We are introducing: Gladiators Trencin
The second team from Slovakia we are introducing is Gladiators Trencin. This club has been a member of the EUHL since its beginning seven years ago. The best result came during the season 2018/2019 when Trencin finished in first place in the regular season of the East division. Another good result came a year later when Gladiators finished in third place.
We were talking about the situation in the club, last season, changes in the team structure, pre-season, and ambitions of Gladiators Trencin with the PR manager, Janka Danková.
The last season was cancelled due to covid. What was going on in your club?
The situation in our country did not allow us to meet, train or play during the last season. Each player could keep fit only on his own, with individual training and preparation. That time was very sad because we did not see any light at the end of the tunnel and there was no vision of when we can meet other people and train together.
Did you play any games or had any training during this time?
No, we did not. The restrictions in Slovakia were very strict and only teams from the highest Slovak league could train. It took a while until this situation changed. The schedule of the ice looked pretty simple at that time, while the A-team of Dukla Trencin was the only team included in it. The rest of the teams (us, HK Dukla Trencin’s youth teams) were not allowed to train at all. Therefore, we did not train or play any games.
How did your pre-season go? (Interview was made at the end of September)
We started our pre-season on the 1st of September when we had the first training on the ice. We had 2-3 training sessions per week depending on the schedule of the ice in Trencin. So far, we did not play any matches.
How did your team change in comparison to last season?
We kept almost the whole team together and we did only small changes. We are still working on some arrivals.
Did you change any members of your coaching staff?
Our coaching duo Janos – Volek stayed the same. We got a new person, Michaela Lobotková, who came to the marketing department.
What are your ambitions for the following season?
The same as always – we want to have fun, enjoy each game, and spend time together in the best way. And, of course, we want to do our best in the competition.
Author of the photos: Vladimír Kolaček
