Level Field: hockey

Showing posts with label hockey. Show all posts

Sunday, February 11, 2024

WHATEVER WILL BE, WILL BE

LEAVING ON A JET PLANE

FORMER national head coach for hockey A. Arul Selvaraj, Friday night returned to Dublin, Ireland, with mixed feelings and a heavy heart.

He left with thoughts lingering on his mind of an unfinished job and disappointed that the team had failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics on two occasions - the Hangzhou Asian Games last year and the final qualifier in Oman last month. He was also troubled by having to choose between keeping his promise to his family to return home at the end of his contract and whether to apply to stay on as an interim coach or for a new long-term contract.

“I am really not in a state of mind to make any decisions. I have all these mixed feelings I need to address to move forward,” said Arul before his departure on Friday.

The 49-year-old father of three daughters who had settled down in Ireland 15 years ago, took charge of the national team as head coach from Roelant Oltmans, of Holland, in August 2020. He had a two-year contract to end on December 31 last year but this was extended until the qualification (for the Paris Olympics) in Oman.

“But utmost on my mind now is to return to my wife and daughters to spend some quality time with them.

“I have already told my wife not to ask me anything about my future plans. I just want to have a week to relax my mind, spend time with them and just laze around.

“Maybe after that I will discuss with them what my plans are and also get their views before coming to any decision.”

But Arul does not have the luxury of time to make his decision, if he has any intention to continue working in Malaysia because Feb 16 is the deadline for applications to the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) for the post of national hockey coach.

Several applications have already come in and MHC president Datuk Subahan Kamal has clearly indicated that the coaching committee headed by Datuk Manjit Abdullah will be vetting the applications and announcing their final decision to the MHC executive committee for endorsement.

With the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup tournament in Ipoh scheduled for May 4-11 and Nations Cup in Poland (May 31-June 9), it is important that the fresh coaching set-up for the national team is done urgently.

Whether a new coach will have enough time to select his players and mould the team for the two championships is a question the MHC coaching committee will have to give thought to.

Would they want time to finalise the coach, by naming an interim coach? A question only the coaching committee can answer.

Coming back to Arul, he expressed his sincere thanks and appreciation to MHC president Datuk Subahan and team manager Datuk Ahmad Najmi Razak (national team chairman) and team manager Datuk Mirnawan Nawawi for their trust in him, their undivided support and a totally free hand in coaching the team.

“Our failure to make the Paris Olympics is the team’s responsibility headed by me, and definitely not MHC’s,” added the former national player who last played for Malaysia at the 1998 Utrecht World Cup.

“The entire management of MHC gave their fullest support.

“I feel sad that we have let them down but it was not for want of not giving our best.

“The players had been at their highest level of discipline, punctuality and dedication on and off the pitch.

“We were a family and gave everything.”

But Arul said he was only disappointed because they did not achieve their target to qualify for the Olympics.

“The team had achieved some creditable results along the way and they should be applauded and acknowledged for their efforts.

“If only the players had taken the chances that were created, like missing sitters and missing penalty strokes, things would have been totally different.”

He also asked: “Which player would want to skip an opportunity to play in the Olympics, more so since the last time we qualified was for the Sydney 2000 Olympics”

The achievements of the team included winning the Azlan Shah Cup (1st time after a 39-year wait), finished 2nd in Asia Cup(the second-place finish in Jakarta saw them qualify for the World Cup in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela, India), second in the Asian Champions Trophy, and beating New Zealand and Spain in the World Cup.

And at the 2022 National Sports Awards, Arul was named the male coach of the year, while the Speedy Tigers won men's team of the year award.

“In conclusion, whatever happened in the end, I and the players take full responsibility and MHC cannot be blamed for anything because they wanted the best and gave the best to the national team.”

Arul admitted that he strongly feels that there are still unfinished tasks but declined to elaborate.

“I have spoken to the president and Datuk Najmi, and they know what is on my mind.

“But for now, I would rather leave that aside and enjoy my break with my family and cross the bridge when I need to.”

Bon voyage Arul, until we hear from you again.

Sunday, November 26, 2023

Development and talent scouting, formula for success

apakhabartv Sport October 21, 2023 4 Minutes

Development is a long word and it underlines the time taken for it to mature and bear fruits.

However, many neglect development and choose the short cut to success which is not guaranteed though – through naturalisation and giving citizenship to foreign players and hiring of foreign coaches on short term contracts, which leaves no foundation for the future.

And when some opt for development, they expect instant results or in some cases “begin today and expect results yesterday”.

Development coaches get the sack in a couple of years, when their players are still young and no results are forthcoming.

Talent scouting plays a vital role too and work hand in hand with development, because without talent scouting and spotting the potentials, development programmes could well take and even longer time to bear fruits.

Several sports associations have talent identification programmes, and this is another source for development programmes.

Then, there are clubs and academies who work with youth, but a majority work independently and there is no link to the sports associations or schools, to pass on their talent.

Recently, the FA of Malaysia, got all sports academies to register and monitor them, by grading their academies based on several criteria and assisting them. This is indeed a good move, not only in monitoring these academies, but also to keep tab of the talents available and providing them a pathway to higher level and also serve as a reservoir of talent for the future.

This is where, the scribe has mentioned and called for ex-internationals time and again, to ex-internationals of all sport, who are currently NOT involved in sports administrations, coaching, managing, consulting or even involved in any sports programme, to come forward help in talent scouting.

Take for example a Tamil school in Rinching (near Semenyih in Selangor near another small town Bernanang) who started a hockey development programme in 2016, through the initiative of former international and member of the 1975 national World Cup team who finished fourth in Kuala Lumpur, K.Balasingam.

Bala, as he is fondly known, saw the school team in 2015 at the Royal Selangor Club annual hockey tournament and was impressed by the team’s performance.

He inquired about the team and offered to sponsor the team with hockey sticks, balls, jerseys and some financial assistance and has been doing so every year since.

As SJKT L. Rinching was only a primary school, a programme was started for those who under the school programme but have who moved to other nearby schools to continue their secondary education, could continue to train under qualiofied coaches S. Kaalitash (school teacher) and M. Gopal (a retired government servant), who were the prime movers of the programme.

Today the programme has about 80 players, including players from other schools of mixed races.

While they started to train at the school field which was in deplorable conditions, Nottingham University in Semenyih on hearing of the programme, offered their field for training for free twice week.

Recently, Nottingham University donated hockey sticks and balls for the programme.

Called ‘STAR’ programe (Sekolah Tamil Rinching), the programme has seen players graduate to join Sports School – Bukit Jalil, SMK Anderson, Ipoh and SMK Mutiara Impian, Penang.

But after more than six years of hardwork, dedication and support by Kaali, Gopal and Bala, today saw the joy and pride when one of their players – 17-year-old Eswaran George – who comes from a poor family in Ringching and student of SM Mutiara Impian, who was recently called up to join the Junior World Cup training squad, was selected to represent the team in the upcoming Sultan of Johor Cup.

Others in Sports Schools from the STAR programme include: in Bukit Jalil – M. Tasvindran (15) and K. Deswindran (15); in SMK Anderson – M. Thanseh (16), M. Yugesh (15), S. Leswin (15); and SMK Mutiara Impian – T. Kugan Raaj (15) and A Raguram (13).

Players from the programme were placed in Ipoh and Penang through the initiative of Bala and another former international Jiwa Mohan, who has hockey academies in Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

Jiwa admitted as many as 25 players from Rinching programme in his academy for free.

The Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) and president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal, have also recognised the efforts of STAR and visited them and helped them financially too.

This is a proven record of a small school in a remote district with a proper development programme by dedicated coaches and support of ex-internationals, which will all probability produce national players one day. They are already on the right path.

But it took them six long years to reap their harvest and that too only to reach the junior level, but they have reached a milestone and more goodness is on their way.

Thus, who says that there is a dearth of talent in sports in Malaysia?

It only takes time, effort, dedication, comb the length and breath of Malaysia, have the talent scouts on ground, have proper long term developments programmes with qualified coaches, proper monitoring and assistance given, before we reap the benefits after a minimum of six years at least.

Are we ready to take the long term path of proven success or continue to rely on short term programmes or take the road to rely on foreign players and hope success is achieved, probably on a short term basis too?

Being cruel to be kind

apakhabartv Sport November 5, 2023 3 Minutes

The proverb ‘more than one way to skin a cat’ probably applies to the Road to Gold (RTG) committee, who recently dropped the national hockey squad and a number of underperforming shuttlers from the programmes.

While they were right in their decision and probably made the popular decision, as teams and athletes have been told that their inclusion depends on current rankings.

Besides the hockey team, who failed to win the Hangzhou Asian Games gold and did not get past the group stage, badminton doubles pairs Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing and Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai have also been removed from the programmes due to their current ranking.

The decisions were made during the third RTG committee meeting, which was chaired by Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh.

Other members of RTG are co-chair Olympic Council of Malaysia President Tan Sri Norza Zakaria, Youth and Sports Ministry Secretary-General Dr K. Nagulendran; RTG Coordinator Datuk Stuart Ramalingam; ex-National Sports Council (NSC) Director-General Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail (who may be replaced by currernt DG Abdul Rashid Yaakub); National Sports Institute chief executive officer Ahmad Faedzal Md Ramli; FA of Malaysia president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin, the Paris Olympic Chef-de-Mission, Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) vice-president, Datuk Ahmad Najmi Abdul Razak, squash legend Datuk Nicol David, badminton legend Datuk Lee Chong Wei and hockey legend Datuk Mirnawan Nawawi.

The RTG was supposed to work with the existing Podium Programme, which focuses on the preparation programmes.

The RTG preparation programmes for elite athletes includes daily training, overseas training, including more exposure to domestic and international competitions, provision of coaching services, support staff, sports science and medical services, as well as self-improvement programmes.

The question is whether the decision to drop hockey, especially with the last chance to qualify for the Paris Olympics in January, either in Oman or Spain, is in the best interest of the team, particularly the morale of the players.

The additional RM3,000 allowance that the players were receiving under RTG was stopped after September, although the players still receive their allowance under the Podium programmes, which ranges between RM800 and RM4,000.

Afterall, the hockey players are poor cousins of football players who earn much more. RM3,000 to the hockey players means a great deal.

However, it has been reliably learned that support services for both hockey and badminton players are still being continued, and due credit goes to the RTG committee for making this decision.

But as to the withdrawal of the allowance, will it go down well with the players, although they knew the score that if they did not perform, it will be withdrawn.

However, was it for want of trying that they failed?

Maybe we need to look at the big picture.

Afterall, they had won the Sultan Raja Azlan Shah tournament last year when history was created when Malaysia beat Korea 3-2 to wrest the silverware for the first time after 29 editions in Ipoh. But critics dismissed the victory as an achievement in tournament which was the weakest in years.

Then, they had finished runners-up to India after taking a comfortable 3-1 lead but to go down 3-4 in the Asian Champions Trophy at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Chennai.

Hockey is also among the top world ranked (among top 15) team sports in the world as compared to other team sports.

Yes, we cannot tolerate non-performance in Hangzhou, but sometimes things happen.

Will the withdrawal of the allowance do more harm or good to the team?

There is the 6.9million budget for the RTG and all allowance has already beern factored in.

However, credit to the Malaysian Hockey Confederation, the team officials and players, as none of them complained of the withdrawal of the allowance and took it in their stride.

Let us not forget that Ahmad Najmi and Mirnawan are members of RTG.

Do they know something the public does not.

Whatever it is, maybe the RTG could have taken a different approach – maybe threw down the gaunlet, by telling the hockey team that if they qualified for the Olympics from the qualifiers in January, they would be remibursed their RM3,000.00 alowance which has been currently withdraw.

Maybe the RTG committee were more concerned about the brickbats they would receive from the media and public, if they continued with the allowance or threw the challenge.

Food for thought or have the RTG already thought of it?

Maybe the RTG need to stay positive and try another method of reaching their goal.