With the first Monday in September a new series is starting on icehockey.hu in which those Hungarian clubs will be introduced that a youth system, this time its the Gábor Ocskay Jr. Acadmany and icehockey.hu talked to Botond Bedő, one of the young coaches from the Acadmy.
You played your youth years with Fehérvár and now you are a youth coach with the club as well, what have been some milestones for you during your career?
We moved to Fehérvár in 1991 because my father signed with Volán, this is where I learned how to skate and this is where I started to play hockey. While our dads were practicing István Sofron and I were skating up and down along the boards. I started playing hockey in 1994, that's when I really became a player. I was with Volán from 1994 until 2006, I spent the 2007-08 season with Csíkszereda. I came back to play one more season for the Fehérvár farm team, once the team was disbanded I decided to get into coaching, I was already enrolled in school for this and this helped me with my decision. Looking back it is a big deal that I was able to play professional hockey and that will always stay with me that I was part of the national team from U16 through U20 however I never made it to a final world championship squad, hopefully I will be able to do this as a coach with the women's national team.
What age groups do you work with at the Academy?
Right now I’m working with the U8 and U12 age groups in Fehérvár and with the women’s senior, U18 and U15 national teams. I also help out in Kaposvár as a mentor coach as well.
You work at one of the country's top hockey academies, how much has it changed since you were a youth player?
The facilities are a lot better, because of the EBEL team the young players have a wide range of players to look up to and interact with. There is also the plus with having a MOL League team around as well.
Why do you recommend the the Academy to parents?
I recommend it to parents because we try to instill into kids the sports values that they will be able to apply to everyday life if they do not become pro athletes they will still be great people. We try to compete at the highest level possible in each age group. That's why the U18 and U20 teams are playing in Austria.
What are your goals coaching Fehérvár and the women's national team?
With all my teams my goals is to get as far I as can with the players that I coach. With the national team I would like to be a member of a world championship coaching staff.