As part of its new development strategy approved at the FIH Congress in November 2018, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has now launched the “Sticks for the World” campaign.
The objective of this campaign is to collect and distribute hockey equipment to projects and organisations. It will operate in the following way:
– Kit donation schemes run by the hockey family (FIH, The Hockey Foundation, Continental Federations, National Associations, clubs, …); this will happen at hockey events, mostly
– Hockey Star stick donations – made by players attending 2019-2020 FIH events, including the upcoming FIH Series Finals in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage (France) and Hiroshima (Japan) as well as the FIH Women’s Pro League game between USA and Germany on 22 June
– New and old stock kit supplied by hockey retailers and makers
FIH has urged its 137 member National Associations around the world to put in place schemes to collect this donated equipment and to encourage their members – leagues, clubs – to do the same.
The objective is to reach 101,000 donated sticks until 2020. Why this figure? Two hands per stick – 202,000 hockey hands by 2020.
The current Men’s World Champions, Belgium, recently showed the way: on the occasion of a Fan Day event on 7 April ahead of the FIH Women’s Pro League game between Belgium and China, a number of them, as well as Belgian fans, donated sticks.
One of the projects which will benefit from “Sticks for the World” is “La Route du Stick”, an initiative led by Swiss coach Gabriel Tuscher, who will carry sticks to Africa with a minibus.
“Sticks for the World” is the first phase of the “HockeyREADY” development project, which is a global initiative to support Continental Federations, National Associations and Recognised Development Organisations to be ready to deliver hockey around the world, therefore helping grow the game.
FIH President Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra said: “HockeyREADY aims to engage with the entire hockey family and encourage them to share and grow their hockey development projects. Phase 1 of the project will specifically focus on sourcing new and second-hand hockey equipment. Any project, led by any organisation or individual, can be part of HockeyREADY. I’m fundamentally convinced that hockey has the power to help make the world a better place. A great starting point will be to engage with Sticks for the World!”
Sources:
FIH