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News for 14 February 2018

All the news for Wednesday 14 February 2018

Team Canada to embark on final training tour prior to 2018 Commonwealth Games



In 50 days, the Women’s National Team will be facing off against world number five, Australia on their home soil in the opening game of the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Playing against Australia, in Australia on opening day. It doesn’t get any better than that – Kate Wright

According to Kate Wright, captain of the Women’s National Team, between now and that moment, there’s a lot of room for improvement. That improvement started in January in Chile with an undefeated test series and now, the Canadian Women’s National Team departs to Chula Vista, California for a two-week training camp featuring four test matches against the USA national team. Wright said the team made great strides in Chile and she is looking forward to more in California over the next two weeks.

“It was great to play against Chile head-to-head in non-qualification games. We played pretty free and implemented our new tactics,” Wright said. “Moving forward, we need to trust what we started to build in Chile and continue to improve that attacking mentality.”

Newly appointed head coach, Giles Bonnet, said he’s excited to tackle the second phase of the year and continue building on what the team learned in Chile when it comes to the new style of play and team structure.

“We will start to introduce patterns of play within the structures and focus hard on the refining of technical skills required to execute the systems,” Bonnet said.

Getting competitive international games is a geographical challenge for Team Canada. Being removed from Europe, the global centre of hockey-playing nations, means the team has to travel far to get those games in. With a major multi-sport competition —Commonwealth Games— lurking in the spring, Wright said getting games against Chile and USA is crucial to their year-plan.

“We don’t have the luxury of playing a different nation every week. These opportunities don’t happen that often for us; We want to make the most of it,” she said. “It’s great preparation for the Commonwealth Games and even more so looking forward to Olympic qualification.”

Field Hockey Canada media release



Coach of the Year Annan on a winning streak


Alyson Annan has guided Netherlands to over 50 victories over the last two years Photo: FIH/Getty

At time of writing, the Netherlands women have just recorded their 23rd consecutive win. And winning is something that FIH Coach of the Year Alyson Annan knows all about.

Annan has won every accolade as a player. She won Olympic gold with Australia's Hockeyroos in 1996 and 2000 and World Cup gold in 1994 and 1998. Her switch to coaching came when she moved from Australia to the Netherlands, with her first coaching roles in the highly competitive Dutch club scene.

Annan took over Netherlands women’s national team in December 2015, giving her just nine months to prepare her side for the Rio 2016 Olympics. With the retirement of top players such as the 2016 FIH Player of the Year Naomi van As, 2014 FIH Player of the Year Ellen Hoog and the inspirational captain Maartje Paumen, the past few months have seen a lot of rebuilding work going on with the squad.

“It hasn’t always been easy for Alyson,” said Netherlands star midfielder Carlien Dirkse van den Heuvel in conversation earlier in the season. “Some very good players retired and we had to get used to a new coaching style. And Alyson had to get to know us.”

Part of that process involved working on her communication styles and Annan herself recounts how, in the early days, she worked with a sports psychologist to improve this element of her coaching. In an innovative twist, the psychologist introduced the hockey coach to a horse and Annan had to learn how to adopt a tone that kept both her and the horse calm.

But now Annan and her coaching style is hitting the jackpot. In the past year, the Netherlands team have remained unbeaten in any major competition. They won the FINTRO Hockey World League Semi-Final in Belgium, conceding just one goal. The Sentinel Homes Hockey World League Final in New Zealand got even better as they sailed through without allowing one goal into the net in match time. At the Rabobank EuroHockey Championships, they were imperious, delighting the packed Wagener Stadium in Amsterdam as they reclaimed the title for the ninth time.

Annan’s first game in charge was a 5-1 victory over Germany in the opening match at the 2015 Hockey World League Final. In the most recent test series, against the USA, the Netherlands celebrated an incredible milestone under their coach. Since losing to Great Britain at the 2016 Olympics, the Netherlands have been on a 23 match winning run. As of 2015, Annan has been in charge of the Dutch for just 63 international games. Her record of 51 wins, eight draws and just five defeats, with a scoring average of three goals a game, are ample justification for crowning her 2018 Coach of the Year.

#HockeyStarsAwards

FIH site



Team Building The Focus On Hockeyroos’ Camp

Ben Somerford



Team building was the goal as the Hockeyroos embarked on a camp earlier this week in Western Australia’s south-west.

The Hockeyroos squad, coaches and support staff journeyed to the Nanga Bush Camp in Dwellingup on Monday for the two-day camp which was aimed at team building.

Australia have recently completed a busy period of nine matches across back-to-back international series against China and Spain, ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.

The camp included activities such as the Speed Box Challenge and the Force Field which were about getting people out of their comfort zone and ensuring they planned accordingly.

There was also a raft building challenge which was all about communication, planning, team support and problem solving.

The players stayed the night at the Timbarra Bunk House in sleeping bags, before returning home with training resuming on Wednesday afternoon.

The Hockeyroos’ 18-member team for the Commonwealth Games will be announced in mid-March.

Australia will meet Rio Olympics conquerors New Zealand along with England, whom have several members from the gold-medal winning 2016 Olympics’ Great Britain side.

The Hockeyroos, who are chasing a fourth straight Commonwealth Games gold medal, are pooled with New Zealand, Canada, Ghana and Scotland.

Australia’s first game of the tournament is against Canada on Thursday 5 April.

Hockey Australia media release



Kookaburras keeper retained for Malaysia

Goalkeeper Andrew Charter's recent form has helped him book a place in the Australia's hockey squad for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia.

Goalkeeper Tristan Clemons has been left out of the Australia's squad for a key Commonwealth Games lead-up event after selectors couldn't dismiss the recent form of a veteran rival.

The omission of Clemons, who was part of the Kookaburras squad that won the World League Final last year, is among several changes to world hockey's top-ranked team for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.

Andrew Charter's form against the Netherlands in the recent Test series kept him in the team, ahead of Clemons, for the March tournament in Malaysia.

Charter, 30, is among the most experienced in the squad with 140 caps.

Kookaburras coach Colin Batch said the team was a good mixture of experience and youth.

"They're learning quickly and we want to be able to perform every time we go out on the pitch, so that's why Azlan Shah is important preparation for the Commonwealth Games," he said.

Having missed the Dutch series, Tom Craig (hamstring), Trent Mitton (thumb) and Flynn Ogilvie (hamstring) all return from injury.

Forward Jeremy Hayward remains sidelined with a wrist injury but is expected to be available for the Games on the Gold Coast in April.

Midfielder Tristan White and defender Matthew Swann are unavailable due to work commitments.

Australia's Sultan Azlan Shah Cup campaign begins on March 3 against England before playing the play the hosts, India, Ireland and world No.2 Argentina.

Kookaburras squad: Daniel Beale (Qld), Andrew Charter (ACT), Tom Craig (NSW), Matthew Dawson (NSW), Jeremy Edwards (Tas), Blake Govers (NSW), Jake Harvie (WA), Tim Howard (Qld), Aaron Kleinschmidt (Vic), Mark Knowles (c, Qld), Tyler Lovell (WA), Trent Mitton (WA), Edward Ockenden (Tas), Flynn Ogilvie (NSW), Lachlan Sharp (NSW), Jacob Whetton (Qld), Dylan Wotherspoon (NSW/Qld), Aran Zalewski (WA).

SBS News



Tokyo 2020 Olympics now the aim for Mariah Williams after being ruled out of 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games

Josh Callinan


OUT: Hockeyroos striker Mariah Williams won't contest the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in April after recently undergoing surgery. The 22-year-old will now aim for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Picture: Josh Callinan

HOCKEYROOS striker Mariah Williams has reset her sights on the 2020 Olympics after her dream to contest a home Commonwealth Games was shattered by surgery.

Tokyo becomes the next major goal for the 22-year-old former Hunter Sports High School student with April’s international multi-sports festival on the Gold Coast now out of the question.

Williams, whose parents live at Teralba, underwent a procedure recently to lengthen her adductor tendon and clean out her pubic symphysis and it’s set to keep her sidelined for six months.

“Extremely happy to be out of surgery and ready for the next 6 months of rehabbing back on the East Coast at the AIS,” Perth-based Williams wrote in an accompanying message.

“But unfortunately my injury puts me out of a home Commonwealth Games which is shattering but Tokyo 2020 Olympics is the big goal.”

Parkes-raised Williams has already had four lots of knee surgery with her latest two years ago almost ruling out an Olympic debut.

Since playing her first senior international game in 2013 Williams, who links with Newcastle women’s club Souths, has seven goals from 63 appearances.

On the weekend the Hockeyroos wrapped up two Test series in Perth with a fourth win from nine matches against China and Spain.

“We’ve still got a fair way to go before Comm Games,” coach Paul Gaudoin told Hockey Australia media.

“Getting international matches is really important for our progression to test ourselves and to know where we sit.

“We go away from this knowing the areas we need to work on and to really home in for six to seven weeks later.”

Meanwhile, Norths defender and Rio Olympian Matthew Dawson was on Tuesday named in the 18-man Kookaburras squad for the Azlan Shah Cup being played in Malaysia from March 3 to 10.

Unfortunately my injury puts me out of a home Commonwealth Games which is shattering but Tokyo 2020 Olympics is the big goal.
    Mariah Williams

The Newcastle Herald 



No welcoming party for T&T’s stickmen

T&T’s senior men’s hockey team returned home on Monday evening after placing tenth at the Fifth FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup following a heart-breaking 3-2 last minute defeat at the hands of Russia at the Max-Schmeling-Halle, Berlin, Germany, on Saturday.

The tournament saw participation of the 12 best teams in the world with Austria being crown champions after beating the host 3-2 in a penalty shoot-out after regulation time ended 3-3.

Surprisingly, when the national contingent touched down at Piarco, there were no officials from the Hockey Federation, the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs or the Sports Minister Darryl Smith to welcome the team home except members of the media.

When asked who met the team on its arrival, Raphael Govia, head coach of the T&T team said, “No one met us. The minister organised the VIP Lounge for us, the media met us there. We got through Customs very easy, thanks to Minister Smith.”

Govia said that while he and assistant coach Darren Cowie only had a small group of players to select from, but still we won the hearts of the fans and opposing teams during the tournament. He pointed out that last T&T Indoor tournament, which was held by Ventures Club, had about seven men’s teams which is less that 80 players. T&T has an average of 100 players, no more than that. “So based on that we’ve have done very, very well,” said Govia.

Govia said that the coaching staff of the South African team explained that they had over 500 players from 50 clubs to select their team from.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that T&T held its own against the best of European power houses. I’m really proud of the guys, they played their hearts out for T&T, we were the talk of Germany. We could have gone there and played boring hockey, but Darren and I decided not to do that from day one. We gave a good account of ourselves, we fought from our first game to the last one we played,” Govia said.

Team captain Solomon Beckles said the trip was really challenging from the team’s first stop in Holland. The pace of the teams in Europe was so much higher and greater and what was so fanatstic is that the players adapted very quickly in the three warm-up games against.

Responding to comment that T&T should not celebrate its 10th place finish, Eccles said, “But that’s tenth place in the world. We left here ranked 18th, at the bottom and getting result like this is great. We’re now 10th in the world.”


T&T’s senior men’s hockey team returned home on Monday evening after placing 10th at the Fifth FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup following a heart-breaking 3-2 last minute defeat at the hands of Russia in Germany on Saturday. The team members from left to right: (Back row) Kirth Davis (manager), Jordan Reynos, Shaquille Daniel, Ron Alexander, Karlos Stephens, Nicholas Baldeosingh (videographer), Marcus James, Derek Ashby (trainer), Roger Gomes (TTHB treasurer). (Front row) Zainool Khan (team doctor), Karille Debique (physio), Andrew Vieira, Mickel Pierre, Solomon Eccles (captain), Akim Toussaint, Jordan Vieria, Kristien Emmanuel, Darren Cowie (assistant coach), Cindy M Faustin (head of delegation) Raphael Govia (head coach).

The Trinidad Guardian



U.S. Men's Masters Team Rosters Named to Represent at the FIH Masters and Grand Masters World Cups

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - After five separate tryouts across the country last summer, players assembled in Moorpark, Calif. the weekend of January 27-28 for the final training camp and selection opportunity in front of the U.S. Men's Masters Team respective World Cup coaches. USA Field Hockey is pleased to announce the rosters that will compete this summer at the FIH Grand Masters World Cup in Barcelona, Spain from June 20-30 and FIH Masters World Cup in Terrassa, Spain from July 27 to August 5.

“We have increased the number of teams we are taking to the World Cup from two teams to five and the competition for spots on the teams is more intense than ever before,” said Warren Prestwich, U.S. Men’s Masters Chairperson. “There will be a few disappointed people once they see the teams but everyone selected has worked hard to secure their spot.”

More than 100 masters-aged men came from all corners of the country, as well as from countries such as Japan, Paraguay and the United Arab Emirates, to showcase their skills over the two-day camp with the goal of being selected to represent the United States. In addition to each team having a manager and coach, the Masters World Cup entourage of four teams will also include a Tour Manager, Simon Walshaw, to take care of logistics outside of the regular duties expected of the team managers.

The U.S. Women's Masters Committee will be announcing their respective squads for the FIH Masters and Grand Masters World Cups within the next 48 hours.

Congratulations to those athletes selected for the FIH Masters and Grand Masters World Cups:

U.S. O-40: Men's Masters Team

Alexander Armas |Charlotte, N.C.
Raja Bal | Lexington, Mass.
TJ Bamrah | Santa Clara, Calif.
Federico Baudini  | Doral, Fla.
Ellis Chance | Brooklyn, N.Y.
Adrian Cramp-Gale | South Pasadena, Calif.
Jeremy Gajkowski (Phoenixville, Pa.),
Alan Golding | Washington, D.C
Shawn Hindy | Fort Worth, Texas
Pedro Magalhaes | Hendersonville, Tenn.
Riyaz Mohamed | Scottsdale, Ariz.
Sukhwinder Sandhu | Mount Kisco, N.Y.
Allan Scally | Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Eldrid Sequeira | New York, N.Y.
Garfield Stewart (Bayshore, N.Y.
Kevin Tan | Pittsburgh, Pa.
Michael Warari | Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Jason Wellings | Coronado, Calif.

Coach: Shiv Jagday
Manager: Niles Draper

Alternates: David Eddie (Cambridge, Mass.), Danish Mahmud (Columbus, Ohio), Gurdev Singh (American Canyon, Calif.), Lakhvinder Singh (San Ramon, Calif.)

U.S. O-45: Men's Masters Team

Rino Bouwman | Ventura, Calif.
Randy Christie | Bronx, N.Y.
Adolph Colaco | Sugar Land, Texas
Raj Denhoy | New York, N.Y.
Andre Ferguson | Attlebro, Mass.
Juan Heredia | Miami, Fla.
Shamsher Johal | Phoenix, Ariz.
Harry Labana | Mountview, Calif.
Saran Mandair | San Jose, Calif.
Leroy Mayers | Parsippany, N.J.
Barry Merriman (Washington, D.C.
James Michael | New York, N.Y.
Marian Mueller | Barrington, R.I.
Barry Payne | Auburndale, Mass.
Chip Rogers | Oxford, Ohio
Alvaro Salcedo | Baltimore, Md.
Amanmeet Sandhu | Modesto, Calif.
Karamjit Singh | Clovis, Calif.

Coach: Laveen Jandu
Manager: Percy Wilman

Alternates: Harwinder Deol (American Canyon, Calif.), Sau Thong Lee (Vienna, Va.), Sumarjit Singh (Gilbert, Ariz.), Walter Velasquez (Olney, Md.), Angus Miller (Bedminster, N.J.)

U.S. O-50: Men's Masters Team

Prashant Aji | San Jose, Calif.
Sunil DeSouza | Lake Forest, Calif.
Fernando Diez de Oñate | Key Biscayne, Fla.
Ahmed Elmaghraby | Ledgewood, N.J.
Tommy Hoang | Westlake Village, Calif.
Srinu Karuturi | Monroe Township, N.J.
Markus Krueger | Seattle, Wash.
Damien Lanyon | Solana Beach, Calif.
Hugo Mazzalupi | King of Prussia, Pa.
Pradeep Menon | Cumming, Ga.
Manuel Morales | Miami, Fla.
Ali Murdoch | Austin, Texas
Muzammel Malik | Westminster, Md.
Caz Pereira | San Francisco, Calif.
Greg Pereira | Fulton, Md.
Ulrich Reinhardt | Ann Arbor, Mich.
Roberto Sabella | Key Biscayne, Fla.
Muhammad Siddiqui | Arlington, Va.

Coach: Adam Falla
Manager: Chris Pereira

Alternates: Dennis Brown (Lynchburg, Va.), Erik Enters (Harleysville, Pa.), Matt Hanson (Virginia Beach, Va.), Riaz Khan (Mission Viego, Calif.), Paul Slaats (Ann Arbor, Mich.), Charanjit Singh (Keller, Texas)

U.S. O-55: Men's Masters Team

Joost Douwes | Stanwood, Wash.
Andrew Dunning | Dubai, UAE
Manzar Iqbal | Chicago, Ill.
Peter Jones | Stamford, Conn.
Brijinder (Bob) Kholsa | Phoenix, Ariz.
Tommy Khoo | Bethesda, Md.
Amrit Kohli | Bethesda, Md.
Eric McGinley | McLean, Va.
John Michalek | Camarillo, Calif.
Jon O’Haire | Columbus, Ohio
Warren Prestwich | Towson, Md.
Jeremy Roberts | Beltsville, Md.
Alexander Rooks | Belmont, Mass.
Kanwardeep Sidhu | San Jose, Calif.
Jaswinder Singh | Woodlan, Calif.
Ian Tapsallc | Fairfield, Conn.
Ian Wagge | Scarborough, Maine
Don Warner | Henrico, Va.

Coach: Stephen Harvey
Manager: Neville Gardner

Alternates: Manmohan Brar (Phoenix, Ariz.), Clement D’Souza (Japan), Richard Hayden (Ashburn, Va.), Brian Spencer (Los Angeles, Calif.), Amjad Zia (Houston, Texas)

U.S. O-60: Men's Masters Team

Peter Bale | Salem, Ore.
Michael Coleman | Corona, Calif.
Andrew Dunning | Dubai, UAE
Lance Eichert | Conshocken, PAa.
Neville Gardner | Bethlehem, Pa.
Chamkaur Gill | Placentia, Calif.
Dieter Hillert | Encinitas, Calif.
Peter Jardine | Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Peter Jones | Stamford, Conn.
Raghbir Mangat | Gold River, Caif.
Eric McGinley | McLean, Va.
Darryl Michael | Delmar, N.Y.
Sankar Ramani | Fremont, Calif.
Alva Serrette | Stone Mountain, Ga.
Aaron Sher | Scottsdale, Ariz.
Manmohan Singh | Aliso Viejo, Calif.
Jeffrey Starfield | Marblehead, Mass.
Lawrence Zappone | Colorado Springs, Colo.

Captain-Coach: Peter Bale
Manager: Robert Goldmuntz

Alternates: Paramjit Singh (El Sobrante, Calif.), Derek Pappas (Palo Alto, Calif.)

USFHA media release



Scotland U16 Boys’ to take on UK Lions this weekend

Scotland U16 boys’ are in action this weekend as they take on UK Lions in a three-match test series.

The matches will be played on Friday 16 February at 7pm at Titwood; Saturday at 12.05pm at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre, which will also be the venue for the match on Sunday at 12.30pm.

Scotland U16 Boys’ Head Coach Chris Duncan said, “The boys have worked hard individually over the winter and look in great shape moving into this year’s international programme.

“It’s great to have competitive games this early in the year and it’s brought a lot of focus into our training in the build-up. We passed 17 players into the Under 18 programme this year, so we have a young, but very promising group this year and we’re all looking forward to getting into match play this weekend.”

Squad:

Adam Mackenzie
Alex Wilson (C)
Ali Douglas
Ben Carroll
Ben Galloway
Cameron Bell
Cameron Bosi (GK)
Charlie Jack (VC)
Daniel Pearson
David Macrae
Iain Mcfadden
Jake Inglis
Joel Davenport
Kerr Robb (VC)
Logan McLure (GK)
Louis Gardiner
Lucas Grubb
Murray Caughey (GK)
Scott Menzies
Struan Griffiths

Scottish Hockey Union media release

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