[ad_1]
‘Everybody desires to be the following Cristiano Ronaldo, proper?’
With regards to what sports activities youngsters are taking part in in Cyprus, it could be truthful to say that hockey is a good approach down the pecking order.
Soccer is the massive favorite amongst the youthful technology, adopted by the likes of basketball, tennis and athletics.
However dig a bit deeper and you’ll uncover a bunch of Cypriot hockey gamers which have proven some real indicators of progress on the worldwide stage lately.
One of many staff’s key gamers is Panos Panayiotopoulos, who has been capped at senior degree on nearly 50 events and performs his membership hockey for Cambridge Metropolis III within the East Males’s League Division 1 North.
“Soccer is the largest sport by far (in Cyprus),” stated Panayiotopoulos, who moved to Cambridge in October 2019 after spells finding out in Nottingham and York. “Everybody desires to be the following Cristiano Ronaldo, proper?
“There was a small inflow of tennis gamers when Marcos Baghdatis was doing properly and basketball does OK, however a lot of the cash goes to soccer from non-public sponsors and the central sporting authority.
“It’s a disgrace as a result of we actually love the game and need to play as a lot as we are able to.”
Panayiotopoulos’ love for hockey was ignited throughout his time as a pupil at The English Faculty in Nicosia, Cyprus’ capital metropolis.
It was there the place he discovered others with the identical ardour, but their journey to worldwide competitions has been removed from typical.
He defined: “I came upon about hockey there (in school) after which in 2009 I began coaching severely with the Below-18s squad and going to tournaments.
“We don’t actually have any correct pitches. There are a pair on the British bases on the island however the one I skilled on was fairly horrible – it’s the one one we had.
“We had a coach however largely it was taking place to the pitch on our personal, watching movies on YouTube, taking part in one versus one on one another and studying on our personal.
“It’s been a love-hate relationship at instances. We’ve performed groups through the years like Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic who’re clearly a lot better than us. Going there and getting hammered could be very disappointing and also you return to your unhealthy pitches and it does make you query whether or not you need to preserve taking part in. However the sport grabs you once more, it’s an enormous a part of my life and that’s the identical for all of us.
“Most of us within the Cyprus staff dwell and play overseas due to work. All of us prepare in our spare time after which prepare additional round nationwide staff occasions. There’s a variety of love for the game and likewise for one another as a result of a variety of us have grown up collectively. We’ve bought a detailed relationship.”
It’s that togetherness that has been a key element within the upturn of latest outcomes.
On the European Hockey Indoor Championships Third Division assembly earlier this month – which Cyprus hosted – they managed to complete fourth in a six-team occasion, which included a victory over Greece and a high-scoring draw with Serbia.
“Our understanding going into the event was that we wished to complete prime of the underside half. There isn’t a approach Denmark, Eire and Italy are Division Three groups however they’d been relegated as a result of they couldn’t compete final 12 months,” stated Panayiotopoulos.
“Our first coaching with the staff was the Monday earlier than the event so we had solely three classes earlier than the event began.
“We performed Eire and Italy first and that was a little bit of a shock however we grew into the event a lot, a lot better.
“We misplaced towards Denmark final however we put in a great efficiency which confirmed our progress.
“Our first event within the Below-18s we conceded 42 objectives in 5 matches and the one objective we scored was an personal objective.
“From there to the place we at the moment are the usual has elevated rather a lot.
“As an affiliation we don’t get sufficient cash and that’s clearly an enormous drawback but when folks might see the advance we’ve made with minimal assets I believe they’d be eager to spend money on the island’s hockey however sadly it’s such a small market.”
Again in England, the 31-year-old is totally having fun with life inside the Cambridge Metropolis set-up.
He joined in October 2020 after spending just a few months at Cambridge South, and he has gone on to juggle a job as a junior coach alongside his taking part in commitments.
Nevertheless, he has admitted that he did initially harbour doubts about signing for the Wilberforce Highway membership.
“Once I moved to Cambridge I wasn’t positive about becoming a member of as a result of I knew Metropolis was the largest membership within the space and I used to be anxious it is perhaps a bit caught up and snobby. Typically that occurs with such properly established golf equipment, it’s all a bit clicky,” he stated.
“But it surely has been the precise reverse. Everybody has been very, very welcoming and really accommodating about the whole lot.
“The membership was nice once I was recovering from damage (earlier this 12 months) they usually’ve been very completely happy for me to become involved within the coaching as properly.
“It’s a really pleasant membership and I’m pleasantly stunned that probably the most established membership within the metropolis is such an accommodating one as properly.
“Transferring to a rustic and a membership as large as this with the entry to pitches that we’ve, so many coaches and loads of children and so many gamers, it’s an enormous distinction to the place I’ve come from.”
And in the future Panayiotopoulos would like to convey his two groups collectively.
He added: “We (Cyprus) would like to have them over. We’d most likely need to play in one of many British bases however we’d love that. Enjoying hockey, consuming nice meals and going out – I’m positive the membership would find it irresistible as properly.
“We had been pondering of doing the other in some unspecified time in the future and play some coaching matches towards Metropolis however our event within the UK bought cancelled due to Covid.
“We’d be completely happy to play right here and if Cambridge Metropolis wished to go to Cyprus and play we’d be more than pleased for that to occur.”
[ad_2]
Source link
