News for 12 February 2019
All the news for Tuesday 12 February 2018
Masters of the game get another shot at glory
The Masters Indoor World Cup is taking place in Hong Kong in mid-February (14-17 February). The event is another demonstration of the life-long appeal that hockey holds for so many participants, with players continuing to play at the highest level well into their 50s and 60s.
As the masters hockey scene, indoor and outdoor, continues to grow, more than 25 teams from nine countries will be taking part across three age groups in Hong Kong – 40+, 45+ and 50+ – for both male and female teams.
It is a historic occasion because for the first time the Masters Indoor World Cup is being held under the joint banner of the International Masters Hockey Association (IMHA) and the WMH (World Masters Hockey) – a collaborative move that has been some time coming to fruition.
Competing nations include Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and USA.
When it comes to longevity within the game, a player who has withstood the test of time is Canada’s Kenny Pereira.
An international for Canada at both the outdoor and indoor version of the game, Pereira has more than 400 caps for his country. He represented Canada in the inaugural Indoor World Cup in 2003 and, until the past couple of years, has played at just about every major tournament at which Canada has participated. Now he is one of the drivers behind the Canadian 45+ team’s participation at the Masters Indoor World Cup, although the team is not planning on doing it the easy way.
They are making things extra tough for themselves by competing in the 40+ age group, meaning that all of the players are giving their opponents five years and, for some of the players it is even more years, as Pereira’s team mate John de Souza explains.
“I am over 50, and we have four athletes that are doing the same. This is going to be a massive disadvantage but we knew what we were signing up for. When we decided to do this we made a commitment to each other that we would train hard and be the best that we could be.
“To date, we have been pretty good and have motivated each other to get into the gym. We have done what we can at practice to get up to speed with the feel and pace of the game. We had a festival weekend against the USA and that was great preparation. When all else fails we will be turning to the ageless wonder Ken Pereira to bail us out where ever he can.”
So just why does Pereiraand the other Masters athletes keep doing it? He concedes that, as the players age, so the commitment to training and competing gets tougher. There are family and work demands to juggle – things that were just not so pressing when the players were in their 20s and early 30s.
But, somethings are worth making the extra effort for.
“Coming from Canada, you don’t get to play in major events too often,” he explains. “We always struggle to qualify, funding is always an issue, so when we do get there we definitely have to enjoy it and experience it but also know what we’re there for and that’s to compete and to do as best as Canada can do.”
For people who have not seen a Masters event, there is the potential to dismiss the action as less intense than its regular international counterpart. Nothing could be further from the truth. Once on the field of play, the action is fierce and hugely competitive and both de Souza and Pereira are incredibly proud to be pulling on the maple leaf and belting out the national anthem.
“It is always an honour to wear the Canadian colours and represent your country,” says de Souza. “I have been blessed to have had that honour as a player and coach in this great sport of hockey. I love the challenge of playing against the best in the world and nothing makes me prouder than seeing our teams do well on the world stage.”
Pereira agrees: “Yeah, I always get excited when putting on the maple leaf, no matter if it’s indoor, outdoor or for my first Masters event. I have pulled on the jersey more than 400 times and every time it feels great. I cherish every moment I get to represent Canada.”
There is also the social factor. One of the wonderful things about the age-group events is the fact that many of the players will be familiar faces for those taking part. Just as 10-15 years ago, the players were doing battle for their country as full-blown internationals, now they are competing with the same players again – same high standard, possibly slightly slower speed of movement.
“For me, I think if you are having fun, keep doing it,” says de Souza. “That goes for hockey or whatever you enjoy in life. Hockey is also a great way to stay in shape and keep healthy.
“Specifically talking about indoor hockey, I think it helps that you don't need as many people to get a game going. I also believe that in the outdoor game there is less opportunity to get the ball while in indoor it’s so hard to hide. You are always involved in the game. You are always moving and you really don't have to cover that much space to get from one end to the other.”
“To be honest, I think we just have a lot of fun,” says Pereira. “That’s what has kept my career going, just enjoying the camaraderie, the jokes, the ribbing of one another and the excitement to compete.”
FIH site
Olivia Merry returns to goal scoring form
By David Leggat
Olivia Merry’s return to goalscoring form could scarcely have been more timely for the women’s Vantage Black Sticks.
Her hat-trick in the 5-1 thumping of the world second-ranked team Britain in Christchurch not only earned the Vantage Black Sticks their first points in the inaugural season of the global Pro League, but maintained Merry’s standing as among the most important figures in the side. It also lifted her to the top of the goalscoring chart in the Pro League so far.
The Christchurch born-and-bred attacker is now up to 83 international goals in 208 games.
Only the recently-retired Anita McLaren, with 105 goals, has scored more for the Vantage Black Sticks than Merry. Not bad for someone who only made her international debut six years ago.
She has scored six of the last 11 goals for the national team and it’s hard to overstate her significance to the world No 6 side, especially given the relatively recent departures of the likes of McLaren, Gemma McCaw and Charlotte Harrison from the attack department.
Merry acknowledged she has taken on a greater leadership role within the squad but is reluctant to play up her part in the group at the expense of others.
‘’I have had to take more of a leadership role in the striking group but other players have as well. We are moving towards everyone taking personal ownership for their performances,’’ Merry, 26, said.
‘’We’ve got younger players coming in, and they are exciting. We have to give them time and they can be great attackers.’’
Merry, who has a solid physical presence to her play, has clever stick skills and if the Vantage Black Sticks are to make an impact in the inaugural Pro League season, she will have a big part to play.
Having lost their first two games, both 1-0, to Belgium and the Netherlands at North Harbour, bagging the points against the No 2-ranked British team coached by their longterm former mentor Mark Hager was satisfying.
‘’It was looking a bit grim,’’ Merry said. ‘’So it definitely takes some pressure off but we still want to be performing week in, week out. Having one good game isn’t good enough. We have to make a goal of winning all our games.’’
Merry scored one of the Vantage Black Sticks goals in their thrilling 4-1 Commonwealth Games gold medal win over Australia on the Gold Coast last April, but the Pro League, with its emphasis on consistency, is a different type of challenge.
‘’I’ve really enjoyed the fact it’s like one-off games. The format allows you to put more into one game, as opposed to saving yourself for a tournament format.
‘’The days off in between really give us an opportunity to work on what hasn’t gone so well.’’
A big difference between the first two games and the British match in Christchurch was ‘’trusting our processes,’’ Merry said.
‘’We’ve done a lot of work on our goalscoring, trusting we’ve done all the work and fixing up a few things that hadn’t gone so well in the two previous games.’’
Next up are world No 5 Germany and No 10 China, both in Christchurch on Friday and Sunday respectively.
Germany deprived the Vantage Black Sticks of what would have been a cherished first Olympic medal in Rio three years ago in the bronze medal clash.
However Merry said they appeared to have changed their strategic approach, based on watching them draw 2-2 with Australia in Hobart last weekend.
‘’There was a lot of go-forward. In the past we’ve seen them hold the ball round the back more and be a bit more defensive.’’
Another challenge ahead for the New Zealand women but a fresh jolt of confidence is running through a squad who have now made their presence felt on the points table.
Hockey New Zealand Media release
East Grinstead finish fourth at EuroHockey Club Indoor Trophy Tournament
East Grinstead finished their EuroHockey Club Indoor Trophy Tournament with a fourth-place finish at the weekend, having qualified for the event after winning the 2018 Jaffa Super 6s.
They began the tournament in fine form, recording consecutive victories over Amiens SC (France), Soerbymagle HC (Denmark) and Gaziantep Polisgucu SK (Turkey) to qualify unbeaten from Pool A.
However, after advancing from their group, two defeats to WKS Grunwald Poznan (Poland) and C.H. SPV Complutense (Spain) meant they would end the tournament in fourth place and miss out on promotion.
Ashley Jackson finished as East Grinstead’s top scorer, notching six goals in five matches, with the team also scoring with the most penalty corner goals (10) from the entire tournament.
East Grinstead will compete in the same league in 2020 having qualified for the event by winning the 2019 Jaffa Super 6s competition.
Results
East Grinstead 8-2 Amiens SC
Soerbymagle HC 3-6 East Grinstead
East Grinstead 4-3 Gaziantep Polisgucu SK
East Grinstead 4-5 WKS Grunwald Poznan
East Grinstead 1-6 C.H. SPV Complutense
England Hockey Board Media release
Veteran Sukri keeps high-riding UniKL on their toes
By T. Avineshwaran
PETALING JAYA: Over confidence is never good in any sport.
And an experienced Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) midfielder Mohamad Sukri Abdul Mutalib (pic) has warned his teammates not to let their fine run in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) get to their heads.
They are looking good to win the league for the first time but they have three more matches to go against Nur Insafi (Feb 17), Maybank (Feb 20) and TNB Thunderbolt (Feb 22).
“In sports, anything can happen. Let’s focus on one match at a time. We must tell ourselves to get three points in every match,” said the 32-year-old Sukri.
“We must continue to play with the same attitude. Focus is a must and we must not become complacent.”
The national team captain said he is enjoying every moment of his time with his teammates even though it is just his first year with UniKL.
“The environment is harmonious. This harmony has led to our good form. Communication has been great and we all have the same mentality – to win every game in the league,” said the former Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club player.
A. Arulselvaraj’s boys are currently top in the league with 25 points from eight wins and one draw, and Sukri is hoping for a strong finish.
“The players are just hungry for wins. From the foreigners to the local players, we have told ourselves that we will try to win every game after the setback in the Tan Sri P. Alagendra Cup,” he said.
“Even in our last match, we beat Tenaga Nasional 4-2 after trailing 1-2 in the first two quarters.”
UniKL have a healthy four-point lead over second-placed Tenaga, who have 21 points from nine matches.
The Star of Malaysia
Deon Morgan appointed president of the South African Hockey Association
On Sunday 10th February 2019 the SAHA Council met for its Council and Annual General Meeting. As part of these meetings the election of outgoing positions of President (Mike du Plessis), Rules, Technical and Education (Feico Mulder) and Treasurer (Marq Roberts) took place. We can confirm that Deon Morgan has been selected as the man to succeed Mike du Plessis as the ultimate head of council for hockey in South Africa.
Deon who hails from Eastern Province and was instrumental in setting up the Gelvan Park Hockey Club, also serving as the president of Eastern Province Hockey before he moved to Johannesburg. In Deon’s playing career he featured for the SASSA squad and the SA Men’s Hockey Team in the pre-unified days under the CACOS banner. Deon has also previously featured as the head of events in the SA Hockey Executive and was the team manager for the Men’s side during the coaching era of Paul Revington.
From an on-field point of view, the immediate focus will be the outdoor sides in the Hockey Series Finals as well as in the African Cup later in the year, critical in stopping the slide down the rankings. There is also certainty required in certain coaching roles that will be high on the agenda.
Transformation will be a critical area of focus along with the ongoing challenges of an amateur sport and the funding issues that run with that. The challenge is a massive one, but Deon will have all the support of the hockey loving country.
“I am humbled to be elected as the President of SAHA and to be given the opportunity to serve the game in this capacity,” shared President elect Morgan, “I am looking forward to the journey ahead and even though I do realise that it will not always be easy, I believe the South African hockey fraternity will rally together to take hockey to new heights.”
Further to this Gary Carsons has been elected as the new treasurer. Gary has done a fantastic job as chairperson of the Events subcommittee organising several IPT’s over the past couple of years. Feico Mulder was re-elected as head of Rules, Technical and Education whose areas of responsibility span across umpiring, technical officials and the education framework for coaches in SA. All the change takes place on the back of the changes made towards the end of 2018. Luntu Ntloko was co-opted for Marketing & Sponsorship, Gordon Pentecost for Legal Affairs and Owen Mvimbi as the interim Athletes Commission Member.
We wish Deon and the council the best for their term as we look to take SA Hockey forward together.
SA Hockey Association media release