Zoltán Kovács: We want to be among five or six best ball hockey nations

Zoltán, what would you say about ball hockey in Hungary?
The ball hockey is a great sport. It is very good for ice hockey players in the offseason to play and keep their players in a good condition and even develop their skills, stick handling, shooting and it is very complex sport for ice hockey preparation.

Is ball hockey in Hungary growing?
It is starting. We held some exhibition games when Canadian team visited us and we showed ball hockey as a sport in the city center to enable more people to recognize ball hockey as a sport.

You are true legend of ice hockey in Hungary, working for Hungarian ice hockey since 1994 and ice hockey has done tramendous job in growing all over the country. Do you feel like ball hockey in Hungary can make similar journey as ice hockey?
Ice hockey got a lot of support from the government and most of the sports receive a lot of resources to manage their duties. I think ball hockey can also get some benefit because we as ice hockey federation can afford to keep the team to compete at tournaments as this one and we are planning to attend the world championship next year and we would like to discuss hosting such a world championship in few years.

Here in Liberec Hungary competes only in under 14 competition. Why? Do you want more cathegories to participate next time?
We came too late here, when the deadline to compete was over, so we could not apply in official way to compete in this tournament. We are like guests here, like students. It is a good opportunity to play with the Czech Republic and Slovakia so this helps us a lot to improve. Definitely, we are seeking to operate under 14 and under 16 age groups at the beggining. We have a lot of players for that. Most of them are playing ice hockey, but they are open to play ball hockey as well.

In Liberec you compete against the Czech Republic and Slovakia in the U14 cathegory. What does the games show you regarding Hungarian ball hockey?
First of all we are quite competitive with this team even if we lose by some goals. I think we have quite a lot of players who can adjust their ice hockey skills in ball hockey skills. So I am sure that if we have more time to prepare and play more ball hockey, our teams will be even better. I think that in three, four or five years our ball hockey teams can be among five or six best ball hockey teams worldwide.

You received Paul Loicq award for your contribution to the IIHF and international hockey. What are your main goals in ball hockey?
As I already told two years ago the ISBHF President and General Secretary that we would like to join this excellent movement and we would like to participate in meetings and development programs and ball hockey activities as well. And we will be the good members as we are in the ice hockey as well.

What are your goals for the tournament here in Liberec?
I think it is a good presentation for our team. We will send lots of photos, videos and streams to people who are interested about that, so they can watch the sport on Facebook, YouTube and other social media. We hope that Hungarian media at home will be interested as well. When we get back home, we can share our opinions, experience to other coaches and players why was this tournament important and successful event.