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News for 14 May 2020

All the news for Thursday 14 May 2020


Balbir Singh Sr. remains critical - hospital sources


Balbir Singh Sr. was admitted to the hospital on Friday evening.   -  Akhilesh Kumar

Hockey legend Balbir Singh Sr.'s condition remained critical on Wednesday at a hospital here as he battled bronchial pneumonia. According to hospital sources, Balbir Sr had “a number of cardiac events late in the night (on Tuesday)” after suffering a cardiac arrest on Tuesday morning.

“The doctors at the Fortis Hospital at Mohali, where Balbir Sr is admitted, are doing their best,” sources said.

The 96-year-old triple Olympic gold-medallist was hospitalised on Friday evening with high fever and continues to be on ventilator. On Tuesday evening, his grandson Kabir issued a medical update, stating that the condition of the hockey stalwart continued to be critical.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had also wished the legend a speedy recovery. “Saddened to know that @BalbirSenior Ji had a heart attack today and is in ICU now in a critical state. Praying for your speedy recovery, sir,” the CM tweeted on Tuesday.

In January last year, Balbir Sr. was discharged from PGIMER, Chandigarh, after spending 108 days in the hospital, where he underwent treatment for bronchial pneumonia. One of India’s tallest athletes, Balbir Sr. was the only Indian among 16 legends chosen by the International Olympic Committee across the modern Olympic history. His world record for most goals scored by an individual in the men’s hockey final of the Olympics still remains unbeaten.

Sportstar



GB hockey players able to resume elite training after lockdown

By Cassie Worth



Great Britain’s centrally-contracted hockey players are able to resume full-time training only with immediate effect but can refuse to do so if they do not feel comfortable, guidance published on Wednesday said.

The document set out the terms for pros in football, cricket, rugby and Olympic sports who will be allowed to start training alone or in small groups and will also have to undergo one-to-one check ins with a medical expert before returning to clubs and performance centre or, in hockey’s case, at Bisham Abbey.

Training will require athletes to keep social distancing two metres apart at all times from their team-mates and anyone outside their household, while centres will be deep cleaned. The edict follows Holland’s return to training and Belgium last week.

The guidance added that elite sports should outline how there will be regular screening – athletes’ temperatures are expected to be screened daily – for coronavirus symptoms before athletes enter training environments. GB Hockey has yet to state when Bisham would open its doors to its athletes.

“The choice to return to training is a personal one,” said Sally Munday, the UK Sport chief executive. “Every sport is different and everyone’s personal circumstances are different.”

The government will next advise if sport can shift into the next phase of the return-to-play guidance. This would see elite athletes allowed to tackle again in “a level of social clustering”.

A final phase green light would mean matches taking place behind closed doors.

Oliver Dowden, secretary of state for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said: “I know our sports stars are keen to get back to training and this guidance will enable them to do so in a safe way.

“Our top priority is protecting the health of athletes, coaches and support staff. Enabling athletes to get match-fit is an important milestone towards restarting competitive sport behind closed doors – but we have not given a green light yet. We are clear that this can only happen on the advice of medical experts and when it is safe to do so.”

England Hockey said in a statement this week: “England Hockey are intending to issue advice and we are working with the relevant organisations in government and sport to provide the right advice for our players, clubs and other organisations.

“A detailed statement will be issued in the near future with more detail to follow over coming weeks as the situation becomes clearer for hockey.”

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The Hockey Paper



Hockey players to seek permission for training

The players and coaching staff will be putting their views in the online interaction with Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday. The Sports Minister is interacting with players from various sports to get their views before the Ministry decides to allow those who have already qualified for next-year’s Tokyo Olympics to start training.

Hockey players and coaches will request the sports ministry to allow training in small groups for the men’s and women’s national team probables who are in isolation at the Sports Authority of India’s Southern Regional Centre at Bangalore since March.

As the players are already in isolation and have limited contact with anybody from outside except select SAI staff, they have effectively been in quarantine since March 24, when the nation-wide lockdown started. Thus it is felt that they can start individual training in small groups, with social distancing norms, so that they can be ready to go full tilt when all the restrictions are lifted.

The players and coaching staff will be putting their views in the online interaction with Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday. The Sports Minister is interacting with players from various sports to get their views before the Ministry decides to allow those who have already qualified for next-year’s Tokyo Olympics to start training.

The hockey fraternity’s plans in this regard were discussed at Hockey India’s Special Congress meeting on Wednesday, which was conducted online in the presence of Indian Olympic Association president Dr Narinder Batra.

The players have been doing individual fitness exercises inside their quarters in SAI, Bangalore but both Hockey India and the coaching staff feels they should now get to conduct skills-based training at individual level or in small groups of 5-6 players so as to maintain muscle memory.

While Hockey India president Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad refused to say anything about the points the players and coaching staff will make before the Sports Minister during Thursday’s online interaction, he said the first online congress took many key decisions including setting up Standard Operating Protocol (SOP) for conducting hockey activities once the governments gives its nod.

The new SOP document provisions like educating the athletes, sanitising the entire facility prior to any event as well as encouraging all participants to share their details not just with organisers but also with health authorities. The guidelines also include pre-event, during-event and post-event protocols to follow. It also covers important procedures to follow when teams have to travel for domestic competition.

The Special Congress, which amended the HI constitution to allow virtual meetings, gave its nod to the restructured national championships, which will be held separately for affiliated state associations, institutions and associate members and academies at sub-junior, junior and senior levels in both men’s and women’s sections with players allowed to participate in only one of the nationals. “The idea behind this is to give an opportunity to as many players as possible to participate in the nationals at the same time making it easily manageable,” said a state-level official who participated in the congress.

The meeting also finalised the tentative calendar for both the men’s and women’s teams in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics in July-August next year. The men’s teams will participate in 10 Pro League matches besides the Asian Champions Trophy while the programme for the women’s team 12-14 matches via tours to countries like the Netherlands, Germany, Australia and New Zealand as and when they lift the travel restrictions.

MAHARASHTRA TO HOST SENIOR MEN’S NATIONALS

The Special Congress awarded the hosting rights for the 11th Hockey India Senior Men’s National Championships to Hockey Maharashtra while Uttar Pradesh will host the women’s event. The junior events will be organised by Hockey Haryana.

Hindustan Times



Allow individual training in small groups: Hockey players’ suggestion to Sports Minister

Rijiju has been conducting a series of online sessions with athletes of various sporting disciplines to get their feedback on resumption of on-field training and will be interacting with the hockey players on Thursday.

Fine-tuning individual skills and training in small groups could be the new norm for India’s hockey players once the Sports Ministry decides to resume training of athletes across the country. Devoid of on-field action for more than one-and-half months due to the coronavirus-forced national lockdown, the Indian men and women hockey team players are desperate to return to the turf and hinted that they would be suggesting Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju to resume training in small groups keeping social distancing norms in mind.

Rijiju has been conducting a series of online sessions with athletes of various sporting disciplines to get their feedback on resumption of on-field training and will be interacting with the hockey players on Thursday.

“It is an unprecedented situation which we never expected in our life. We have been stuck in our rooms (at SAI centre in Bengaluru) since the start of lockdown but the good thing is that we have all facilities here to keep our body in good shape,” a senior member of the men’s hockey team told PTI. “We have an online meeting with the Sports Minister tomorrow where we will suggest him to start individual training in the ground like working on individuals skills, shooting, 3D skills. “We can start practicing individually or say in a group of five with a trainer by following all safety norms like, wearing masks and social distancing etc because the ground in Bengaluru is very big,” he added.

A member of the women’s team agreed with her male counterpart and said with the Tokyo Olympics postponed by a year, a full throttle training can be avoided for the time being as it will take some time for international hockey to resume.

“Physically, we are maintaining our best shape but we are missing on-field training. We have never been away from the field for such a long time,” the player said on condition of anonymity.

“We have been doing exercises at our rooms and have been doing gym sessions in a group of two by maintaining social distancing. We can avoid body contacts by doing away with tackling at present during training,” the player said.

Both the Indian men and women teams are stuck in SAI South Centre in Bengaluru since the start of the lockdown on March 25. “We have been doing individual exercises at room besides gym sessions in a group of 2 players only,” the player said.

“Coaches are continuously giving us inputs through online, calls and whenever we meet them personally...so everything is going on fine but we can’t wait to resume training.” Training has been suspended across Sports Authority of India (SAI) centres since mid-March to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. The country is currently witnessing the third phase of lockdown, which ends on May 17 but Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a fourth phase of lockdown with new norms and rules, which are yet to be made public.

Hindustan Times



Indian teams’ preparations for Olympics discussed in Hockey India meeting

The Indian teams will play the Asian Champions Trophy organised by the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) prior to the Olympics depending on the situation.


(Photo: Twitter/@sports_odisha)

The road ahead for India men’s and women’s hockey teams were discussed among other topics in the special congress held via video conference on Wednesday, Hockey India (HI) said in a statement.

HI engaged it’s executive board members and state member units in discussions to pave the way forward and re-start the sport at state and national level following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Congress was also joined by special invitee Narinder Batra, President, Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

While Hockey India high performance director David John highlighted the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on preparations for the Tokyo Olympics Games and expressed that a detailed SOP has been submitted to SAI in April for all national athletes, a calendar of matches and tournaments has been planned for all four teams (senior and junior) for 2021.

Currently, the senior men’s team have 10 FIH Hockey Pro League matches to be played to fulfill their commitments from the 2020 season. Apart from two matches versus New Zealand in India, the remaining 8 matches are scheduled to be played in Germany, Great Britain, Argentina and Spain.

The Indian women’s team will need to finalise overseas tours to countries that that have relaxed their travel restrictions and provide a high level of competition such as Netherlands, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. It would be ideal for the team to play around 10 – 14 competitive matches against above opposition prior to Tokyo Games.

The Indian teams will play the Asian Champions Trophy organised by the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) prior to the Olympics depending on the situation to gain exposure.

The national camps and international exposures for the teams has been scheduled according to FIH calendar and will be submitted in the ACTC for 2020/21 once FIH and AHF finalise their dates.

“The main agenda for today was to discuss the Indian teams preparations for the Olympics in 2021 and how best we can emerge from the Covid-19 situation which has impacted the sport quite severely,” said Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad, President, Hockey India.

“We also had very detailed discussion on the restructured Hockey India National Championships in 2021 and have finalised the host venues for the tournaments,” he added.

It was announced that Hockey Maharashtra will host the 11th senior men’s nationals, while Uttar Pradesh will host 11th senior women’s nationals.

The 11th junior men’s national championship and the 11th sub junior men national championship will be hosted by Hockey Haryana while the 11th junior women’s nationals 2021 and 11th sub junior women’s nationals will be hosted by Hockey Jharkhand.

The special congress also saw detailed discussion on registration process for tournament officials and coaches on the Hockey India Member Unit Portal.

The Statesman



Hockey post COVID-19: Players asked to carry own towels and bottles

High-fives and fist bumps are prohibited and players will have to arrive at the training ground in their full kit so as to minimise the usage of changing rooms and

No physical contact other than in normal play, training in “groups of maximum four to six people in an area of 40x20m” and mandatory usage of the Aarogya Setu app are among the measures listed out in Hockey India’s Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) once training and competitions restart post the lockdown imposed to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

“Training in groups of maximum 4-6 people per area of 40x20m, this will create an environment with few people in big areas of play,” says Hockey India in its 20-page SOP and guidelines to associations.

“Full pitch could be divided into 4 parts, and a maximum of 3-4 players could use each part with a minimum of 1 meter space between each player. The same set of 3-4 players should train together at all times to avoid any spread of infection if in case any one is affected at some point.”

High-fives and fist bumps are prohibited and players will have to arrive at the training ground in their full kit so as to minimise the usage of changing rooms and bathrooms. They are expected to bring their own towels and water bottles.

“Between training efforts, maintain a distance of at least 1.5m (e.g. in the gym, pool, between sets or efforts). Any tasks that can be done at home, should be done at home (e.g. recovery sessions),” says HI.

Groundsmen are to carry out their preparations before the players and staff arrive at the field or after they leave only. All equipment that is used will be wiped down and sanitised at the end of training.

HI also says in the SOP that ‘all member units’ staff and teams should download the Aarogya Setu app on their mobile phones.

“Before leaving for the upcoming event, all players and staff must review their status on ‘Aarogya Setu’ and travel only when the app shows ‘safe’ or ‘low risk’ status.”

The senior men’s and women’s hockey team probables have been at the Sports Authority of India centre in Bengaluru throughout the lockdown which was imposed first on March 25 and has since been extended twice.

In a Special Congress Meeting that was held on Wednesday, the federation proposed that players continue their preparations for the postponed Tokyo Olympics from July to the end of 2020. It also finalised venues for the restructured national calendar during the meeting.

The Statesman



Hockey India makes it mandatory for players to download Aarogya Setu app

Hockey India has said the app will be used to check the participant’s health status and only those who are ‘safe’ or ‘low risk’ will be allowed to take part in tournaments.


Hockey India has made it mandatory for all players and staff of member associations to download the government’s Aarogya Setu app.   -  Biswaranjan Rout

Hockey India has made it mandatory for all players and staff of member associations to download the government’s Aarogya Setu app in order to be eligible for tournaments, according to a report published in The Indian Express on Thursday.

On April 2, the AarogyaSetu app — for pan-India use and available in 11 languages — was launched as the main contact tracing technology endorsed by the Central government. However, the Covid-19 tracker has come under scrutiny for privacy-related issues.

Hockey India has said the app will be used to check the participant’s health status and only those who are ‘safe’ or ‘low risk’ will be allowed to take part in tournaments, when they begin post-pandemic.’ “Before leaving for the upcoming event, all players and staff must review their status on ‘Aarogyasetu’ and travel only when the app shows ‘safe’ or ‘low risk’ status,” the document reads.

“Member Units are advised that in case the App shows a message that a person has a moderate or high risk calculated on the basis of Bluetooth proximity, he/she should not travel to attend the event.”

Meanwhile, Hockey India has also drawn up a list of competitions both for the senior men and women’s teams in the run-up to next year’s Tokyo Olympics. The detailed plan involves playing a number of matches against top teams in the world.

Sportstar



Hockey India prepares detailed competition plan for Tokyo-bound teams

Hockey India on Wednesday said it has drawn up a list of competitions both for the senior men and women’s teams in the run-up to next year’s Tokyo Olympics.

The detailed plan involves playing a number of matches against top teams in the world.

In a Special Congress held via a video conference, the executive board members and state units of the HI also discussed various options to pave the way for restarting the sport once the COVID-19 pandemic-forced lockdown is lifted.

Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President Narinder Batra took part in the virtual meeting as a special invitee.

HI High Performance Director David John highlighted the impact of the pandemic on preparations for the Tokyo Games and said that a standard operating procedure (SOP) has been submitted to SAI last month for all national athletes.

Besides, a calendar of matches and tournaments has been drawn up for all four teams (senior and junior men and women) for next year.

“The senior men’s team have 10 FIH Hockey Pro League matches to be played to fulfil their commitments from the 2020 season. Apart from two matches versus New Zealand in India, the remaining 8 matches are scheduled to be played in Germany, Great Britain, Argentina and Spain,” the HI said in a release.

“The Indian women’s team will need to finalise overseas tours to countries that that have relaxed their travel restrictions and provide a high level of competition such as Netherlands, Germany, Australia and New Zealand.

“It would be ideal for the team to play around 10-14 competitive matches against above opposition prior to Tokyo Olympic Games,” it said.

The HI said depending on the situation, the Indian men and women’s teams will play the Asian Champions Trophy to be organised by the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) prior to the Olympics, which will provide exposure to the team.

“The national camps and international exposures for the senior men and senior women teams have been scheduled according to FIH calendar and will be submitted in the ACTC for 2020/21 once FIH and AHF finalise their dates.”

Hockey India said it has prepared an SOP to be followed at the state and national level events after the pandemic subsides.

“As a first step towards resuming activities depending on permissions provided by Government of India and state governments, HI has issued a 20-page dossier to it’s member units which provides a minimum standard that needs to be followed when hockey activities resume in their respective states,” the HI said.

“The new Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) includes educating athletes, sanitising the entire facility prior to any event as well as encouraging all participants to share their details not just with organisers but also with health authorities,” it said.

The guidelines also include pre-event, during-event and post-event protocols, and procedures to be followed when teams travel for domestic competitions.

“Additionally, foreseeing the new social norms that could last up to 12-18 months, Hockey India proposed to update the Constitution with a provision to allow video conference meetings as official meetings with minutes to be signed by the chairman of the meeting,” the release said.

HI also announced venues for the National Championships — men, women and junior levels.

Maharashtra will host the 2021 Senior Men National Championship while Uttar Pradesh Hockey will organise the corresponding women’s event.

The 2021 Junior Men’s National Championship and Sub Junior Men’s National Championship will be hosted by Haryana while the corresponding women’s events will be held in Jharkhand.

The Congress also witnessed detailed discussions on registration process for tournament officials and coaches on the Hockey India Member Unit Portal.

Sportstar



Indian hockey defender Jarmanpreet Singh says lockdown is opportunity for self-reflection


Jarmanpreet Singh. Image credits @TheHockeyIndia

Bengaluru: The Indian men's hockey team defender Jarmanpreet Singh on Thursday said that being in lockdown has been like hitting the pause button, giving him time to reflect on and rectify some shortcomings in his game.

Singh said he will go back to the hockey field with a greater resolve to succeed.

"I have been able to utilise this period like a pause button on my career and had time to think about how much harder I need to practice to make significant contributions to the team's victories," Singh was quoted as saying in a Hockey India press release.

"I will surely be more determined to become a much better player once we can go back to full-fledged training. I am looking forward to adding more energy into my game...," he added.

Singh also lauded chief coach Graham Reid for allowing youngsters in the side to express themselves freely on the field. He also said that the senior players soak up the pressure to make the youngsters' job easy.

"Being one of the youngsters in the side, I have been told by our chief coach and senior players to express myself freely," he said.

"I am very lucky to be playing with an excellent bunch of senior players who soak in most of the pressure so that the youngsters can play freely," he added.

The 24-year-old has been examining footage of his previous matches during the lockdown.

"I have watched all the footage of my previous games very closely during the lockdown period and I have a fair idea on all the techniques I need to work on," he said.

Talking about the other activities keeping the Indian team busy at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) campus here, Singh said the side has enjoyed undertaking Hockey India's Basic Coaching Course this week.

"Apart from training, we have also been able to focus on the theoretical aspect of the game through the Hockey India Level Basic Coaching Course online.

"It's been great to know about the history of hockey and get a better understanding of the rules of the game as well.

"If we know all the minute details of the game thoroughly then we can certainly make much better decisions on the pitch during a high-octane match," he said.

Firstpost



Working in partnership to grow the sport



The FIH Hockey Academy is the education, training and resource centre for the hockey workforce across the globe. Whether it is a course for umpires and officials in Peru or a coaching course in Ghana, the FIH Academy supports international development projects that raise the professionalism, sustainability and accessibility of our sport. To date the academy has trained more than 10,000 members of the global hockey workforce in coaching, Umpiring, officiating and management.

The ongoing Covid-19 situation has had an inevitable impact upon the work of the FIH Academy. Courses that would normally have seen a gathering of educators, coaches, umpires and players have had to temporarily cease and it is difficult to plan for the immediate future, with so much of the world still in varying states of lock down.

However, this is not a department that will ever stand still, and plans were already in place for online courses, so the Covid-19 situation simply made the courses even more relevant and necessary for our hockey community.

And the results so far have been impressive. In April alone there were 22 courses – all of which were fully booked. The courses catered for more than 200 participants from 35 nations.

The most recent course was the forward-thinking Athlete2Coach programme. Recognising that elite athletes who move into coaching have very different learning requirements than other aspiring coaches, the FIH Academy has developed an online course that brings a small cohort of athletes and former athletes together to develop coaching knowledge.

Understanding that great players don’t automatically make great coaches, and addressing the areas where the athletes need development is something that makes this course unique. The fact that it is delivered online means that time-stressed athletes can make a start on transitioning from player to coach without the need to travel to coaching courses. The accessibility of the courses also opens the opportunity up to athletes from across the globe.

Much of the work of the FIH Academy is about partnership. For example, the TAP project in West Africa involved FIH working alongside the African Hockey Federation, the Ghana Hockey Association, England Hockey and UK Sport. Either in process or in the pipeline are development projects with Hockey India, the South Africa Hockey Association and the Belgium Hockey Federation.

Two important partners involved in work of the FIH Academy are technology provider Coach Logic and specialist synthetic surface designers and suppliers Notts Sport. It is active engagement with these companies and other worldwide partners that has allowed the FIH Academy to make such an impact on the sport and its development.



One further development that involves the FIH Academy is the launch of a new membership scheme – the FIH World Hockey Membership. This is part of the Hockey Invites initiative and aims to get more people to join our sport and take an active role. This paid-for membership scheme has a number of different categories: coaches, umpires and members, and each category has bespoke benefits, including discounts on the FIH Hockey Academy courses.

Director of the FIH Academy is Mike Joyce. He says: “The FIH Academy was created five years ago with the objective of providing a global education framework for the hockey family. The Academy aspires to provide a wide range of flexible learning programmes that compliment not compete with National Association education programmes.

"The involvement of hockey family stakeholders and partners is of fundamental importance to the success of the FIH Academy. Hockey is not just a team sport, it is a family sport, and strong families work together, they collaborate, they share and support each other.

"The FIH Academy encapsulates this ethos. It is successful because we strive to be inclusive, and strong because of the diverse and significant contribution of individuals and organisations from all areas of the global hockey family. We are also indebted to the support of our FIH Academy partners Nottsport and Coach Logic."

FIH site



Caroline takes cultured approach to coaching

Sarah Juggins, for PAHF



In this interview, we meet a woman who knows both sides of the white line. Caroline Nelson-Nichols played for the USA national team from 2008 until 2014, during which time she won 165 caps for her country, including a gold medal at the 2011 Pan American Games, and was a lynchpin of the defence throughout her international career.

Now she has stepped into the role of Head Coach to the USA national team, and is seeking to return the team to the same glory days that saw them rise up the rankings and astonish the world with their athleticism and skills at the 2014 Hockey World Cup in the Netherlands.

For Nelson-Nichols, the 2014 World Cup in the Hague, and the months of preparations leading up to it, were pivotal times for the USA national team. Craig Parnham, previously assistant coach to Great Britain and England, had taken over as head coach to the US team and was introducing some new thinking into the squad. His ideas proved intriguing enough to lure Nelson-Nichols back from her self-imposed retreat from the national squad, following a disappointing London 2012 Olympic Games, where the team had high hopes but finished 12th.

“I rejoined the programme a while after Craig had arrived,” says Nelson-Nichols. “His ideas drew me back in. He asked us to take a good hard look at ourselves and identify who we were. Then he helped us reshape and redefine that. It took a lot of hard work and there were a lot of difficult conversations during which he really challenged us. That process really helped us to put culture first and figure out who we wanted to be. That was the catalyst to the success we found at the World Cup in 2014.”

Prior to their World Cup appearance, where they finished fourth after storming to victories over higher ranked teams England, China and Germany, the USA had also won the 2014 Champions Challenge in some style. Nelson-Nichols says the team arrived in the Netherlands with no expectations of winning, but with a definite belief in what they were doing as a team.

For Nelson-Nichols personally, the months she had spent practising her penalty corner deliveries were rewarded when the first penalty corner of their opening World Cup match against England flew into the goal. Fist-pumping celebrations followed. When the second goal also screeched home, Nelson-Nichols says: “We had to pinch ourselves. We were 2-0 up against England, a strong team that we massively respected. I think we were all just saying to ourselves, ‘is this for real?”

As a foot-note to Parnham’s coaching methods during this time, the players all received letters as they were waiting for the competition to begin. “In each letter, our families had written how proud they were and wished us good luck. It was just a cool connection back to our families at a moment when we were in the middle of a major tournament.”

Nelson-Nichols made the move back into coaching shortly after the World Cup. She was accepted onto a college course and combined this with a coaching role. This was no a surprise move as Nelson-Nichols had spent the time between 2012 and 2014 developing a coaching career, but now she had the World Cup experience and the input of a medal-winning coach to draw upon [Parnham had been part of Great Britain’s bronze medal campaign in 2012].

“Our mantra as athletes was to be ‘united’,” says Nelson-Nichols, revealing that all the athletes had the word written on their lockers. “It created a very strong bond between us. There was something about how we interacted as teammates. A big lesson for me to learn as a coach is how do you recreate that for your athletes as you move forwards?

It is a question that Nelson-Nichols didn’t have long to ponder. Just six years after stepping away from the national squad as a player, she was invited back to be the national coach. A move that has still left her, “with my head spinning.”

The total lack of arrogance and a winning acceptance of her fallibilities make Nelson-Nichols an approachable person. She says that she has “made mistakes every day since she joined the national program as head coach, but she has learnt from each one.”

Her motivation to take on the top job is pure and simple and has remained true throughout her coaching career: she wants to inspire and impact young players, whether that is a youngster coming into the sport with aspirations to be an elite athlete or simply encouraging someone to get involved in sport.

When it comes to her targets for the national squad however, the aim is specific and measurable. “I want to get us back to the top of the world rankings.”

Not that Nelson-Nichols is looking to recreate the 2014 squad. She is no Parnham Mark Two, but very much her own person. She believes that the most important quality in a coach is authenticity, but also believes that you can take pieces of valuable coaching advice and knowledge from all sorts of influences and add them to your own coaching style.

“Every coach picks up pieces along the journey: things you want to do, things you want to avoid. Craig had a strong influence and a lot of things he did really stood out for me but it is important as a coach to be yourself and stay authentic.

“There are moments when you ask yourself, ‘Well what would this coach do in this situation?’ But I strongly think you need to rephrase that. It should be ‘what would I do in this situation, taking into account all the lessons I have learnt to date?”

Like Parnham, Nelson-Nichols believes in empowering the players and allowing them to ‘write their own story’. This can get ‘messy’, she says with a chuckle, in the early stages of learning.

“The way I operate is to start with the end in mind. Where do I want to take the programme? I then work backwards from there. It is important to go through all the steps and not skip them. Even if it is looking messy, you still have to go through those steps because messy moments are often where real learning happens.

“Culture is something we are looking to attack as a squad right now. We didn’t qualify for the Tokyo Olympics so that has changed the landscape a little. We have to redefine what our USA mode of play is. We are exploring that right now. We are asking some tough questions and it can be hard, but it is necessary to rebuild our foundations. I look at it like a sandcastle – if you just use soft sand it will quickly disintegrate. If you add water and build strong foundations, then you can build a really good, strong sandcastle.”

Like the other top flight female national coach Alyson Annan of the Netherlands, Nelson-Nichols is an elite player who has transitioned into coaching. She says that doesn’t mean she has all the answers. “The lessons I learnt as an athlete are incredibly important to how I perform as a coach. I know what it is like to be in those pressure situations so I can help prepare my athletes for that. I know what is like to walk into a tournament feeling totally prepared and also what is is like to feel massively underprepared.

“I know what it is like to be in a team that is playing in a medal round. But I don’t know what it is like to be on team that has won a medal in a major tournament – that is where I pull on my support system.”

For Nelson-Nichols, it is a constant search for improvement, both in her players and for herself as the coach. She has invested time into her own coach education since deciding that this was the path for her. She also says she has changed and evolved “massively”, actively seeking out ways to improve what she does.

“I have made a tonne of mistakes since joining this program,” she says, “but I have done a lot of good things too. I am growing all the time.

Under Nelson-Nichols, the USA team have had a challenging start to 2020. As one of the nine women’s teams contesting the FIH Pro League, their first opponent was with the world number one side, the Netherlands – a match they lost 9-0. That was followed by an encounter with PAHF rivals Argentina, where they suffered a 6-2 and 6-1 pair of defeats. But for Nelson-Nichols this was just the sort of challenge that her young charges needed.

“The FIH Pro League is a good pulse check. You play teams that are ranked in the top three and you quickly learn where your holes are. That is a big takeaway. We are now crafting how we want to play and the Pro League has allowed us to take a microscopic look at that. And we can constantly measure where we are in the world.”

Since then, the squad, along with the rest of the world has been in a Covid-19 lockdown. While difficult in so many ways, it has at least  given players and coaches a chance to take stock of where they are, recover from injuries and work on their own strength and conditioning, says Nelson-Nichols.

Despite the short time that the former defender has had with the squad, there is already a sense that she is just what this talented group of players need to rediscover their culture and form. She encourages collaboration between athletes and coaching staff. She accepts that mistakes will be made and she accepts that she personally may occasionally feel out of her depth. But, at the end of this interview she conjoured up a vision that suggests that this is all going to turn out all right: “We were in a training camp after the first set of Pro League matches and there was so much learning happening. It was sometimes just very messy. But then, it sort of was like the clouds parted and the beam of sun shone through immersing everyone in this glow of heat. You saw the understanding, you saw the principles we had been talking about come to life. That was a really cool moment.”

Pan American Hockey Federation media release



MHC delay interviews of 23 hopeful coaches

By Jugjet Singh


Siti Noor Amarina Ruhani

THE interviews of foreign coaches for the national women's hockey team have been put on ice.

This was decided by the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) coaching committee yesterday.

After K. Dharmaraj decided not to reapply for his post, MHC advertised the job and received a whopping 23 applications.

Eleven of the coaches were locals and 12 were foreigners.

"After getting feedback from Jadadish (Chandra, chairman of the interview committee), MHC decided to postpone the video-conferencing interviews with the foreign coaches until the Covid-19 situation becomes much better," said MHC president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal.

The coaching committee, who had a video-conference yesterday, decided to appoint former national skipper Siti Noor Amarina Ruhani as a trainee coach with MHC. Siti retired from hockey after 16 years representing the nation.

The Penang-born defender helped the country win three Sea Games gold medals, to fifth placing at the 2006 Commonwealth Games as well as fifth in the 2018 Asian Games.

"MHC will help Siti prepare for a coaching career by sending her to coaching courses and we will decide her position after that.

"A Level-1 online coaching course will be held for members of our affiliates, starting latest in July, and it will then continue every month.

"This responsibility has been placed on the shoulders of our head of Coaches Education committee V. Sasidharan. A circular will be sent soon to our affiliates explaining this matter further," said Subahan.

The meeting yesterday also discussed how to get more schoolteachers to train and be certified coaches.

New Straits Times



Hockey New Zealand Guidelines around the restart of Community Hockey



The recent government announcements and clarifications from Sport New Zealand have allowed Hockey New Zealand to undertake further planning around our return to community hockey.

We understand the desire for getting back on the turf and rest assured we are working hard to ensure this can happen however it needs to occur in a managed way that prioritises the safety of our community. We do not want hockey to be the reason we go backwards on alert levels.

The return to hockey will take a three-phase approach, the three phases are ‘Get Ready to Train’, ‘Prepare to Play’ and ‘Return to Play’.

Get Ready to Train – Systems & Process Development

This is the time for hockey to prepare and ensure all the governmental health and safety measures and contact tracing protocols are in place prior to the opening of any facilities. This will take time and ensuring that our facilities are safe for training is a priority. This phase came into effect on the 12th of May.

Prepare to Play – Training

Associations will only be able to move into the Prepare to Play phase once all health and safety and contact tracing measures have been put in place. This will not be earlier than the 14th of May.

This phase is essential for our community as it will allow our participants to get back into the sport without rushing into a competition. During this phase, the needs of our participants are a priority ensuring they have a chance to prepare for competition, therefore, reducing the risk of future injury.

It also allows our Associations an opportunity to implement all necessary procedures for hockey to happen safely. It is unlikely all hockey will commence at the same time across the country. The current rules around the mass gathering restrictions of no more than 10 must be adhered to during this phase.

Associations will provide you with specific guidelines around the training. If there is two groups of 10 training on different halves of the turf it is essential that the groups don’t come within two meters of each other.

Return to Play – Competition

When government restrictions allow this phase will see the return of competitive hockey which is currently unknown.

Competitive hockey is likely to start at different times across the country depending on complexity and preparedness. Additionally, different forms of hockey i.e. Senior and Junior hockey may have staggered starts to ensure a smooth and quality experience is provided. Having a graduated return to play will be important to minimize the risk of injury i.e. no doubleheader weekends early in the return to play time period.

We understand that not all hockey facilities are administered by your Association. If people are able to adhere to the government restrictions around less than 10 people gatherings as well as health and safety and contact tracing measures, then it is up to the owner of these facilities to decide if trainings following the protocols can occur.

We will continue to provide the most up to date information possible through the Covid-19 tab on the Hockey New Zealand Website.

We thank you for your patience during this time and look forward to returning to the turf soon.

Hockey New Zealand Media release



Heistand & Lepage Share Olympic Field Hockey Dream



The 2017 NCAA field hockey championship game was a special moment for Karlie Heistand and Kelee Lepage.

Heistand, a former Hamburg standout, wrapped up her college career with a second national championship as Connecticut completed a perfect season.



Lepage, a former standout at Twin Valley, was playing in the first of her two national championship games for Maryland.

Less than three years later, the two now share one dream: Helping the U.S. Women's National Team return to the Olympic Games. Heistand and Lepage are two of the newest members who were added to the team after national tryouts in January.

"It's definitely more fun to be playing with each other than against each other," Lepage said.

Heistand and Lepage earned their spots on the team after long commitments with USA Field Hockey since their early years in high school. They are part of a national team that includes former Berks County stars Ali Campbell of Boyertown and Ashley Hoffman of Twin Valley, Lepage's former high school teammate.

They are part of a young, rebuilding U.S. team that is looking to improve every day with a long-term goal of qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

"That's all we think about, that's all we talk about," Heistand said of the Olympic dream. "That's our goal and that's what we want to accomplish. It's in the the back of our minds in every practice, everything we do, every run we do we're training hard to get back to the top where we were."

Team USA fell short of qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which have been postponed until next year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic has forced Team USA to cease group workouts, but it hasn't prevented the players from continuing to work toward their one goal.



Heistand, an assistant coach at Villanova, said she drills regularly in her basement in Springfield. Lepage works on her stick skills in her backyard at Honey Brook and goes for runs to stay in shape.

The team also gets together twice a week on Zoom meetings.

"We have a good workout plan so they're keeping us busy," Lepage said. "We'll be back together soon and pick up where we left off."

The team had just finished two weeks of a planned three-week training session in Chula Vista, Calif., when the players were sent home in the middle of the March. Prior to that, the team played five games in the FIH Hockey Pro League when Heistand and Lepage each played in their first four international games.

Heistand is the younger sister of former national team player Rayell Heistand. Although she heard about how different the international game is, it was a shock to find out for herself.

"I felt like a college freshman again," Heistand said. "It's just such a big jump. The speed, the athleticism, everything is 10 notches higher. I feel like I have to think 10 steps ahead just to be caught up in the game because it moves so fast."

Lepage, who earned the 2015 Berks County Player of the Year Award after leading Twin Valley to a PIAA Class 2A championship, also said she had to adapt.

"The speed of the game is a lot faster than in college," Lepage said. "The biggest difference is the intensity and high speed. Everyone's so quick because we train for it every day. Each game it gets a little better."

Heistand said she could feel the team improving with the young players and veterans coming together before they were sent home. She said she hopes they can continue to bond and regain that momentum when they get back together.

"We were improving so much and starting to get connected," Heistand said. "Now we're just all cut off and definitely lost something since it's been almost two months now that we've been away from each other. It was exciting that we were improving so fast and connecting so fast."

Team activities aren't likely to resume until the middle of June at the earliest. Until then, each player separately will work toward the dream of getting Team USA back to the Olympic Games one day, one step and one drill at a time.

"I feel like every Team USA athlete's dream is to go to the Olympics," Lepage said. "It's one of my goals. It's a long way until Paris 2024 for the team, but all we can do is what we have right in front of us."

Content Courtesy of the Reading Eagle/Brian Rippey

USFHA media release



#ExtraTime with South African women's hockey goalkeeper Phumelela Mbande

In the latest instalment of Extra Time we speak to SA women’s hockey goalkeeper Phumelela Mbande who shares her passion for the game and talks candidly about transformation.

Adrian Ephraim


SA women’s hockey goalkeeper Phumelela Mbande. Picture: Twitter @phumz_24

Phumelela Mbande has been a crucial part of the national team since making her debut in 2012. The 27-year-old earned a Player of the Match award at the 2018 Hockey World Cup against Argentina – a rare achievement for a goalkeeper, and an accolade that kept her in the sport.

Born in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, and raised in Pietermaritzburg in the KZN, Mbande developed a love for hockey quite by accident. “I played sport here and there. The only sport we had at school was athletics, and I used to play sport on the streets with the other kids. When I was 10 we moved to KZN. I went to a very small school in iXopo called Lynford Primary School, and that’s where I first started playing hockey. I literally never saw the sport before. I had never heard of it before. One day, in our second term, they said, ‘right, we need a goalkeeper’ and for me it made a lot of sense because when I saw the ball I was like ‘Ja, this is where I belong’,” she said.

Mbande is a qualified chartered accountant who plays the game for the love of it, and for no compensation. Hockey in South Africa is not professional, and many of the country’s best players are based overseas, or have day jobs. It’s a source of great frustration for the hockey community which fails to capture major sponsors and attention from the sports ministry.

“More than anything, hockey has really given me a place to belong. If your hockey isn’t going well, your whole like seems like it’s falling apart. If you have one bad tournament then it feels like the end of the world. It’s becomes so much of who we are lies in who we are as athletes,” Mbande said. “I can’t imagine not playing hockey. When I look at how far I’ve come. If you look at the opportunities I’ve gotten, a lot of it lies in me being a hockey player. Hockey is a beautiful game and it has brought a lot of joy in my life.”

The postponement of the Olympic Games due to the coronavirus has disrupted the national team’s preparations for the year, a development that may be a blessing in disguise, said Mbande, given that many players are scattered around the world. “We get another year to bring things together as a squad.”

Mbande has also been a fierce proponent of transformation in hockey, being a part of a group of players who started Players For Transformation (PFT).

Hockey has struggled to establish roots in poorer communities. The game has primarily been seen as an elite sport played by wealthy schools and club members. Mbande wants to change the status quo by challenging the sports administrators to make the game more accessible.

“Quota systems have been put in place by the government. It often feels like we are just ticking boxes to ensure that we meet the requirements set by government. As PFT our biggest things is that the whole hockey thing needs a revamp, not just from an administrative perspective, but from a cultural rebranding. No one wants to be called a player of colour, no one wants to be in the team just because they’re black. No one wants any of those things, but realistically the hockey sphere doesn’t represent the demographic of the country,” Mbande explained. “It’s still very much a privileged sport. I only got to be part of a hockey system because I went to a private school in primary school, and I only got to continue the game because my university was able to fund my hockey career.”

Mbande’s stance on transformation has been welcomed, but lasting change is not guaranteed. A new crop of players coming through may face the same challenges if nothing is done about it. “If we want to increase sponsorships. If we want to grow the game of hockey then we need to look further than the current target market. We went as far as having an indaba. The new senior national coach has been clear that transformation is at the forefront of his plan. We never want to bring hockey into disrepute. No one wants to drag the name of the association but at the same time you get tired of saying the same thing over and over again, sending email after email. Funding will always be a factor, but changing a policy doesn’t need money. Yes, money is an issue but it’s also a lack of willingness to change the status quo.”

Listen to the interview here

Eye Witness News



Hockey’s own Valerie Robinson could have been a Busby Babe

The Hockey Museum’s Mike Haymonds looks at the career of  one of England’s finest ever hockey players



If Stanley Shoveller, the only Englishman to win two Olympic Hockey gold medals, is regarded as the greatest English male hockey player there is little doubt that Valerie Robinson OBE (nee Walsh) deserves the accolade of the finest English female performer.

She was the first woman to earn 100 caps and went on to make 149 England and 21 GB appearances, scoring 38 and eight goals respectively, over more than 20 years from 1963. In that era international matches were much less frequent than in the modern era.

She could have earned well over 400 caps if her career had been 30 years later. An even more remarkable achievement was to have played in 19 of the annual Wembley international matches, the first her international debut in 1963 (v Wales who won 1-0) and then missing only one between 1966 and 1984.

She also appeared in five World Championships, then held every four years, in that time. Her versatility was shown by playing in four of the forward positions employed in those days.

Born in 1941 Walsh first played hockey aged 14 at Accrington Girls High School and became the first working-class girl to be capped by England in 1963. The high point of her international career was winning a World Championship with England in 1975 but, due to GB Hockey’s boycott, she missed the chance to play in the inaugural women’s hockey tournament at the Moscow Olympics.

She continued to play at top domestic club level for Blackburn & Great Harwood into the 1990s, including in the first national league 1989/90 season.

A naturally gifted athlete, she was rarely injured which accounted for her lengthy career.

She was frequently the target of ‘rough treatment’ in an attempt to slow her down but she managed to ride most tackles and, despite being bloodied and bruised on many occasions, she never retaliated.

In her teenage years she played football for Accrington Ladies and, when that team folded in 1959, she joined nearby Preston Ladies where she was voted joint Player of the Year in the 1962 season shortly before giving up football to concentrate on hockey.

Preston’s manager Keith Latham recalled Matt Busby watching one of their matches at Blackpool and remarking to his fellow spectators that Val was the best (female) player he had seen in his life and, if she had been a man, he would have signed her up there and then for Manchester United.

She also showed her sporting versatility by twice winning the BBC Superstars competition in her late thirties (in 1979 and 1981).

In the first she won five of the six events and triumphed in the second despite not having eaten for three days, suffering from poisoning after exposure to an industrial explosion.

She reckoned that winning the two sprint events extended her playing career by five years.

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The Hockey Paper



Crowborough's 'Virtual Hockeython' raises huge sum for charity



We have found it so inspiring to see so many clubs working together despite lockdown and showing great spirit to raise money for fantastic causes.

Crowborough HC are one of those, having raised £1,700 for Hospice in the Weald by hosting a ‘Virtual Hockeython’ on 9 May.

Starting at 9am with Justin Singleton and his daughter, for the following eight-and-a-half hours players from across the club took turns to keep a hockey ball moving.

With each group controlling a hockey ball in 15 minute stints, around 80 players from the club kept the challenge going throughout the day, including GB Olympian Calum Giles and his family, club president Hilary Brown and chairman Ben Churchward.

They also mixed up how they kept the ball moving too, with some performing tricks, some playing games, some doing coaching drills and others even taking the ball on their daily walk.

Furthermore they were joined by a number of animals across the day, including rabbits, cats, dogs and a lamb.

They may have raised more than double their original target but Crowborough are still hoping to raise more for their chosen charity. Click here to donate.

England Hockey Board Media release

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