In the series where we introduce the support staff of the men's national team after meeting the equipment managers everyone can read about the two physio staff members.
STAFF
Head coach: Rich Chernomaz
Coaches: Gergely Majoross , Diego Scandella, Tamás Sille, Viktor Tokaji
Goalie coach: Gary Clark
Strength and conditioning: Sándor Puskás
GM: Attila Nagy
Team leader: Lajos Imre
Doctor: Ernő Majzik
Physio: Imre Bagonya, Tamás Sashalmi
Equipment managers: József Nagy, Gábor Tornyi
There are three people that are responsible for the physical and also sometimes mental state of the members of the national team. Spending every day with the team is physiotherapists Imre Bagonya and Tamás Sashalmi as well as Dr. Ernő Majzik who is contact with the team.
Dr. Majzik is also part of the team but it is clearly great when he is not needed. However it is not unusual that a team doctor has to stitch someone up on the bench after an injury.
There are not only a few big injuries but also a number of small ones that also need attention. The hockey season is a long season as start the preseason at the latest in August and the world championships are in May this season, during this time span there are a number of practices and games where players can pick up injuries.
Imre Bagonya
How much planning was involved to work with a group of 70+ players during the first week of camp?
We are working with four teams worth of players instead of the usual amount which is about 50 player. However we are lucky that when two teams are playing we are working on the other two teams players and after he work with the other two so this way we are doing relatively fine.
At least there are two of you guys…
Yes and both of us have been working a long time in hockey with Tamás Sashalmi so everything is falling into place. On thing that might be difficult to work with is that we have players from every Hungarian club and we are not familiar with the smaller everyday injuries and problems that they might have. We are pretty familiar with the guys that we have worked with in the past. At first usually the work piles up but as we get familiar with the players everything falls into place.
What are the more popular injuries that you have to work on at the start of camp?
Around the middle of the week players start to get more sore, even though players are in good condition they are not being pushed as hard at the end of the season as at the start of the national team camp.
Is there any plus meaning to working at the elite level?
In this sport everyone's goal is to play at an A-Pool world championships as well as the Olympics, which is a lofty goal, but I think I will make it eventually :) My everyday job is working at a hospital as a rehab specialist, in the past years that have been used to me being gone for 3-4 weeks in April but this time they had to accept that I will be gone in May as well, not to mention the family.
How much of help is it that you have already been through an A-Pool world championships?
The difference now is that in 2009 I felt that that was more of a reward world championships and we didn’t have any concrete plans. This time around it would not be surprising if we took a step forward and had a better finish. We prepare for every tournament the same way, but this time there will be more games so there will be more wear and tear on the bodies and we will be facing more problems during the tournament.
Tamás Sashalmi
Both for you and the equipment managers, you are not used to working with this many players as once, is the amount of player been an issue?
As they come off the ice we ask them if they have any issues. With a large amount of younger players that makes some of our work easier, their bodies can handle this kind of wear and tear better and sometimes they are too shy to ask for help. Of course we will help anyone who has an ache or a pain.
You work with Fehérvár during the season, how much does your knowledge of those players help you with the national team?
It helps a lot since I know what their in season injuries were. I also know how they are rehabbing their injuries, I know what to pay attention to and what parts of their body are more injury prone, plus I can also help Sándor Puskás even more this way.
You have been able to meet the none Fehérvár players twice this season in November and in February, how can you form an opinion on those players?
We tell them not to keep anything a secret and if they have any problems they can turn to us because this is how we can try to help them. We also talk to the physio and team doctors that they work with to get a clearer picture of them. Imre has already worked with most of the guys in the youth system sometime or another.
Are you also pumped that you will be working at the A-Pool world championships?
I am always up for joining the team and I try to help the boys where I can. This means for me it doesn't matter if it's the A-Pool or Division 1/A.
Photo: László Mudra
ROSTER
Goalies (9): ARANY Gergely, BÁLIZS Bence (MAC Budapest), DUSCHEK Dávid (Dunaújvárosi Acélbikák), GYENES Dávid, KISS Bence (DVTK-Jegesmedvék), HETÉNYI Zoltán, RAJNA Miklós (Fehérvár AV19), PLESZKÁN József (UTE), VAY Ádám (Debreceni HK)
Defencemen (26): ARANY Máté, LÁDAY Tamás, ORBÁN Attila, REITER Attila, SZABÓ Dániel, SZALLER Márk, SZIRÁNYI Bence, VARGA Arnold, VOKLA Roland, WEHRS Kevin (Fehérvár), DÓSA Krisztián, KISS Dániel (UTE), GARÁT Zsombor, HERNER Olivér, JÁSZAI Dávid, MESTYÁN István, NAGY Patrik, POZSGAI Tamás, STIPSICZ Bence (MAC), DUDÁS Jesse, GŐZ Balázs, SAGERT Kalvin, VOJTKÓ Mátyás, (DVTK), VAS Márton (Fassa, olasz), ERDÉLYI Tamás (Ferencváros Bp. ESMTK), HRUBY Gellért (Dunaújváros)
Forwards (43): BANHAM Frank, BARTALIS István, BENK András, KOCSIS Ferenc, KOVÁCS Csaba, KÓGER Dániel, NAGY Gergő, REISZ Áron, SARAUER Andrew, SÁRPÁTKI Tamás, SIKORCIN Ladislav, SZABÓ Krisztián, VINCZE Péter (Fehérvár), CSÁNYI Karol, GÁGYOR Péter, NEMES Benjámin, TURBUCZ Martin, VIRÁG Tamás (UTE), ERDÉLY Csanád (Sioux Falls, amerikai), GALANISZ Nikandrosz, HAJÓS Roland, MISKOLCZI Márk, PAVUK Attila, SOMOGYI Balázs, TÓTH Adrián (DVTK), GALLÓ Vilmos (Linköping, svéd), HÁRI János (Leksand, svéd), HÁRI Norbert, KÖNCZEI Áron, VINCZE Péter Tamás (Debrecen), KERESZTURY Erik (Düsseldorf, német), KISS Zsombor (Davos, svájci), MAGOSI Bálint (Briancon, francia), NAGY Krisztián, NÉMETH Attila, ROCZANOV Dezső, SCHMÁL Kristóf, TERBÓCS István, TÓTH Richárd (MAC), SÁGI Martin (Feldkirch, osztrák), SEBŐK Balázs (KalPa, finn), SOFRON István (Klagenfurt osztrák), VAS János (Slavia Praha, cseh)
SPRING SCHEDULE
Exibition games
April 15th, Friday, 18.00 (Budapest): v Austria
April 16th, Saturday, 16.30 (Vienna): @Austria
April 20th Wednesday, 19.00 (Budapest): v Slovenia
April 29th, Friday, 19.00 (Budapest): v Kazakhstan
April 30th, Saturday, 19.00 (Budapest): v Russia B
World Championships, Russia
Group B (St. Petersburg)
May 7th, Saturday, 12.15 (11.15): v Slovakia
May 8th, Sunday, 12.15 (11.15): v Canada
May 10th, Tuesday, 20.15 (19.15): v France
May 11th, Wednesday, 20.15 (19.15): v Finland
May 13th, Friday, 16.15 (15.15): v USA
May 14th, Saturday, 16.15 (15.15): v Belarus
May 16th, Monday, 20.15 (19.15): v Germany
(CET)