S2H Team
Martin Haner is yet another German shining with the scalpel and hockey stick. The defender par excellence is an orthopedic surgeon and has combined careers pretty well, evident from his nearly 270 appearances in the famous white-and-black of Germany.
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In the Covid pandemic context, Haner switched from surgery to manning an ICU unit where the clinic he worked for tended to those stricken by the dreaded coronavirus.
Haner is one in a line of German hockey internationals who have gone on to become doctors, specialists and surgeons.
Carsten Fischer, the stout defender and penalty corner specialists in the 1980s, his contemporary and sparkling striker Stefan Blocher and the reliable Michael Green, a defender in the 1990s and early 2000s are just some of them.
Captain of the German team in the FIH Pro League, Haner scored four goals in the recent EuroHockey Championship where Germany all but regained the title. They came within nine seconds of winning the final against The Netherlands in Amstelveen but conceded a goal from a penalty corner before losing in the penalty shootout.
Haner, 32, owns a gold medal won at the 2012 London Olympics.
He made his senior debut in 2005 at just 17 years of age and led Germany to the 2009 Junior World Cup title in Malaysia-Singapore.
Combining studies with the demanding international training and playing schedule is a feat in itself and Haner did remarkably well to finish medical studies in 2018 and join a clinic.
In 2013, Haner had been named Sports Scholar of the Year, an award for student-athletes organized by Deutsche Bank and Germany Sport Aid after topping a poll in which 7,000 voted. It meant doubling of his scholarship which came as a boon during his medical studies.
Haner, who plays for Berliner HC, has delayed calling time on his international career so as to participate in the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
His presence bolsters Germany’s chances for a fifth Olympic gold and should he retire as planned after the Games, his influence in the heart of the midfield and defence, not to mention his vast experience, will be sorely missed.