site.btaOver 2,000 Bulgarian School-Goers Practice Field Hockey

Ways to popularize field hockey in Bulgarian schools were discussed at a meeting between Education and Science Minister Galin Tsokov and Tom Pedersen-Smith, Head of Strategy and Development at EuroHockey. The talks in Sofia were also attended by Deputy Education and Science Minister Emilia Lazarova, Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Daniela Dasheva, National Sports Academy Rector Krassimir Petkov and officials of the Bulgarian Hockey Federation (BHF), the Ministry of Education and Science said in a press release on Friday.

Field hockey, or simply hockey, is practiced by over 2,000 school students in Bulgaria. It is a routine in 20-plus schools in Sofia and in more remote regions such as Dobrich, Smolyan and Silistra, BHF Executive Director Antonio Antonov said.

The BHF is trying to promote the sport, particularly after the extraordinary success of the Bulgarian team at the 2023 Special Olympics World Games in Berlin, where they won the silver medals. The team consists entirely of school students and members of the Regional Inclusive Education Support Centre (RIESC) in Plovdiv, Southern Bulgaria.

Commenting on the achievement, RIESC Director Katya Stoilova said: "I saw a radical change in the kids. Even those who had never before left their hometown and had never visited anyone outside their own family, became children of the world. Their perception of the world changed."

The BHF said that field hockey is an inclusive sport free of body contact and can be played by mixed teams of boys and girls as well as people with disabilities and members of vulnerable groups.

The meeting discussed the new Sports Class National Programme of the Ministry of Education and Science, which will give coaches access to schools, where they will be able to train kids in various sports.

Although field hockey is not on the standard Bulgarian school curriculum in physical education and sport, it can be added to sports class in a given school upon a request by the head teacher and after an opinion statement by the Regional Department of Education and a decision by the teachers' council.