Great Britain Team Overview
Objective
To qualify for 2014 Winter Paralympic games and medal at the 2018 Winter Paralympic games.
Background
Ice Sledge Hockey (ISH) was invented in Sweden in the 1960’s and in 1981 Britain became the third nation to play ISH. In 1994 ISH became a Paralympic sport and Great Britain narrowly lost to Canada in the Bronze medal game. In Nagano (1998) Britain came seventh and then failed to qualify for Salt Lake City. However by 2004 GB had risen to a world ranking of 5th and in 2005 qualified for Turin. In the 2006 Turin Winter Paralympic games GB came 7th.
GB were unable to attend the 2008 Group A World Championships in American due to key members of the team being “talent transferred” in to other sports and being unable to continue to play Sledge Hockey due to UK Sport Funding. As a result GB were automatically relegated to group B.
In 2009 GB competed in the Group B World Championships ending the tournament with a world ranking of 12th. Due to funding restraints GB could only afford to take a team of ten players (the normal team size is 15) and decided to use the tournament to introduce 4 new players to international competition in order to start the development process for Sochi 2014.
GB ISH has always been completed self funded and as a result has, at times, been unable to compete in tournaments (including World Championships) outside of Europe which has lead to the variance in world rankings.
Sledge Hockey is currently played in 15 countries with other countries such as Australia and Ireland starting to introduce the sport.
As of December 2010 a successful Fast Track programme has commenced. This Fast Track programme provides an opportunity for players from other sports or from the Ministry of Defences Battle Back initiative to obtain the skills necessary to compete for a place on the GB team.
Approach
In order to meet the objective, the British Sledge Hockey Association has put into place a number of initiatives. These are;
- Funding secured for 3 qualified coaches
- Introduction of professional GB team structure and staff
- Development of Elite programme
- Introduction of a national league (only one in Europe)
- Increase in the number of clubs
- Increase in the number of players
- Increased opportunities for players to compete
- Introduction of a coaching qualification and framework
- Introduction of a GB Fast Track programme
The BSHA have developed a number of key performance indicators which are detailed below;
| Reference: | XL1 | Principal: | EXCEL |
| Description: | Team GB to participate in the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games | ||
| Target: | Team GB to obtain a top 6 finish at 2014 Winter Paralympic Games. | ||
| Approach |
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| Timescale: | 2014 | Status: | GREEN |
| Reference: | XL2 | Principal: | EXCEL |
| Description: | Launch a national junior (under 21) programme | ||
| Target: | For 20% of Team GB senior team to be made of graduates from the junior programme | ||
| Approach |
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| Timescale: | 2014 | Status: | GREEN |
| Reference: | EX3 | Principal: | EXCEL |
| Description: | To participate in the 2010 IPC ISH New Year Cup | ||
| Target: | To introduce new GB squad members to international competition | ||
| Approach |
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| Timescale: | 2010 | Status: | ABANDONED |
| Note: When GB received it’s invitation to this event (Jan 2010) we were informed that all costs except travel were to be met by the organisers. By October 2010 no further information had been provided to the IPC, BPA or BSHA by the organisers, despite numerous requests. In November 2010 information was received regard the tournament however the short timescale did not allow time for players and staff to secure visa’s and also did not allow the members of GB players who are part of Her Majesties Armed forces time to obtain military clearance to compete. | |||
| Reference: | EX4 | Principal: | EXCEL |
| Description: | To participate in the 2011 IPC ISH European Championships | ||
| Target: | To develop existing squad members international experience and introduce new GB squad members to international competition | ||
| Approach |
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| Timescale: | 2011 | Status: |
GREEN |
| Reference: | EX5 | Principal: | EXCEL |
| Description: | To participate in the 2012 IPC Group B World Championships | ||
| Target: | Top 2 finish | ||
| Approach |
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| Timescale: | 2012 | Status: | GREEN |
| Reference: | EX6 | Principal: | EXCEL |
| Description: | To participate in the 2013 IPC Group A World Championships | ||
| Target: | Top 6 finish | ||
| Approach |
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| Timescale: | 2013 | Status: | GREEN |
