The women’s ice hockey club KSV Neuberg Highlanders is an example of great commitment despite a lack of recognition. Founder Margret Kraischek criticizes the fact that women’s ice hockey often only receives attention around Women’s Day – even though her team has been playing top-class sport for a long time.
Training four times a week, international games and enormous stress are part of everyday life, while the players get by completely without pay and work part-time.
Despite sporting successes – including a state championship title – public appreciation remains rare. “Not even as Austrian national champions were my girls invited to a sports gala,” Kraischek told the “Crown newspaper“. The team is currently fighting for two titles: in the semi-finals of the EWHL and in the Final Four of the Austrian League.
Handover to the next generation
After 26 years, Kraischek, who also partially finances the club with her chimney sweeping business, has announced that she is withdrawing from active club life. “But after the season it’s over for me actively, as a grandmother of three I need more time for my grandchildren. I’ll hand over to my girls, my Dutch captain Hilde Huismann as well as Kathi Schellnegger and Lisa Marchl, and I’ll only be there in the background. But I’ll continue with a lot of passion.”
Highlanders as a springboard
In addition to sporting goals, the promotion of young talent remains central: The Highlanders see themselves as a springboard for international careers – with their first successes for players abroad and in the national team: defender Hana Ostadal dares to jump across the pond, Lena Dauböck from Klagenfurt will appear with the women’s national team at an A World Cup for the first time and the 17-year-old Vanessa Picka spent her first season after her time with the Highlanders in Sweden this year, where she scored a lot of points could.
Image: ICEHL
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