Do you know para-hockey? Honestly, even months ago, we didn’t know much about the sport, even though we considered ourselves sports enthusiasts 🙂 It is extremely popular in the Czech Republic, where in 2019, almost 50,000 people came to the World Championships during six playing days. This is a huge number of fans and an exciting sport, especially one where we can find real heroes.
As we already mentioned in our article from Liptov, our initial collaboration with Dedoles was planned to premiere during the summer music festivals. Due to the “coronavirus circumstances”, we had to modify this plan, and the alternative event was the next World Hockey Championship, which was held in Ostrava, Czech Republic. It was a decent request not only in terms of time but also in terms of duration. In addition to the activities or local staff, we were directly present at the scene during the entire duration of the Championship, so we temporarily created a small, detached workplace of the agency in the Moravian-Silesian region.
As part of the World Cup, in addition to the sports part, a Fan Zone was prepared right in the hall near the Ostravar Arena. Together with two pagodas, we ensured the installation of a custom-made sales stand and, distributed several accompanying activities and rich decorations. Portable hockey sticks, custom-made branded seating in the form of bean bag seats and deckchairs, as well as wooden and plant decorations could not be missing. We provided activities by briefing local staff, not only for sales activities, but also sack hacks, children’s creative workshops and, the cherry on top, the hamster mascot, who worked very hard during the programme on the concrete surface. But all with keeping up with an appropriate drinking regime and common sense
Popular activities within the entire Fan Zone included the photo wall and shooting at a small hockey goal with special cutouts. It was a favourite among all visitors From a sporting point of view, it was an overall successful event, even though attendance, especially due to capacity limitations, did not reach the numbers from two years ago. From our point of view, it was understandably a shame, as the activities and space at the Dedoles stand were extremely engaging, both visually and in terms of content. It was a very beneficial experience and an excellent starting opportunity for further joint event collaborations with Dedoles <3