About us

A warm welcome

Welcome to the website of The Slapping Studs Enschede, the oldest student ice hockey teams in the Netherlands. Ever since 1982 we have been affiliated with the University of Twente, where the Studs were founded by a group of students looking for some action. Throughout the years, we have become a flourishing team, organizing lots of activities for our members. We have done well in competition, but our competitive achievements do not mean we put performance above sociability. Hanging out and having fun is (or at least should be) an important element of every Dutch student team.

Members

At the moment our team consists of one coach and about 60 players, whose level ranges from beginner to advanced. Because we are subsidized by the University of Twente, we require all our members to purchase the university's facility card. Thus if you are eligible for this card, you are eligible for our team. This includes university students and employees, Saxion Enschede students and AKI students. You don't need any hockey experience to join our team, a large part of our player's couldn't skate when they started playing!

Training

During the hockey season, which runs from October to the end of March, we hit the ice at least two times a week for practice. The training includes tactics, skating, rules and stick handling drills. Our practices have been very successful in combining the learning needs of both the beginners and the more experienced players. In order to achieve an even better fit between both groups, we offer special beginner courses to rookies at the beginning of each season. These courses help them to master the basics of hockey as soon as possible. Training is given at the IJsbaan Twente in Enschede.

Competition

This season the Studs compete in the Dutch Student Hockey League. This is an independent hockey league for student teams only. We play a double competition, home and away games, against teams from: Delft, Amsterdam, Leiden, Utrecht, Eindhoven, Leiden, Groningen and Nijmegen. At the end of the competition an NSK (Dutch Student Championship) is played, which is a 2 day event organised by a different student ice hockey team each year. Furthermore, due to the large amount of members we currently have, we have a second team of players who play in the ARHL (Adult Recreational Hockey League).

Activities

During the season, as well as the off-season, the Studs schedule a number of returning events each year. Throughout the season, new members of the Studs have their own games against rookies of other student teams. In the summer, Den Bosch is the closest Dutch ice hockey rink that actually has ice, so we go there a few times in the off-season to have some fun. There's also our notorious ice hockey camp to Czech Republic and a BBQ during the off-season. Most of the Studs members go to the Czech republic for one or two weeks to play hockey, relax at the local swimming pool and party in the nightlife of the metropolis called Náchod .

Interested?

Each year, we organize at least two (free!) introduction practices. These practices are intended for students who are enthusiastic about getting to know the game and/or our team. No prior hockey experience is necessary! Don't worry about the equipment and skates; we will make sure everything you need is available at the ice rink. The exact date and time of the introduction training will be announced on the website in the news section. Throughout the season, it is also possible to join us at one of our regular training hours. Just send an email to one of the board members (contact), and you will get the opportunity to try the sport that is considered world's fastest team sport!

Languages used on the site

This site's general information topics are in English for the better part, because of the international character of our team. Being an university team implies a fair amount of international students, and therefore we tried to make the general information about our team more accessible to them. On the other hand, it would be impossible to translate the whole site in english, because of the frequently added news-articles and the message board.