Ice hockey and FC Barcelona, that’s not a contradiction.Barca has maintained an ice hockey department for more than 40 years, but the glamour of the world club is not very noticeable.Instead, the semi-pros play in half-empty halls, have part-time jobs and fight against many prejudices in the ice hockey developing country of Spain.SPOX has spoken with the participants and introduces them to the exotic people in the shade of Camp Nou.
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Especially for children it works like a magnet.
The FC Barcelona team bus is a real monster, almost mes que un bus.With its compact muzzle, the blue-blue and with the concave ice of Messi, Iniesta and Co.Neoplan Starliner almost decorated like a bull going on the attack.”Barca!Barca!Baaaarca!” it resounds on its left flank, behind it the coat of arms of the proud Catalans flickers.
So it’s no wonder that the 40-seater cares for crowds of people wherever it appears.The fans follow him, take photos and hope to catch a glimpse of their idols.They make themselves comfortable behind tinted windows: finest leather, a small kitchenette, screens everywhere, even space for a poker round is offered in the back.And the Barca logo. The Barca logo is all over the place.
When the oversized vehicle finally comes to a standstill and the doors open, the cell phones have long since been pulled out and the mouths expectantly opened.May Messi go first?Busquets?Pique?
“But then it’s just a bunch of completely unknown players.That’s a big disappointment. You’re not the one.”
Marcus Fajardo almost apologizes in an interview with SPOX and tells of the disappointed Barca fans who are expecting him when he gets off the bus.He also plays for FC Barcelona, but he doesn’t have much to do with the F, he even has two left feet when it comes to that.
He doesn’t play basketball either.Or even handball.
Marcus Fajardo has been a member of the ice hockey team of FC Barcelona for five years.
In terms of hockey, Spain is a developing country with a hot and dry climate.The national association has existed since 1923, but it has existed for decades on paper.Today, the IIFH officially lists 904 players (187 men, 185 women, 532 juniors) spread over a total of 17 ice rinks.
That is enough for 30th place in the world rankings (women: 27th place).
In Catalonia “Hoquei gel” has almost a long tradition, if you will. In 1971 the Pista de Gel was opened in Barcelona, an ice rink just 100 meters west of Camp Nou.The club owns 50 percent of the club and 50 percent of the city.A year later, Barca launched his hockey department:”Many people don’t even know that there is an ice hockey team.This is a big surprise to her,”Brian O’ Hare explains to SPOX:”You know the ice rink, but you don’t know that the team has existed since 1972.”
For 26 years, businessman O’ Hare has been living in Barcelona and brought his passion for ice hockey from home in Canada.For eight years now he has been a member of the select circle around the ice ring:”I didn’t do anything for the first few years, then I helped on the weekend.After all, I was stupid enough to get my trainer license,”he says with a smile.
Then it was all over the place.Meanwhile he is assistant coach of the U16 and works with the youth:”If the head coach is not there, I also take over the U14″ There are the U10, U12, U14 and U16, juniors and seniors.Boys and girls walk on the ice together up to U16.His son is captain of the juniors, moreover, O’ Hare’s daughters play in the U14 and U10.
The layout of the ice rink is strictly synchronized: on weekends the hall is open from 10 a. m. to 2 p. m. and 5 p. m. to 8 p. m., during the week it belongs to the figure skaters in the morning.Training sessions are available for youngsters on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays or Sundays.He relies on volunteers, whether for training, organisation or just driving:”The next team is one and a half hours away from Barcelona.Then over three hours, three and a half, then six hours.This is the biggest challenge for the kids,”says O’ Hare,”From the U16 onwards, the club will take care of the transport, until then parents are in demand.
In the evening the ice rink belongs to the men’s team and players like Marcus Fajardo.The father of the native New Yorker comes from Spain, so he has Spanish citizenship.After playing ice hockey at college, he originally moved to Europe for another sport.
After all, Spain is a country where hockey is played,”I came to Barcelona as an inline hockey player.This is very big here, in my youth I played both” says Fajardo.After five years as an inline hockey professional, he finally retires and plays ice hockey.But then only as a semi-professional: The 33-year-old works as an English teacher at the same time.
This does not mean that he and his colleagues don’t take the sport seriously: In preparation, he trains five times a week, in the six-month season there are sessions from Tuesday to Thursday from 22-23.30 o’ clock.Saturday is gameday.We take this very seriously, all of us are really into it, even though they have other jobs,”reports Fajardo.
What’s reflected in the level:”The talent is not as high as in the NCAA, but the players are older and therefore faster and more physical,” he is joined by newcomers like him, some of whom have even played on a high level,” but it’s not just a hobby of ice hockey slides from North America or Scandinavia:”Most of the players are Spaniards.Four foreigners are allowed per team.”
According to O’ Hare, 85 percent of the offspring is also native, plus Romanians, Czechs, North Americans and French:”They move here with their parents and have already played ice hockey.For the U10, you don’t have to bring any experience with you, the children learn quickly.After that, the requirements increase: You have to fight for a place in the U18 or U20, not all of them make it.
But how do you get the taste of ice hockey as a real Iberian?Sometimes about family members.Others go skating on Saturday and have fun, O’ Hare knows.He tells us about a U10 tournament in Andorra where he talked to his parents,”We went ice-skating,”they said,”Our son liked it, so he took lessons.Then he saw the hockey players and said,”Mom, I want to go too.”
Page 1: Ice hockey in Spain – a playground for the exotic
Page 2: Hollywood, Messi at the Physio, once in Camp Nou