IIHS started in 2011. Selected players have always been thirteen years old, so players born in 2005 are eligible for IIHS this year. As always, 46 selected players are mixed to two Czech-Finnish teams. Players from the Czech Republic are selected only from Vysocina region. On the other hand, Finnish players are selected from Tampere and its surroundings.
Players hockey quality, attitude towards sports and school, and school performance are the most important skills in players selection. Players can not just sign in and pay for the camp, but they must be nominated by their coaches. Because of the IIHS success, International Floorball School and International Referee Camp started in 2015.
Because of the new team on Finland side, Jihlava is hosting the hockey part of the project. Bedrich Scerban, a general manager, says, „The partner from Finland is new at this project, so they asked us to change the hosting place for this year. We accepted that because we are able to show them how the camp works, what quality it has, and what they need to prepare to host the next year of IIHS.”
Despite the fact that IIHS has been around only for eight years, players, who experienced IIHS, have accomplished great achievements. Two biggest ones are thanks to Martin Necas and Jakub Skarek. Martin Necas was present during the first year of IIHS. Since IIHS, he has won two championships with Kometa Brno and played at two World Juniors Championships. He was also drafted as a 12th overall pick by Carolina Hurricanes in 2017 and won the Best Junior player of the Czech Republic award in 2018. On the other side, Jakub Skarek played at IIHS in 2012 and was drafted as a 72nd overall pick by New York Islanders in 2018. On the other side, Topias Haapanen and Sara Sakkinen are good representatives of Finnish side. Topias is already playing for Ilves Tampere women’s team, and Sara has won two bronze medals as a member of Finland women’s national team. Ten players (seven Czech guys, two Finnish guys, and one Finnish girl) from IIHS are already playing in the top professional leagues. We will have a more detailed article about successful players from IIHS soon.