Krestsina Papkova: What is hockey like in Belarus?
Krestsina Papkova is a hockey player from Belarus, where she started playing since she was 9 years old (1999). Hockey in Belarus is a growing sport, with special focus in indoor hockey. In the local league, only 6 teams participate (2 teams from Minsk, 2 teams from Grodno, and one team from Smolevichi and Baranovichi.
She started playing when her hockey coach came to her school to recruit new players. He spoke about the sport and she became interested in. Although at that time her focus was on music school and dance, she gave every thing else up for hockey. Her childhood coach made the sport fun and challenging and she was able to realise that this is what she wanted to do.
She dreams of going to the Olympics, and in order to do this, she gives her best at every moment. The national team of Belarus was able to finish in the 4th place at the FIH Indoor World Cup of 2011 while they finished in the 7th place in the 2014 tournament.
