Upsets at Badgers Inline Tournament

THE OPENING tournament of the 2008 Inline Hockey season produced some major surprises as Windhoek-based Cazadores and Badgers each won three age group categories, while former multiple champions Coastal Pirates could only claim one age group title.

Scorpions of Otjiwarongo also produced a big upset by beating the more fancied Pirates and Cazadores to win the Men’s Open title. In the Open category, Kamikaze produced an early shock when they beat Pirates 2-1 and then Scorpions held Pirates to a 3-all draw.Pirates seemed to be heading for victory in their highly anticipated match against Cazadores, but a goal by Michael Ellinger in the last seconds of the game gave Cazadores a share of the spoils in a 3-all draw.Pirates managed to beat Badgers 4-1 in their last match, but by then were out of the running for the Open title.Scorpions, meanwhile thrashed Badgers 5- 0 and then beat Cazadores 3-2, with national player Riaan Ely scoring the winning goal.Scorpions clinched the Open title when they beat Kamikaze 1-0 in their final match.THREE TITLES FOR CAZADORES Cazadores’ new coach Josh Blair seems to have made a big impact as they won three titles in the Under 18, Under 16 and Under 8 categories.In the Under 18 category Cazadores won all their matches, beating Badgers 7-1, Kamikaze 3-2 and Pirates 3-2.Cazadores also remained unbeaten in the Under 16 category.They thrashed Kamikaze 11-1 and Badgers 4-0 but had to dig deep to beat Scorpions 3-2 and Pirates 4-3.Badgers won the Women’s, Masters and Under 12 categories.They dominated the women’s category, winning all four their matches, while scoring 20 goals and conceding only one in the process.The Masters category went down to the wire with Badgers and Pirates both finishing on nine points, but Badgers won the title with a slightly better goal aggregate.Besides winning the open category, Scorpions also won the Under 14 category, while Coastal Pirates could only manage to win the Under 10 category.Meanwhile, three national squads were selected at the tournament for international events coming up later in the year.After the competition three national teams were selected to represent Namibia at international events later in the year.TEAMS FOR INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENTS The Namibia U19 Junior Men’s team to participate at the Junior Men’s Championships in Philadelphia in June is as follows: Daniel Asmus, Dominic Denker, Michael Falk, Kyle Weeks (all Cazadores), Louis Becker (Badgers), Helgo Rolf, Gunnar Visser and Oliver Tors (Scorpions), Tyrone Miles, Sebastian Pahl, Arne Rodenwaldt, Rene Rugheimer and Vincent van Biljon (Coastal Pirates).Joshua Blair is the head coach and Erik Rodenwaldt is the assistant coach.Ulrike Rodenwaldt is the team manager and Gudrun Denker the PRO.The Namibian U14 Boys team to attend the Junior Olympics Inline Hockey Championships in Philadelphia is as follows: Rainer Baas, Bauke Ellis, Knolles Green, Oliver Jooste, Morne Lambrechts, Jason le Roux, Jack Nebe, JJ Tromp and Mathew Woolf (all Coastal Pirates), Alon Dawe, Kai Myburgh and Divan Visser (Scorpions), Otwin Foerster, Justus von Rhein (Badgers), Dominik Grensing, Nils Laggner, (Cazadores).Riyaan Ely is the head coach and Erik Rodenwoldt the assistant coach.The Namibian Women’s team to participate at the Women’s Inline Hockey World Championships in Germany in July is as follows: Dietlind Forster, Lisa Leigh Jackman, Alexandra Marko, Danielle Schmidt, Mari Schmidt, Nadia Schmidt and Sonja Sentefol (all Badgers), Stephanie Gantz, Julika Pahl, Suzelle Pronk and Andrea Roxin (Coastal Pirates), Heidi Garbade (Cazadores) and Annemarie Kruger (Scorpions).Nate Blair is the head coach and Stefan Jonsson the assistant coach.www.namibiasport.com.naIn the Open category, Kamikaze produced an early shock when they beat Pirates 2-1 and then Scorpions held Pirates to a 3-all draw.Pirates seemed to be heading for victory in their highly anticipated match against Cazadores, but a goal by Michael Ellinger in the last seconds of the game gave Cazadores a share of the spoils in a 3-all draw.Pirates managed to beat Badgers 4-1 in their last match, but by then were out of the running for the Open title.Scorpions, meanwhile thrashed Badgers 5- 0 and then beat Cazadores 3-2, with national player Riaan Ely scoring the winning goal.Scorpions clinched the Open title when they beat Kamikaze 1-0 in their final match.THREE TITLES FOR CAZADORES Cazadores’ new coach Josh Blair seems to have made a big impact as they won three titles in the Under 18, Under 16 and Under 8 categories.In the Under 18 category Cazadores won all their matches, beating Badgers 7-1, Kamikaze 3-2 and Pirates 3-2.Cazadores also remained unbeaten in the Under 16 category.They thrashed Kamikaze 11-1 and Badgers 4-0 but had to dig deep to beat Scorpions 3-2 and Pirates 4-3.Badgers won the Women’s, Masters and Under 12 categories.They dominated the women’s category, winning all four their matches, while scoring 20 goals and conceding only one in the process.The Masters category went down to the wire with Badgers and Pirates both finishing on nine points, but Badgers won the title with a slightly better goal aggregate.Besides winning the open category, Scorpions also won the Under 14 category, while Coastal Pirates could only manage to win the Under 10 category.Meanwhile, three national squads were selected at the tournament for international events coming up later in the year.After the competition three national teams were selected to represent Namibia at international events later in the year.TEAMS FOR INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENTS The Namibia U19 Junior Men’s team to participate at the Junior Men’s Championships in Philadelphia in June is as follows: Daniel Asmus, Dominic Denker, Michael Falk, Kyle Weeks (all Cazadores), Louis Becker (Badgers), Helgo Rolf, Gunnar Visser and Oliver Tors (Scorpions), Tyrone Miles, Sebastian Pahl, Arne Rodenwaldt, Rene Rugheimer and Vincent van Biljon (Coastal Pirates).Joshua Blair is the head coach and Erik Rodenwaldt is the assistant coach.Ulrike Rodenwaldt is the team manager and Gudrun Denker the PRO.The Namibian U14 Boys team to attend the Junior Olympics Inline Hockey Championships in Philadelphia is as follows: Rainer Baas, Bauke Ellis, Knolles Green, Oliver Jooste, Morne Lambrechts, Jason le Roux, Jack Nebe, JJ Tromp and Mathew Woolf (all Coastal Pirates), Alon Dawe, Kai Myburgh and Divan Visser (Scorpions), Otwin Foerster, Justus von Rhein (Badgers), Dominik Grensing, Nils Laggner, (Cazadores).Riyaan Ely is the head coach and Erik Rodenwoldt the assistant coach.The Namibian Women’s team to participate at the Women’s Inline Hockey World Championships in Germany in July is as follows: Dietlind Forster, Lisa Leigh Jackman, Alexandra Marko, Danielle Schmidt, Mari Schmidt, Nadia Schmidt and Sonja Sentefol (all Badgers), Stephanie Gantz, Julika Pahl, Suzelle Pronk and Andrea Roxin (Coastal Pirates), Heidi Garbade (Cazadores) and Annemarie Kruger (Scorpions).Nate Blair is the head coach and Stefan Jonsson the assistant coach.www.namibiasport.com.na