As 2019 draws to a close we reflect on what has been a busy year and look toward 2020.

Domestic Competition

2019 saw some of the most competitive league action to date with a number of division titles and playoff spots going right to the wire in March/April. Our current season has also started with a high level of competition across all ages with almost all teams picking up atleast 1 win so far. Our domestic growth is highlighted in our Under 12 and Under 14 categories with a record number of teams and both will enter 2020 as the leagues split into A & B divisions.

The highlight of the 2019 domestic calendar of course has to be the playoffs back in May at Gormanston Park. Being able to host all our playoffs in one location over one weekend proved a huge challenge but with great work from all our volunteers was pulled off with huge rewards. Something rarely seen before was the great atmosphere created for all games and the spectators were certainly entertained with some high quality nail biting inline hockey. With the playoff event back in 2020 (1-3 May) this will certainly become the marquee event in the IHI calendar each year!

National Programmes

Our national programme trips in 2019 was kicked off with the Under 14 & Under 16 development teams travelling to Spain for the Sparta Cup over Easter weekend! Our Under 14s finished 13th out of 16 and Under 16s 7th out of 12, while both teams were very competitive in all games. The future of our national programmes certainly does look promising.

Next up, was the Junior Men travelling to the World Championships (Barcelona) for the very first time under the guidance of Victor O'Brien (Wolfpack) and Paul Cummins (Storm). The team made up of players from 5 clubs did their country proud; Daniel Connolly (Ducks), Bryn Dickson (Chiefs), Melvin Voronkovas & Dennis Muskulidi (Thunder), Patrik Keyes, Henry Keyes & Andrew Cremin (Wolfpack) and Zac Cummins, Coby Cummins, Oscar Fomin & Alec Young (Storm). Ireland ended up finishing in 17th place picking up wins against India and China along the way.

Our final trip of the year saw our Senior Mens at the World Championships for the second year running. Again led by James Glover (Cyclones) and Eduards Bartkevics the team put in improved performances versus 2018 and the growth year on year was obvious for all to see. Our Mens team was made up of players from 5 different clubs, including 2 from outside of Ireland; Nic Angeli (Tergest Tigers, Italy), Yan Lhert (Mavin Mayhem, USA), Derek Mullin & Richie Barry (Wolfpack), Ross Gowdy & Matthew Groves (Cyclones) and Michael Creane, Andrew Creane, Darren Snel, Luke Campbell, Ross Jordan, Joshua Pavis, Andrew Rafter & David Sally (Chiefs). Ireland ended up finishing in 20th spot picking up wins versus India and Macau while putting in an incredible performance versus Germany to pick up a 4-4 tie, Germany finished inside the top 14.

All our players and staff involved in 2019 are very thankful for the support shown especially in the way of donations to help make these player funded trips affordable! We are also very privileged to have had numerous sponsors involved this year and we thank them for their continued support; J&K Coaches, The Other Place, Resonate Testing, SJD Stacks, Cool Running Events, Burns Pet Nutrition, Dundalk Credit Union, Botanica, Rink Rat and Bones Bearnings.

Our programmes are well underway for 2020, led by Senior Women preparing to make their World Championships debut at the 2020 event in Columbia. A new direction for our younger ages will see U13 and U15 teams travel to Valence, France in June led by Janis Kipars (Thunder) and Ken Moussat (Wolfpack). Our Under 16 proramme will also make their full international debut in 2020 as they prepare to enter the European Championships (Location TBC). All these squads having been busy preparing since the start of the season and 2020 looks to be a busy year for them. Unfortunately, at time of publication is looking unlikely that our Senior Men and Junior Men will be competing at the 2020 World Championships due to financial constraints. 

Officiating

In February our Head of Officiating, Jason Tessier headed to Rome for the Officiating Seminar where he earned his international licence, being among the top scorers. Jason was able to bring the knowledge learnt back to Ireland to enhance our local clinics while also being invited to officiate at the European Championships in August. The good international performances by Jason and Vytas the last 2 years is certainly opening the door for more officials from Ireland to get those international assignments!

2019 saw 5 new Level 1 officials get qualified while 4 earned their Level 2 certs.

Plans are already underway for 2020 clinics with the first schedule for Sunday 19th January in Portadown. Interested in taking part complete the following form or email jason.tessier@inlinehockeyireland.org

Others

July saw the renowned Dave Hammond travel to Ireland to deliver a number of player camps across the country. This was concluded by the main reason of his trip with a coaching seminar whereby more than 20 local coaches were able to learn from one the best coaches of the world. We have seen a number of the ideas and philosophies learnt being implemented in clubs across Ireland already. The seminar really opened the eyes of IHI and Dave of what could be achieved here in Ireland.

2019 saw numerous clubs sides travel abroad and achieving success helping to put Ireland on the map, most notably Midland Thunder and Northern Angels.

We redefined some of our committee positions to help them become more specilised in an attempt to lighten the workload while improving quality. Additionally we added Brendan Quigley and Artem Muskulidi in non-executive roles as league managers. 

A handful of players and coaches were recognised in their local areas for the work they have done. Most notably, Paul Cummins was awarded Kilkennys Sports Volunteer of the Year. Paul along with numerous others across the country put hours of unpaid work in each week to ensure their clubs and sport continue to develop. 

This year we also focused on improving our social media and web content to create more shareable and interactable posts to help grow the awareness of our sport in Ireland.

What do you want to see in 2020? Got ideas on what can be improved? Want to get involved on a national level? Then email michael.creane@inlinehockeyireland.org