Because there were not enough teams available in Luxembourg four years ago, many young women there gave up playing hockey.
Now they have a women’s club that is going to compete in a tournament that is sanctioned by the IIHF.
Luxembourg is one of the smallest and least populous countries in Europe, and there are only 645,000 people living there. Four years ago, there were no women’s hockey teams in Luxembourg.
However, as of right now, Luxembourg is getting ready to enter their first ever women’s national team into the IIHF Women’s Development Cup, which will be held in Kuwait in the month of November. The IIHF members who do not meet the requirements to compete in World Championship competitions are eligible to play in the IIHF’s Development Cup, which was launched in 2017.
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The current number of women who are registered in Luxembourg is insufficient for the country to participate in official IIHF play; however, the Development Cup is a step toward increasing the sport for the country as a whole.
“Four years ago, we wanted to form a beginners team for everyone, but there was a surprising number of women and girls joining, and then there were more and more, so we decided to split the women from the men, and that’s how it started,” said Alain Schneider, the president of Luxembourg’s ice hockey federation. “There was a surprising number of women and girls joining, and then there were more and more, so we decided to split the women from the men,” said Alain Schneider
“We were seeing all of the other nations starting women’s teams, but years ago, we were not able to acquire enough girls,” Schenider said. “Because there weren’t enough, we watched them stop playing around age 14 or 15 because there weren’t enough.” It was never going to be feasible, but here we are with it. We are quite excited to watch them compete in an international competition that will be hosted by the IIHF.
The Tornado Women are Luxembourg’s first all-hockey women’s team, and they compete against men’s teams in the local league at the moment. This makes them the country’s first team of their kind in the country. Earlier on in the year, the Tornado, on the other hand, made the journey to Germany in order to participate in a women’s competition for the very first time.
A defender for the Luxembourg team named Mara Wagner had this to say about the competition: “It was quite exciting to see the level of play that is out there.” It’s difficult to gauge our level of competition due to the fact that we almost always face up against boys in Luxembourg. But throughout this event, we learned that we are capable of competing alongside other teams. It was a very encouraging speech. We are extremely competitive, and we are always expanding our knowledge and honing our abilities.
The enthusiasm that Wagner expressed on the growth of women’s hockey in Luxembourg was shared by the captain of the Tornado, Kera Meyer. Meyer finds it difficult to comprehend how far their team has come in just four short years, which will soon involve playing in a competition that is sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
Meyer is quoted as saying, “If they’d stated four years ago that we could play in a Development Cup with other countries, we would not have believed it.” We are really proud of the fact that we now have the ability to participate in games. Simply having the opportunity has sparked a great deal of excitement for us. Because Luxembourg is such a small country, our team is very thrilled to continue to develop and improve, and we even harbor the hope that one day we may be able to compete in the World Championship.
Wagner and Meyer, along with the rest of their teammates, are excited about what the future holds, but they are also aware that the following stages won’t be simple as they officially enter competition on an international level.
Meyer was quoted as saying, “It will be difficult, but we saw what we can do, and it’s extremely exciting.” “We are aware that things are going to get quite challenging, but that is just par for the course.”
Already having grown by leaps and bounds, women’s ice hockey in Luxembourg has progressed from its humble beginnings as a team where only a small number of the players had ever skated to its current position as a member of Luxembourg’s ice hockey league as the Tornado and to its participation in the 2022 Development Cup. Wagner maintains that this is merely the beginning of things to come.
According to Wagner, “Taking part in the Development Cup will be of great assistance to us in the future and will take us a long way in the future.” “We’re off to a fantastic beginning.”
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) will hold the Women’s Development Cup in Kuwait City, Kuwait, from November 6th to the 12th, 2022. At the competition, in addition to the team from Luxembourg, there will be representatives from Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Colombia, Andorra, and Ireland.
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