British Inline Hockey Team Beat Hungary & Gain Promotion to Division A at 2011 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships

On Saturday 25th June, the Great Britain Inline Hockey team beat their Hungarian rivals 3-2 and gained promotion to the elite Division A Pool of the IIHF World Championships in the Czech Republic. The Division A Pool consists of the top 8 teams in the world including current world champions Czech Republic, USA, Canada, Sweden, Slovenia, Finland, Germany and now Great Britain.

The team was coached by Andrew Sillitoe, a Performance and Leadership Coach from Tunbridge Wells who competed in 11 World Inline Hockey Championships for GB and as a semi pro Ice Hockey Player before retiring in 2008.

Great Britain has come along way since first competing in the World Championships in 1998 where the team lost every game and were relegated from the tournament for 2 years. Undeterred, the British team undertook a risky campaign to ensure their future success by recruiting and training young players between the ages of 10 and 14. The Great British team returned to the International scene in 2001 where they greatly improved their ranking in the tournament. However, the British team have struggled against their international competitors including Austria, Hungary and Australia, who knocked the team out of the 2010 Championships.

Under the direction of Head Coach Andrew Sillitoe, the GB team improved their game and overall fitness by recruiting Peter Dale, a hockey specific fitness coach from America. “I wanted only the fittest, strongest, most committed and talented players on the team, to do that we had to invest in the right people and start our training even earlier in the season”, says Sillitoe.

Sillitoe’s investment in the youth development programme and aggressive fitness strategy has certainly paid off and the Great British Inline Hockey team, which has an average age of 23, are competing for their country against the best professional players in the world. Commenting on this Sillitoe says, “Our ultimate goal for next year is to stay in the A Pool, as we will be playing against professional players and we are an amateur team. The team will have a short break before returning to training in October.”

For more information on the British Inline Hockey team visit www.gbhockey.net. For interviews and press enquiries, contact Paschal Tesha at Hype 360 paschal@hype-360.com 07966 475678.

The GB team will start their campaign for the gold medal against Australia on the 18th.

“The team is the strongest we have had, we started our preparation in October last year. We have a good mix of experience on the team and a core of players that have been playing together for some time” says the Head Coach

Below Sillitoe on the puck for GB in the 2004 World Championships in Bad Tolz, Germany

I attended the psychology of trading workshop with Andrew Sillitoe. Very good; pretty much described everything i feel when i trade and i could relate strongly. Good presentation too.”

“I went to the workshop on attitude towards trading – it was very useful and interesting, but a bit rushed and I am sure I could have learnt more if it had gone on for a bit longer.”

Workshops were also very interesting”

Went to all workshops, all excellent.”

attended the Trading Psychology workshop by Andrew Sillitoe. Both were fantastic.”

Trading psychology workshop was excellent, shame it was so short as it was very interesting.”

I attended the Trading psychology workshop. I found this to be a very interesting session as it gave me a different insight into how traders can operate and improve performance. Although due to time constraints it was unfortunately cut short.”

I attended the Key Principles of Trading workshop, found it quite inspiring. I wish I had a chance to attend the workshop from Amplify Trading too.”

the workshops were excellent”