Date of Birth: 05 July 2005 

 (17 years)

Place of Birth: Swakopmund,        

 Namibia

Nickname: Biene/Beans 

Current Club: Coastal Pirates

Take us through your journey, how did you get into inline hockey?

I was only three years of age the first time I put on skates. I was standing next to the hockey court watching my brother train when I asked my mom if I could try and skate. At the age of four, I finally got to join my first training session and from there on, hockey became a part of my life.

Do you have any hockey-playing siblings that are equally on the rise? 

I have an older brother, Amandus Röttcher, who plays inline hockey. He represented Namibia in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 at the World Championships. In 2019, he was the captain of the junior men’s team and led them to the top 8 for the first time in Namibian history. In 2021, he played in the Italian Pro league.

Which would you say are some of your biggest career achievements? 

My biggest career achievement is winning this year’s World Championship and representing my country. It has always been my dream to represent Namibia at the Worlds. I have also played for the Namibian federation team in 2017 and 2019 when we travelled to the USA. In these competitions, we received team achievements and I was privileged to receive the best defender, and top scorer awards and also got selected for Team World.

And which is your most
memorable match? 

I will have to say that my most memorable match was the final match at the recent World Championships in Argentina. It was like no other and cannot be compared to any match I have ever played in. It was definitely a dream come true.

Which would you say is your biggest career disappointment? 

My biggest career disappointment is when we could not travel to the Worlds in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19. However, every cloud has a silver lining and, in this case, it helped our team grow and become the force we were during the recent World Championships.

Who has been the biggest influence your career? 

There have been many role models in my hockey career, but my brother has definitely been the biggest influence on my development. I have always looked up to him and the way he always motivated the players around him. Another person who has helped me a lot is our coach Brian Sobel. He has trained me since I was 8 and has helped me develop beyond what I thought I was capable of.

You and your teammates recently made history when the country’s junior women’s team won gold at the World Inline Hockey Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina. How was the feeling of winning such a major championship? 

Winning the inline hockey World Championship was the greatest feeling I could ever have experienced.  The best moment was when the final buzzer went off and I raced to my teammates. I got to share my happiest moment with such an amazing team and family, filled with so much pride and joy.

That win also saw Namibia become the first African country to win silverware at the championships. How have you grown from that experience as a player and also personally? 

Becoming the first African country to win a gold medal at the World Championship made me realise that hard work and effort do pay off.  Winning the competition makes me want to train harder than ever before so that we can go back and defend our title. It has shown me that if you push yourself through difficult times, you can achieve something great.  

Which team at the championships would you say was the toughest to play against?

The toughest game to play in my opinion was the semi-final against Argentina, because of the thought of potentially losing the game and getting kicked out of the finals. As the World Championships were hosted in Argentina, there was an overwhelming crowd cheering on the Argentinean team. This game was hard to play because of self-doubt rather than the strength of the opposition.

In terms of growing your game as a team, what are some of the lessons that you took away from the championship?

During the competition, the girls always held their heads up high and never let anything break them down. Knowing that every girl out there had each other’s back, we could play our best game and not be afraid of making mistakes.

Inline hockey is not quite popular in Namibia as it should be, what do you think needs to be done to popularise the sport in all parts of the country, especially in schools? 

The word of inline hockey is starting to spread throughout the country with the help of many committee members promoting the sport. I think the accomplishment that both the national team made at the Worlds this year is another step in spreading the word about hockey.

Where do you see yourself five years from now?

In five years, I hope that inline hockey will receive the approval to become part of the Olympic games and that I will be able to be part of the Namibian team representing our country.

Quick Quiz

Nike, Puma or Adidas? Nike 

Twitter, Instagram or Tik-Tok?Instagram

Sneakers or High Heels? Sneakers

Long or short hairstyles? Long hairstyles 

Jogging or hiking? Hiking 

Netflix, Amazon Prime or Showmax? Netflix 

Walvis Bay or Swakopmund? Swakopmund