Date: Saturday 26th September 2020

Location: Longford Inline Rink

Time:  10 AM - 5 PM

Staff:

• Ken Moussat
• Janis Kipars

Volunteers:

• PJ Cunningham
• Atis Vitolins
• Brendan Quigley
• Ingus Dvinis

Attendance:

• 29 players all over Ireland were invited
• 18 players showed up at the event
• 4 players messaged the staff informing them they couldn’t be here for valid reasons
• 7 players have never communicated with the IHI staff regarding their nonattendance
• 17 players out of 29 have answered the invitation form

Attendance per club:

• Armagh Stars: 2 out of 2 players invited
• Ballymena Vandals: 1 out of 2 players invited (*1 player with valid absence)
• Bangor Chiefs: 2 out of 2 players invited
• Clare Badgers: 1 out of 1 players invited
• Cork Wolfpack: 3 out of 4 players invited
• Dublin Ducks: 1 out of 5 players invited (*1 player with valid absence)
• East Coast Blaze: 0 out of 1 players invited (*1 player with valid absence)
• Kilkenny Storm: 2 out of 4 players invited
• Mayo Bulls: 2 out of 2 players invited
• Midland Thunder: 4 out of 6 players invited (*1 player with valid absence)

Attendance and communication:

The event has been communicated three weeks in advance directly to the clubs and the parents of the players directly by email. While the attendance was quite decent under the current restrictions, the communication from some parents, and clubs concerning the interest and the availability of the players to participate in IHI events could certainly be improved in the future.

The tryouts

• Morning:
• Players had a meeting with the staff to explain the organization of the day;
• Players completed their on-court tryouts and went on for their one hour break
• Afternoon:
• Players present 15 minutes before the off-court segment of the tryouts were allowed to play a soccer game on the court to start creating some team spirit;
• Players completed their off-court tryouts. One off-court tryouts’ drill was removed upon observation of many players struggling physically with the first test;
• Tryouts were planned with 29 potential players in mind and we were ahead of schedule. A 1 hour 15 practice was added during the day;
• Players were alphabetically divided into two teams and played a 2x20min stop time game that was recorded for further review;

Observations (in a nutshell)

On an individual level, we noticed some players with impressive skating, stickhandling and shooting skills. Some players also have good communication and leadership skills. 

However, there are players whose skating quality is still very weak in comparison to other players of the same age. This basic skill needs to be worked on more by the clubs. 

On a playmaking level, we noticed a lot of players keeping their heads up and attempting to find passing solutions. 

As a result, many good offensive plays were observed. 

However, besides the fact that players only had a very short time to create chemistry between them, it was noticed that too many players did not know how to properly position themselves offensively or defensively in some situations. 

Additionally, many defensive plays were reminiscent of ice hockey learnings rather than inline hockey for example. 

Some inline hockey basics will need to be covered before moving further in the programme that was planned. 

On an attitude level, all players demonstrated great team spirit and positivity throughout the day. We hope to keep seeing this throughout the season.