Our Development Program
NIIHA’s development program and its initiatives started in 2015 with the idea to change the identity of Namibian inline hockey throughout the world and to work towards Namibia being able to field strong teams worldwide.
It started simple enough, with development camps for all kids under the age of 12 who wanted to improve their game and get to know other players in the country outside of club ties. One of the aims of the camps was to make the young players see each other as a team, one Namibian unit, working together and building towards the future.
NIIHA operates on a 2-year cycle where in the off-year, NIIHA hosts anywhere from 4 to 6 development camps throughout the year. These camps are open to all registered players and there is no skill level too low or too high to attend. It gives every player the same opportunity to grow and learn. The camps are run by the National Coach, club coaches and current national players. In 2023 we have seen the numbers grow for these camps from 30-40 kids to 90-100 kids per camp.
In the other year, NIIHA sends teams overseas to compete internationally to gain experience and grow as players and as a program. These teams have won many medals at tournaments like State Wars, NARCH and Sparta Cup and have consistently remained competitive against the best from many of the other countries that compete in these tournaments. Of the current national players, about 90% of them have come up through the development program and have shown the success of the program and how it is working in Namibia.
The fruits of this program are showing, and Namibian inline hockey has risen from a 20th ranking to a world gold medal for the Junior Ladies in 2023 and the first medal game for the Junior Men, also in 2023.
