country, 22 units of a sports organization operate, which include more than 400 professional hockey clubs, on the basis of which 2246 teams, in turn, are formed. They are played by over 70 thousand athletes of various age groups, including more than 5000 female players. At the same time, there is no shortage of ice rinks, as 360 ice arenas operate throughout the country, not counting open and amateur hockey fields. Such great competition for places in the national team has become the reason that Swedish hockey players today are 11-time world champions and winners of Olympic gold awards.
Such an active development of this winter sport is the reason that the Swedish hockey team occupies one of the leading positions in the world. An example of this was last year’s world championship, where the national team from this Scandinavian country won silver medals. Moreover, the Swedish squad consisted of 90 percent of young players who first participated in such major competitions. But, as it turned out, the hopes of the coaches more than came true. Therefore, Turkmenistan is very interested in a bilateral exchange of experience with the Swedish Hockey Association, whose leaders are ready to provide a wide range of services.
In particular, they can help with the organization of seminars in Ashgabat on the training of highly qualified Turkmen judges, since we do not yet have certified referees in this regard. This issue is currently being agreed with the Ministry of Sport and Youth Policy of Turkmenistan — an organization that provides great support to the national hockey federation. Also, Swedish specialists are ready to share with us the full range of their tactical developments, training plans, video files and much more, which will help Turkmen hockey players find an appropriate sports level in a fairly short period of time.
By the way, I was invited as an guest of honor to attend the games of the Euro Hockey Tour, which took place these days in Stockholm. This is one of the stages of the so-called "competition of four", where the national teams of Sweden, Russia, Finland and the Czech Republic fight for each other — the four leading national squads of Europe. Euro Hockey Tour is held annually in each of these countries, which in the best way affects the growth of their gaming practice. So it is not surprising that the main struggle for leadership in world-class tournaments takes place precisely between this four, with the only exception that the Canadian team, the founders of hockey, also joins them.
Over the past few years, I, as the President of the Turkmenistan Hockey Federation, have participated in all meetings of the International Hockey Federation, as well as in the annual World Hockey Forum, which discusses the most important issues of the development of this sport in many countries, including Turkmenistan. Our side is actively participating in this dialogue, possessing its voting right. Seeing the genuine interest and desire in the implementation of all the projects put forward, the leading hockey powers willingly offer us their help.
