Despite the restrictions in the country associated with the spread of the coronavirus infection, work continues in Norway to promote HMB sports in the country. HMBIA News talked with Anders Gjestad Rugsveen, captain of the HMB Norway team, about how the sport is developing in his country.
According to Anders, the pandemic affected the pace of the HMB sport development in the country, as well as other areas of life. Training and mass events are prohibited. Such obstacles made the work on sport promotion more complicated, but did not stop it!
“We have started to slowly increase our media presence. Due to the lack of training possibilities we haven’t run any commercials or adverts to attract more people. We have lots of plans when it comes to developing our HMB community. Not all of the viking fighting lust was spent in the old days, so more and more people are contacting us to see what this is about. As soon as the gyms open up here in Norway we will be inviting people to take part in our training and show them what all the fun is about. We are also applying for funding to expand HMB, both for adults and for kids. HMB Soft is something I`m sure Norwegian kids would love and one day I hope that we can introduce this to them,” said the national team captain.
When it comes to tournaments in Norway, there are a lot of regulations that work against HMB athletes and HMB sport as it is. Anders Gjestad Rugsveen hopes that with the growth of buhurt internationally and other sports like MMA, it will be opening up for them to organize on a larger scale and as a real sport.
“It was only 6 years ago that professional boxing was legalized in Norway and MMA is still illegal, just to show that we got a slow system when it comes to approving sports like this. And about HMB – we are growing slowly, but steadily. We got 5 male and 1 female veterans, meaning they have been battle tested in several world championships and tournaments. So, in total we are about 15 people, fighters, recruits and support. Still small, but slowly growing.
Due to the total number of our fighters we sort of say that we are “one club”, but technically we are two HMB clubs here in Norway. We got several new fighters currently gearing up, but also here Covid-19 have had its impact”.
However, the spirit of the Norwegians cannot be broken! They have a goal for which they train, use every opportunity, work to attract new people to the sport. And this goal is shared by all HMB athletes around the world!
“Our main goal for the coming time is BOTN. That’s what we train for and the one event that we really hope the world opens up for in terms of the pandemic. We can’t wait to be back in the list and meet our friends abroad”, said Anders.
HMBIA News editorial office thanks for all the work that Anders and his team are doing for the development of HMB sports in their country. We wish them inspiration and success in their work. We can’t wait for the next edition of the HMB Battle of the Nations and also are eager to see the HMB Norway team in the lists of the Championship.
