THE STORY OF MIHWA

The Story of MIHWA

The history of MIHWA begins on the morning of 13 June 2017 in Bolzano (Italy) in the offices of the Palaonda Stadium, during the VIII Masters World Cup. Alberto Lastrucci, FIRS General Secretary and Alain Blanchet, President of SACOS and creator of this World Cup in 2008, requested I join them for a special meeting, and intrigued, I obviously accepted. We locked ourselves in the office and they then proceeded to ask me to take over the Masters and Veterans movement, probably after seeing the success of the 2016 edition. Their idea was to create an international association under the auspices of World Skate, in order to sanction an ongoing Masters and Veterans Inline World Cup.

I graciously accepted this challenge with enthusiasm and with the usual passion that I bring to this game. On September 9th, 2017 during the traditional European Veterans Amateur Tournament in Legnaro (Padua-Italy) we organized a meeting with the national teams in attendance, and wrote the foundations for the establishment of the new non-profit association and the choice of the name: Masters Inline Hockey World Association (MIHWA). Many people were present at the meeting, representing players, managers, sponsors and referees, in particular I remember: Tomas Ulrich, Martin Mecera, Alain Blanchet, Susie Cleghorn, Antony Parkin, Stepan Ptacek, Fabiano Favero, Mattia Amadei.

At the time of foundation in 2017, the MIHWA organizing comittee consisted of:

David Ninzatti – President (I);
Alain Blanchet – Vice President (F);
Martin Mecera – Vice President (CZ);
Isabella Ermacora – Secretary General

In June 2019 in Asiago (Vicenza-Italy) it was decided to enlarge the composition of the organizing committee with:

Pete Wirt (UK/CDN)
Duane Voss (AUS)

In June 2022 at our return to competition after the pandemic, we expanded one extra committee member to include Shaun McGrath (USA) for one season, and following collaboration with key members and stakeholders, further reformed the structure of MIHWA to fall inline with other major World sporting bodies. This included adding two new members to the executive committee:

Christian Mader (GER)
Michael Enright (USA)

The aim of the association and its organizing committee is to deliver and develop the M&V World Cup. With a commitment to optimize the resources available and offering the best possible service to everyone involved. We are working to achieve an excellent quality standard far beyond what is normally possible in such a voluntary organization. With an emphasis on the fact that nearly everything is done on a voluntary basis by the members of the association and investing their extra free and family time. Every piece of this puzzle is important and it is to everyone’s credit if this event always has great success.

The number of participating national teams since 2015 has always been increasing, proving that our product is a great attraction. The most beautiful thing that has happened to me in the last two years, is to be asked by so many people: “Do you need a hand? I can help?”. This gesture from so many involved, players, staff, local volunteers, friends and family, to help is the right sporting spirit of collaboration that must be our strength, MIHWA continues to send its warmest gratitude to volunteering and a passion for hockey.

Thank you all.

Dr. David Ninzatti
President, Masters Inline Hockey World Association