The “Hockey Nerds” experience a strong influx of members. Mayor Christoph Böck (right) has already grabbed a bat in 2021.
The motivation is palpable in the “Hockey Nerds Lohhof”: The young Unterschleißheim club already has 61 members for the six-month existence, and the trend is rising. “We have existed as a loose group since 2014. We founded the association in the summer of 2021,” says Julian Ries, 29, second chairman and first goalkeeper of the Hockey Nerds. “And a youth group formed unexpectedly quickly.” Almost half of the members are under 18. The growth of the club is practically pre-programmed if there weren’t one problem: the lack of training space.
“It’s difficult to find suitable training facilities nearby,” says Ries. The adult team regularly travels to Freising for training late in the evening. But that’s not an option for children who have to go to school the next morning. So the youth groups train on inline skates on the hockey field at the Hans Bayer Stadium in Unterschleissheim, even if the field doesn’t have the right dimensions – it’s better than nothing. “At the moment we can offer ice time for the youth groups once a week. However, then all age groups are together, the eight-year-olds with the 15-year-olds. That’s not ideal,” says Ries. In addition, the youngsters are dependent on free ice surfaces from constantly changing clubs – training sometimes goes to Freising, sometimes to Augsburg, sometimes to Pfaffenhofen, depending on availability. “Some of these are also the after-effects of the Corona crisis. It still happens that games are cancelled, then we can train. That will no longer work in the future.”
Traffic is routed over the hockey field
A dedicated training ground in Unterschleißheim, one with the right dimensions – that would be ideal. In addition to the already difficult training conditions, there will also be no more space at the Hans Bayer Stadium in 2023. Traffic is to be diverted for the Lohhof-Süd housing project. Right across the hockey field.
And the replacement? “The city had planned to rebuild the existing square one-to-one somewhere else,” says Ries. At the club’s suggestion, an enlargement to the official dimensions (61 by 30 meters) was promised. The city council still has to approve it. The new venue should also have a roof, maybe it could even be a hall. It would also be wise to plan the technical requirements for an ice surface, thinks Julian Ries. “We think it makes sense to also create the possibility of being able to upgrade the course in the long term.”
For Jan Kämmerer, district chairman of the Junge Union from Unterschleißheim, the advantages are obvious. “The project would not only be good for the club, but also for the city and the surrounding communities.” For example, schools in the area could expand their physical education offerings to include hockey, and the hall could become a meeting place for young people in their free time. For this reason, Kämmerer supports the idea of the association. For hockey nerd Julian Ries, there is no question that it will be worth it. Because: “The motivation among the young people is very high.”