Welcome to the Fieldhockey.com Archives

All the news for Wednesday 19 October 2016

Rashid cleared to play Asian Champions Trophy after medical

by S. Ramaguru



KUALA LUMPUR: Forward Mohamed Rashid Baharom passed a last-minute medical test to keep his place in the final 18-man Malaysian squad for the QNET Asian Champions Trophy.

Rashid, 24, had injured his toe in the recent Australian Hockey League (AHL) earlier this month and was a doubtful starter for the six-nation tournament, which begins at the Kuantan Hockey Stadium on Thursday.

But the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) declared Rashid fit after a medical test on Tuesday.

National coach Stephen van Huizen said that Rashid played in a friendly against India on Monday night and came through well enough to keep his place.

The other two players – Baljit Singh and Mohamed Izad Hakimi Jamaluddin – were left out as they have yet to recover from their injuries.

There were no major surprises in the final squad. As expected, in-form Terengganu forward Faizal Saari made it to the team.

Stephen said Faizal deserved a second chance after showing improvements in his game as well as attitude.

Faizal was banned for six month last December when he refused to attend national training.

“He was playing quite all right in the MHL (Malaysia Hockey League). He did even better in the AHL where he scored five goals for the development squad. I believe he will be an advantage as he is also adept at scoring penalty corner goals,” said Stephen.

In goal, Malaysia will again rely on 36-year-old S. Kumar. The other custodian named is youngster Mohamed Hafizuddin Othman.

The captain is Mohamed Shukri Mutalib.

Stephen has set a semi-final target for the team.

“We will take one step at a time and then move forward from there (semi-finals). I would like to see better teamwork and improvements in the players’ performance,” said Stephen.

Besdies Malaysia, the other competing teams are title-holders Pakistan, India, Japan, South Korea and China.

Malaysia have never won the tournament, with third being their best result. They were third in the inaugural tournament in 2011 and then in 2012 and 2013. The tournament was not held in 2014 and 2015.

THE SQUAD

Goalkeepers: S. Kumar, Mohamed Hafizuddin Othman.

Defenders: Mohamed Razie Rahim, Mohamed Shukri Mutalib, Mohamed Najmi Farizal Jazlan, Mohamed Najib Hassan, Faiz Helmi Jali.

Midfielders: Joel van Huizen, Nabil Fiqri Mohamed Nor, Fitri Saari, Meor Mohamed Azuan Hassan, Mohamed Azri Hassan.

Forwards: Mohamed Rashid Baharom, Mohamed Firhan Azhari, Mohamed Shahril Saabah, Faizal Saari, Nik Aiman Nik Rozemi, Mohamed Haziq Shamsul.

The Star of Malaysia

Podium finish at Junior World Cup is a realistic target: Harendra



BENGALURU: Indian junior men's hockey team coach Harendra Singh feels his wards have made good progress in the recent past and the hosts have great chance to finish on the podium in the FIH Junior World Cup to be held in Lucknow from December 8-18.

"I think we have made good progress in the build up to the World Cup. The Australian Hockey League (AHL) was a great exposure for the team where we played some really strong teams and reached the semifinal stage. This has given the boys good confidence and the way we are moving forward, a podium finish at the World Cup is a realistic goal," said Harendra at the SAI centre here today.

Ahead of the Indian colts' departure to Valencia for a four-nation tournament from October 24 to October 30, Harendra was pleased with his players performance in the lead up to the mega-event.

The Indian colts recently participated in the (AHL) where they lost to NSW Waratahs in the bronze medal play-off.

With just about 50 days to go for the junior World Cup, Harendra wants to make the most of the Valencia tour where the team will face tough competition from European teams such as 2013 Junior World Champions Germany, Belgium and hosts Spain.

"Valencia is a crucial tournament for us in terms of improving our tactical skills and to rectify the mistakes we had committed in Australia during the AHL," he said.

Harendra said the final squad for the junior World Cup will be decided after the tour of Valencia.

"We have more or less decided the core group of players but based on the performance in Valencia, we will be sure of the players who will make the cut for World Cup," he concluded.

The Times of India

Dates and Participating Teams for 2017 Pan American Cups (men and women)

The Pan American Hockey Federation (PAHF) is happy to officially announce the final dates and list of participant countries for the Men’s and Women’s Pan American Cups 2017 to be held in Lancaster, PA, USA from 04 to 13 of August, 2017.

The participant countries are:

The champions from each gender will qualify the FIH World Cup 2018.

The PAHF will announce soon the Pan American Cups 2017 competition schedule.

Pan American Hockey Federation media release

Subway All Ireland Schoolboys Championships Preview

Sixteen of Ireland’s leading schools will lock horns this week as the 2016 edition of the Subway All-Ireland Schoolboys Championships come to Dublin for the 35th edition of the competition which gets underway on Wednesday, October 26.

The tournament will be played out across 33 matches, five venues, four groups and three days of high-octane action that serves as one of the highlights of the Irish hockey calendar.

Banbridge Academy go into the competition as the reigning champions and are one of the favourites once again as they pursue a sixth title. Their coach Mark Cordner, last term, believed they were in transition but stunned the field to win out in the end.

This time around, they will have no element of surprise especially with star men like Kyle Marshall and Jake Rowe in their ranks. Their goalkeeper Luke Roleston, meanwhile, was the star of the show on numerous occasions last season and is another big element of their team.

They are in Pool C and will face Methodist College Belfast, Limerick’s Villiers and Rathgar’s High School. The latter side could cause some problems with four Leinster Under-18 players in their ranks – Alex Flynn, Alex O’Regan, Ali Empey and Peter Lynch. They do face a race against time, though, on Lynch who broke a bone in his shoulder, recently.

Wesley, finalists a year ago, are the big name in Pool D but will not have it their own way in what looks to be the toughest group of all. The Ballinteer school will be looking to end a seven-year wait for a fourth title after a frustrating couple of years that have seen them lose in the final three times since 2012.

They have five Leinster Under-18 players in their squad while they also have Irish Under-18s like Mark Samuel, Gavin Gibney and David Mawhinney that they can draw on.

Sullivan Upper and Bandon GS will provide big hurdles to get over with Friends, perhaps, the outsiders. For Sullivan, Tom Robson, Fergus Gibson and Harry Morris provide skill and quality. Bandon finished second in the Munster qualifiers with wins over Newtown and Midleton and a draw with Villiers.

In Pool A, Lisburn’s Wallace High School and Cork’s Ashton School are the targets for outsiders Campbell College and Newpark Comprehensive.

Wallace have one of the hottest strikers in the competition in Andrew O’Hare. He scored a massive seven times in a recent win over Grosvenor and a hat trick against Friends.

Ashton, meanwhile, won all four of their games in the Munster qualifiers but their charge has been dented somewhat by Irish Under-18 midfielder David Lynch’s decision to complete his schooling at Bruce College. Newpark’s key man is the ever-improving Luke Adams but this tournament may a year early for a young side.

St Andrew’s – winners three times in the last four years – will be strong contenders once again with Guy Sarratt pulling the strings while Ben Walker is a dynamo in midfield.

Their group sees them as the side to beat against Co Donegal’s Royal & Prior, Tyrone’s Cookstown HS and Dublin qualifiers Mount Temple. Temple feature Polish senior international Mateusz Nowakowski as their star man.

It makes for a fascinating series of the competitions with the top place finisher from each of the four-team groups going through to the semi-finals, held on Friday, October 28 at Three Rock Rovers ahead of the final, on the same day, at 2.30pm.

CLICK HERE for the full match schedule!

Subway All-Ireland Schoolboys Championships (October 26-28, 2016)

Pool A: Wallace HS, Newpark Comprehensive, Campbell College, Ashton School

Pool B: Royal & Prior, St Andrew’s, Cookstown HS, Mount Temple

Pool C: Banbridge Academy, High School, Methodist College Belfast, Villiers

Pool D: Sullivan Upper, Wesley College, Friends, Bandon GS

Irish Hockey Association media release

First water-based astro in Houston, Texas

St. John’s School and its Field Hockey program are proud to announce the completion of its new water-based, turf field hockey pitch.  This state of the art facility will be the first in Houston, in Texas and in the entire Southwest, being the only wet-turf option within 800 miles of Houston. To put this in perspective, the Allied drive in World War Two from London to Berlin was roughly the same distance.

Texas Field Hockey has grown exponentially over the past decade and this facility will enhance the continued growth and quality of field hockey in the area.  To help enhance the sport’s visibility in our area and our student-athletes’ continued growth and success, we would like to offer this facility as a possible venue to showcase collegiate and higher level field hockey play.  We would welcome the opportunity to host off-season exhibition or showcase events (Houston has ideal weather during the Winter and Spring Months), camps, or even in-season games between travelling opponents.  We are open and flexible to options, all with the objective of showcasing the sport for local fans and athletes. 
 
Some brief background on St. John’s and its Field Hockey program:
St. John’s is an academically rigorous coed K-12 independent college preparatory day school with 1,200+ students. Our hockey program includes over 170 players on 6 competitive teams, extending from 6th grade through Varsity.  Many of our players practice and compete year-round with Texas Pride FH Club, headed by Tina Edmonds (Maryland captain and NCAA champion ’06) and Clarence Jennelle, previously from XCaliber.  Our Varsity, JV and middle school teams have earned the following accolades: Varsity has advanced to our State/Conference championship game in the S.P.C. (which includes both Texas and Oklahoma) 5 of the last 8 years, winning 4 of those years, with the most recent being last Fall.  Our JV has been in the City Championship in which it competes against area Varsity and JV teams, 10 of the past 10 years, winning the championship 8 times, including 2015.  In middle school, our 8th grade has competed in its city championship series 13 of the past 15 years, winning 11 of those years, including this past Fall.

Our program has seen 24 past players move on to play collegiately over the past 10 years, 6 of whom went on to lead their college squads as Captains, at the following schools: Brown (2), Colgate, Columbia, Dartmouth, Davidson, Duke, Harvard, Kenyon, Middlebury, UNC, Northwestern, Rutgers, Stanford (3), Swarthmore, Tufts, Washington & Lee (4) and Yale.  Seven of these players currently play now, with an additional 3 who will join their ranks next fall.   Several players have had the honor to play in the NCAA finals at the D1 and D3 levels, with 3 reaching the final 4 with their teams in more than one year, and subsequently also reaching the finals, with one whose team earned a national championship

Among current players, 3 rising seniors and 2 rising juniors have verbal commitments.  We have 8 rising sophomores who aspire to play collegiately and who are actively engaged in the recruiting process.  All of these players compete in Future’s, starting in 6th grade. All attend Regionals and many have qualified for Nationals. Some have moved on to Junior Olympics, Futures Elite and the USA Junior National U17, U19 and U21 teams. Several, through Texas Pride, participate in events such as RIT’s, NIT’s, Festival, Top Recruit, President’s Day Showcase, RCC’s and NFC’s to name a few.
If there is an interest in trying to arrange a game or tournament at our new facility, and help showcase field hockey in our area, please contact the following:
 
Craig Chambers – Head of Program  (713) 805-9333 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

St. John's School media release

Hockey and technology: it's only logical


Is an increasing use of technology in hockey developing the sport? Photo: Coach Logic

Whether you are an international superstar or a weekend club player, a solid mountain of evidence says what you do during training will impact your performance on the pitch.

Regular training for fitness and skills is essential but another important, sometimes overlooked, part of training is the use of feedback and statistical data during training and its influence upon competitive performances.

Head of Performance at Hockey Wales, Dan Clements is a big fan of statistics. He said: “Performance analysis is a huge part of the game at present and technology that assists with this is developing on a daily basis,” he says. “Utilising a platform that enhances a squad’s ability to analyse and reflect on performances or training will undoubtedly improve performance and continues to drive a culture of self-improvement.”

With both Wales men and Wales women qualifying for Hockey World League Round 2, this is a nation that is setting its sights high. To aid in its bid to reach the Hockey World League Semi-Finals, a Hockey World Cup 2018 qualifying event, Hockey Wales has enlisted the support of FIH Hockey Academy partner Coach Logic.

Clements explains how his staff and players use the technology platform to improve performance: “Coach Logic technology will enhance our senior programmes through the dissemination of video but it will also create learning communities. Being able to log in and communicate with peers and coaching staff on specific aspects of a performance will prove invaluable as a means of sharing knowledge.”

Increasingly accessible technology means platforms such as Coach Logic can be used at all levels of the game. The biggest question for both elite and club coaches is how to make the statistics and information stick from one performance to the next. Whether the players are involved in a tournament; a league where the matches are seven days apart; or whether it is from one season to the next; the dilemma is how to ensure that what is learned from one performance is used to drive training and become a positive factor in the next match.

In an ideal scenario, a well-organised coaching team will have a continuum in place that runs along these lines:

Match > video analysis and feedback > practice > feedback and communication > practice >  feedback and communication > match. 

Andy Halliday is Assistant Coach to the Great Britain men’s hockey team and a coach and player at St Albans Hockey Club in England. He says: “The feedback and information you give during a training session is absolutely vital to the players’ performance in the next match.

“I think it can be very easy to lose focus on the next challenge by dwelling too much on the last performance. There needs to be a balance between learning lessons from the past and planning for the next opponent. This is particularly relevant when the next opponent is likely to play with a different style or tactical approach.”

The sight of German players pouring over tablets off the pitch indicates the importance that German women's Head Coach Jamilon Muelders attaches to feedback. “I want my players to take responsibility,” says the Olympic bronze medal-winning Coach. “I want an overview, but I want the players to interpret the feedback and identify errors.”

Mulders counterpart, the German men’s head coach Valentin Altenburg sums up the influence that technology is having upon the game. “Making the best use of all the information we have has become a skill in itself.”

Coach Logic is an FIH Academy partner. National Associations, leagues and hockey team’s registering through FIH will be given exclusive membership benefits, including a 10% subscription discount. Visit their website to find out more: coach-logic.com

FIH site