Zeytinburnu Belediyespor
| Zeytinburnu Belediyespor | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| City | Istanbul, Turkey |
| League | Turkish Ice Hockey Super League (TBHSL) |
| Founded | May 29, 2010 |
| Home arena |
Silivrikapı Ice Skating Hall Capacity 900 |
| Colors | |
| General manager | Halit Albayrak |
| Head coach | Deniz İnce |
| Championships | |
| Regular season titles |
|
Zeyinburnu Belediyespor, short for (Turkish: Zeytinburnu Belediyesi Buz Hokeyi Takımı), is the ice hockey team of Zeytinburnu Belediye S.K. in Istanbul, Turkey founded by the Municipality of Zeytinburnu district in 2010. Currently, the team compete in the Turkish Ice Hockey Super League (TBHSL) and play their home matches in Silivrikapı Ice Skating Hall. The club's colors are blue, white and red.
In 2010, the Municipality of Zeytinburnu erected two mobile ice-rinks of each 400 m2 (4,300 sq ft) in the frame of a social responsibility project called "Doğaya destek sizden, buz pateni biletiniz bizden" (literally: You Support the Nature, We Award the Ticket for Ice Skating) to promote recycling. Citizens were awarded free tickets for ice skating session for the duration of half-an-hour under supervision of trainers in exchange for waste brought to recycle. Street children in the district, who are coming from poor families of mostly southeastern and eastern Anatolian origin with up to 10–12 children, collected waste paper to get free tickets. However, some of them tried to enter without a ticket, caused trouble around the venue, threatened the employees and damaged the ice rink. Noticing the youngsters' interest in ice skating, the municipality officials gave them in the beginning free-of-charge sessions instead of calling in for further security measures. The increasing interest of the street children induced the district mayor Murat Aydın to form an ice hockey team with the support of the Turkish Ice Hockey Federation (TBHF).
The team was established on May 29, 2010. Around twenty youngsters joined the team. Training and playing ice hockey in a team helped rehabilitate the children, many of whom were drug addicted or smokers, and resume their high school education. The addicts with social troubles were transformed into gentile sportspeople.
The team played in the Marmara Region Division of the Turkish Ice Hockey First League (TBHBL), the second-level league in Turkey. In the first two seasons, the team lost all league games with high score. The number of players as street children dropped to eight. By and by, the team transferred also professional ice hokey players. Success came in the 2012–13 season. Composed of players aged 17 to 19, Zeytinburnu Belediyespor became regional league leader, and was promoted at the end to the Turkish Ice Hockey Super League (TBHSL).
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