Hannan Shah first touched the ice with skates at the age of 14. Figure skating jumps and pirouettes felt too scary, but hockey took the young woman with her.
NAIROBI. The only hockey pitch in East Africa is sharp and small. It was originally built on the third floor of the Panari Hotel to entertain hotel guests.
Everything changed when the hotel management came up with a few years ago to invite children to rollerblading to try the ice.
One of them was Hannan Shah, now a 19-year-old international politics student. Ice was a strange element for Hannan, but skating isn’t, as Shah’s family is a roller skating family.
All children have enjoyed both speed roller skating and roller skating hockey. The line of awards on top of the drawers in the small living room is spectacular.
A new and even greater love ignited on the ice of the Panari Hotel.
– At first we always had an hour of figure skating first and then an hour of hockey. We didn’t have figure skates, but regular hockey sticks. The jumps and pirouettes were way too scary, Hannan recalls.
The Shah family lives modestly in an apartment building in Nairobi’s old shopping center. Narrow stairs lead directly from the street to the courtyard balcony.
At the bottom, the rattlesnake rings and the welding whistle hisses. There, a neighbor makes metal frames for billboards. The skates at the door next to the sandals reveal that the address is correct.
When the mother From Samira Shah asks how much money is enough for three children to play hockey, he shakes his head.
– Not enough. But luckily they get ice shifts for free from the team and the equipment also comes as donations from abroad.
“Hockey keeps me off drugs”
Samira Shah at first considered hockey a dangerous sport, but now she is a happy mother of hockey. It doesn’t cost or transport, but it encourages it too.
– Hockey is good for kids. It teaches them discipline and keeps them away from drugs and bad company. I hope they grow into good hockey players and good people.
Twice a week with Hannan and big brother Hassan Shah, 23, walk through the cramped and noisy shopping streets of Nairobi’s old shopping center to the bus station. From there, they drive to the Panari Hotel, about ten kilometers away.
Workouts are late Wednesday night and early Saturday morning. You should always leave home a couple of hours before your workouts.
– In Nairobi, buses will not depart until they have been fully occupied. Sometimes it can take hours. That is why we have to leave in time. If the bus ride is fast, we will have time to do our own exercises before the workouts begin, Hassan Shah says.
The land of 40 hockey players
Kenya has only that one trough and one team, Kenya Ice Lions. There are about forty active enthusiasts.
Hannan Shah has been appointed captain of the Ice Lions women’s team, but the actual women’s team does not yet exist. That’s why Hanna and three other female players play in the men’s practice.
The pace of Ice Lions training is good for Finnish enthusiasts. There is only one goalkeeper, the other paint is tuned to a fabric that only lets the disc in from the top and bottom corners.
“When I play against men, I use my brain”
The puck stays mostly on the surface of the ice, and the tackle game isn’t the hardest possible. Sometimes, of course, the edges crumble as the men take their toll on each other.
Shoulder pads and other gear give size, but Hannan Shah is still the smallest player on the field. The viewer is a little terrified, Hannania is not. He has a clear game plan.
The Kenyan Hockey Lion has a Canadian coach, Tim Colbyand as a training opponent in training, always “Team Mzungu”, a team of foreigners living in Nairobi.
On ice, you can also distinguish two jerseys of the Finnish national team. White is praised by a photographer and documentary director living in Nairobi Juan ReinaBred by Pitäjämäki Tarmo, blue is on Hassan Shah.
Finland is now Hassan’s favorite team, Hannan supports Canada. The siblings have had little follow-up to the ongoing World Hockey Championships. However, Hassan is aware of Finland’s early series loss to Sweden.
– Yeah, Finland lost, but that’s not a problem. Next time we win.
Towards the Olympics?
The Kenya Ice Lions have so far only participated in one local tournament, which brought together teams from the US, Canada, Kenya and the EU from Nairobi. That’s when the Ice Lions narrowly lost the final to the US, but defeated Canada and the EU.
However, the targets are much higher.
– The Tokyo Winter Olympics were a dream come true when the field was closed due to the corona for almost two years. But now we’re training again, and one day we’ll still be representing Kenya at the World Cup or the Olympics, Hassan Shah assures.
“I want to coach young girls”
Little sister Hannan Shah also wants to play international games. And preferably on the Kenyan women’s hockey national team. But that’s just part of his hockey dream.
Video description and editing by Juan Reina.