News for 15 May 2020
All the news for Friday 15 May 2020
Balbir Sr suffers two more cardiac arrests, remains critical
The triple Olympic medallist had suffered a cardiac arrest on Tuesday morning as well and has been on ventilator support since then.
Balbir Singh at his residence in Chandigarh on February 26, 2020. - Akhilesh Kumar
Hockey legend Balbir Singh Senior has suffered two more cardiac arrests and he continues to be critical, his maternal grandson Kabir said, giving an update on his health condition on Thursday.
The triple Olympic medallist had suffered a cardiac arrest on Tuesday morning as well and has been on ventilator support since then.
“Nana ji suffered two more cardiac arrests yesterday. His condition has not deteriorated since then but continues to be very critical and on ventilator assistance,” said Kabir.
The 96-year-old was hospitalised on Friday evening with high fever.
In January last year, he was discharged from PGIMER, Chandigarh after spending 108 days in the hospital, where he underwent treatment for bronchial pneumonia.
Sportstar
India captain Manpreet Singh sets sights on Olympic medal
Being captain of one of the most iconic sports teams in a country containing 1.3 billion people - nearly a fifth of the world’s population - it is hardly surprising that Manpreet Singh takes his leadership role with the India men’s hockey team very seriously indeed. It is a high-profile position that comes with great responsibility, intense scrutiny as well as a considerable weight of expectation, with millions of Indians desperate to see the eight times Olympic champions dominate the sport once again.
Judging by the team’s most recent displays, it seems that those fans have every right to believe that a major title could be just around the corner. In 2012, a time when a teenaged Manpreet was fighting to establish himself in the senior team, India’s men were sitting 12th in the FIH World Rankings. Eight years of steady progress later, they are up to fourth, their highest placement since the rankings were introduced in 2003.
Before the COVID-19 global health crisis brought the competition to a halt, India’s home performances in this season’s FIH Hockey Pro League certainly impressed many onlookers. In Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium, Manpreet’s team claimed a superb win against reigning World and European champions Belgium, as well as a shoot-out triumph over second-ranked Australia and a fine 5-2 victory against the Netherlands, who are ranked third.
Manpreet, now 27 and the FIH Hockey Stars Player of the Year for 2019, has been captain of the team since June 2017, taking over from the great Sardar Singh. Manpreet cites Sardar as a hugely influential figure who taught him a lot about how to be a good leader, with European legends Moritz Fürste and Barry Middleton - the respective former captains of Germany and Great Britain, who Manpreet competed alongside in the Hockey India League – also being outstanding role-models in the art of captaincy. The two time Olympian – who, like his footballing idols Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham, wears the number iconic number seven playing shirt – has set his sights on guiding his team to a medal at the delayed Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, which will take place in 2021.
Speaking to FIH from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in Bangalore – where the men’s and women’s national team athletes are following individual training plans in their rooms, being monitored online by their coaching staff – India’s inspirational captain talks to FIH about his career, ambitions and those who have had a major influence on his life as an international hockey player.
Hi Manpreet, thanks for talking to us. You have enjoyed some wonderful times with India’s national team competing at two Olympic Games, winning an Asian Games gold medal, becoming captain of your country and, most recently, being named the FIH Hockey Stars Men’s Player of the Year for 2019. How do you reflect on your international career so far, and what is your biggest future ambition with the India team
Manpreet Singh: “I would not have been able to do it without the support of my team-mates and the coaching staff. I’m here today just because of them. My biggest ambition as a captain and player is winning a medal in the Olympics, for the nation.”
Who or what first influenced you to pick up a stick and play hockey?
Manpreet Singh: “My two elder brothers played hockey when I was a kid, and the second is former India hockey captain Sardar Purashkar Singh.”
Who has been the biggest influence on your career and why?
Manpreet Singh: “As for now, I would say Cristiano Ronaldo. There are so many things about him that I admire. One of which is never giving up in anything you do, and to keep pushing yourself to be the best.”
How would you best describe your playing style or attitude on the pitch?
Manpreet Singh: “I would say that, when [India] play, everyone is a captain in their own way, but I will always have to lead by example, especially for the junior [players]. Getting the chance to play with Moritz Fürste, Barry Middleton and Sardar Singh, I have learned a lot about how to be a positive and supportive captain.”
What moment on the pitch are you most proud of and why?
Manpreet Singh: “It would be the Asian Games 2014 [Incheon, KOR] when we won our gold medal. Second, as a captain, it would be the Asia Cup 2017, where we also won a gold medal in Dhaka [BAN].”
What would be the best advice you could give to aspiring young hockey players?
Manpreet Singh: “My advice to young hockey players is to never give up, just believe in yourself and keep working hard towards your goal, that’s it.”
What have you been doing to stay active and healthy during the ongoing COVID-19 global health crisis?
Manpreet Singh: “Besides playing FIFA on the PlayStation, I’ve been doing my own personal training, recovery and gym work [in my room], being monitored [over the internet] by our trainer using the [personal] schedule given.”
Profile*: Manpreet Singh – India
Position: Midfielder
Shirt number: 7
Age: 27
International appearances: 267
International Goals: 22
Place of birth: Jalandhar, Punjab (IND)
You can follow Manpreet Singh on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
* Information correct as of 15 May 2020.
FIH site
Rijiju assures training restart for homesick Indian hockey teams
The Olympic-bound Indian hockey teams have been confined to the SAI campus in Bengaluru since March due to the nation-wide coronavirus lockdown.
Indian forward S.V. Sunil during a training session at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in Bengaluru (File Photo). - FILE PHOTO/K. MURALI KUMAR
Lack of training is an obvious concern but India’s hockey players are also feeling homesick and they made that known to Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, who assured them of a “controlled” resumption of practice soon in an online interaction on Thursday.
Rijiju reiterated that on-field training will resume once the Standard Operating Procedure is formulated by a six-member committee of the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
The minister gave a patient hearing to the players and took note of feedback during the online meeting which was attended by 34 men and 24 women hockey players.
“The SOP is being drawn up and now we have the inputs from coaches and hockey players. We will resume practice soon but in a controlled manner,” Rijiju said in a press release later.
Both the Indian men and women’s hockey teams have been at the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) South Centre in Bengaluru since the start of the coronavirus-forced lockdown on March 25.
“I assure that we will extend all support to get our athletes back on the ground to train, but we must be careful. We cannot afford to risk the health of even one athlete because that will jeopardise the entire training plan.
“We must accept that in the post COVID era, sports will not be played in the same way and we will have to adjust to the changes and move forward,” he added.
The Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams told the minister that resumption of on-field training in small groups as soon as possible will give them an upper-hand over other top nations as they gear up for Olympics next year.
“The players stated that they were feeling homesick but they very well understand that they are safe here. They just want to resume training to divert unwanted thoughts that creep in their minds,” a source told PTI.
In the virtual meeting, which also featured Sports Ministry and Sports Authority of India (SAI) officials, the players and coaches requested for early resumption of training in a group of four or five.
“If we are able to start training on basic skills and specialised skills in small batches and work on other techniques like penalty corners, it will help the teams to make a start towards Olympic preparations,” suggeste India captain Manpreet Singh.
Women’s team skipper Rani Rampal said fitness wise they are in good shape but they want to get back on the field to build stamina and remain focussed on the Olympics.
“We are safer here than we would be even at home. I feel we can start training while following protocols of health and social distancing,” she said.
Former skipper and goalkeeper of the men’s team PR Sreejesh added: “It is important for us to be in top mental shape and if we start training it can help us refresh our minds and handle homesickness.
“Since there will be no events in the next few months, staying focussed on the game will be tough unless we start to train.”
Chief coaches of the men’s and women’s hockey teams, Graham Reid and Sjoerd Marine, and High Performance Director David John were also present.
The meeting was attended by sports secretary Ravi Mital, SAI director general Sandip Pradhan, Indian Olympic Association president Narinder Batra, Hockey India president Md Mushtaque Ahmad and other senior officials.
“Out of the top 12 teams in the world only Holland and Belgium have restarted training. We have lost close to 2 months but if we can start training at the earliest we will be in an advantageous position.
“We haven’t lost much but now it’s time to begin training,” a member of the Indian hockey team management was quoted by a source as having told Rijiju during the meeting.
The source said the coaching staff emphasised on how Indian hockey will be a gainer if training is resumed at the earliest after following all safety protocols.
“The training can be started in a group of 4 or 5 maintaining social distancing norms. The focus of the training will be on basic and individual skills besides shooting and penalty corner practice drills.”
Sportstar
Maintaining fitness to play top-level hockey once we resume, says Navjot
Bengaluru: Ever since Wayne Lombard took over as the Scientific Advisor of the Indian women''s hockey team, there has been a considerable improvement in the fitness levels of the players, which has resulted in better performances on the field.
The impressive overhaul in the various fitness routines followed by the team has seen them rise to the ninth spot in the FIH World Rankings and has led them to successive Olympic Games (2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo).
One of the various fitness sessions that the Indian team follows was on display on Friday morning as forward Navjot Kaur joined Lombard for an Instagram Live session on Hockey India''s official handle.
The session conducted by Lombard, with the help of video call, was focused on maintaining and improving Navjot''s muscle mass during lockdown, and ensured that social distancing at the Sports Authority of India campus in Bengaluru was being followed.
Navjot said: ''I believe fitness plays an important role in modern hockey. If our fitness is great, we can perform well on the field and compete throughout the 60 minutes.''
''Even during lockdown, it has become important for us to maintain our fitness levels and devote some time to exercising. It will ensure that once we are back on the training pitch, we will only take a few days to get back into our rhythm of playing top-level hockey.''
Calling it a hypertrophy focused session, Lombard said it was important for him to focus on maintaining the muscle mass of the players during such circumstances.
''I think it is one of the key areas which often female players struggle to maintain if they are not able to train for a prolonged period of time. However, the drills in our fitness session focused on maintaining or improving Navjot''s muscle mass during lockdown to ensure that when we return to full training, there is not much of a difference in her fitness levels,'' said the Scientific Advisor.
''With the regulation changes that have come into the sport gradually, hockey has become a really physically demanding sport.
''It is important to prepare the players for high intensity sessions during practice sessions and matches, and we can only do that through fitness sessions in the gyms and indoors, which eventually make them strong a/nd agile, and improve their stamina,'' he added.
Outlook India
Former hockey captain Sardar on his fitness routines; Sreejesh on why he became a GK & more
Sardar Singh | FIH
India men’s hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh said that one mistake behind the goalposts can make the player a villain even if he had a great game otherwise.
In their video interview series titled ‘Double Trouble,’ India cricketers Jemimah Rodrigues and Smriti Mandhana spoke to former India hockey captain Sardar Singh and goalkeeper Sreejesh about the similarities between the two sports, handling big-game pressure and more.
The episode saw Sreejesh talk about how the national hockey team is training in the Bengaluru campus, where both the men’s and the women’s team have been since before the coronavirus lockdown.
“Thankfully, we can practice social distancing here as the campus is 90 acres big. We train in small groups of four and five during one training session. Over there, we do our exercises and other training drills. We are waiting for directions from the government for more guidelines.”
Srejeesh, though, tried to make light of the situation with all sporting activities suspended because of the pandemic. “You will be fresh [when the sporting calendar resumes]. Your mind will be fresh and you will be desperate to play well and make up for lost time,” he said.
The India goalie had a funny story about how he became a goalkepeer as a child.
“Initially, I was a shot put player. I tried volleyball too. Hockey was fun when I started playing it. In my mind, I was thinking ‘I shouldn’t run a lot.’ That’s how I became a goalkeeper,” Sreejesh joked.
Sardar said he took his fitness drills seriously during his playing days. The powerful midfelder, who was known for his dribbling and stinging reverse hits, retired in 2018.
“Our sport involves a lot of running so I always tried to be on the top of my fitness drills. I worked on my reverse hits a lot during training. I would stay back after training sessions and work on it.”
Sreejesh added: “There is a GPS system that we use during training where you have to complete at least 5-7 kms in one session. If you can’t finish, you’ll have to complete it after the training is done. You could trick the coaches in the past but now it is thorough.”
Sreejesh was asked about the stakes involved with manning the goalposts and how goalkeepers have the mental edge in penalty shootouts.
“At least the wicketkeeper gets to bat in cricket to make up for the errors they committed while ‘keeping. In a game like hockey, you can save 25 shots but one bad mistake will make you a villain. My childhood coach told me that I, as a goalkeeper, can be the reason to win or lose a match.
“The only time where the pressure is not on us is the shootout. We have five tries to get it right while the shooter has only one chance.”
Scroll.in
Roper & Creed look back on worst hockey moments
Brendan Creed
It’s fair to say not much is off limits for Brendan Creed and Phil Roper in their new podcast ‘Lets Stick Together’.
Whether it’s alternative names for their new show, asking Barry Middleton for his greatest ever five-a-side hockey team or which grounds they don’t particularly enjoy playing at, these two don’t hold back.
(We also advise that this is not a podcast for children given some of the content discussed and the language used)
In their latest episode, the two discussed some of their worst hockey experiences so far, with both recalling incidents from 2017.
First up it was Creed who recalled how the semi-final that summer’s EuroHockey Championships, where England played The Netherlands for a place in the final, took a turn for the worse in the second quarter.
“I got the ball at the back, tried to carry it out and saw what I thought was a worldie pass on so went for it,” he said.
“But the issue with it was that I was stuck in the bottom right hand corner of the pitch and I was looking to go across to the left hand side [towards Roper, who was on the 23m line], so it was a really expansive pass.
“It got intercepted by Glenn Schuurman, they win a corner, score and we go 1-0 down. I was pretty fragile at this stage so I was like ‘oh god, this is not ideal’.”
Unfortunately for Creed, history repeated itself a minute later as the Dutch added a second through Mirco Pruyser after another of his passes was intercepted.
England eventually lost the game 3-1 and Creed was crestfallen afterwards.
But instead of an arm round the shoulder, it was some bluntness from team-mate Mark Gleghorne that actually helped the defender through the situation and saw him back at his best as England beat Germany to win gold the following day.
“The funny thing is that when something like that happens people say ‘don’t worry about it, don’t worry about it – that thing happens’.
“That’s pretty much what everyone was doing but I knew I’d messed up. I just wanted people to be a bit more honest.
“Then Gleggy came up to me, asked how I was doing and I said ‘Gleg I’ve messed up big time’. He said ‘yeah, don’t do it tomorrow’. That was weirdly what I needed to hear. I had so much respect for that because he said ‘aye, you did – but that’s life, get on with it’. That’s the epitome of Gleg really.
“It's weird. You want to comfort people but sometimes it isn’t the answer when you know you’ve messed up. It’s just so bizarre how one time that might work and that might be the right thing to say, but another time someone saying ‘it wasn’t your fault’ is the wrong thing to say.”
For Roper, the moment he recalled as being his worst on a hockey pitch was the 2017 League Finals weekend when his side Wimbledon lost to Surbiton in the final.
Not only did Wimbledon let slip a three goal advantage in the final ten minutes before losing the shootout, just hours after the game he had to fly to Malaysia with the GB squad – many of whom were Surbiton players – to play in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
Recounting the day, Roper said: “It was protocol that we had to be ready to go straight after the game so after the medal ceremony we went into an ice bath with the Surbiton players who had just won.
“I was stood opposite Brendan and Dave Goodfield, who were the worst two people to be there, just looking at me with a big smile saying ‘unlucky Phil’.
“Then we had to get a taxi straight to the airport. I was thinking I’ve got to put up with this lot for the next two weeks and walking round the airport for a while thinking ‘where did it all go wrong?’”
New episodes of ‘Lets Stick Together’ are currently released every Wednesday – click here to listen*.
*Again we would strongly advise that children do not listen to this podcast due to the nature of some of the content and the language used.
Great Britain Hockey media release
Suzy Petty hopes England Hockey learn from mistakes to help athlete wellbeing
By Rod Gilmour
Suzy Petty hopes that changes she has helped enforce to the deselection process at England Hockey will aid future athletes after she revealed that she was dropped from the GB women’s programme last November following an unexplained 10-minute meeting at Bisham Abbey.
Petty was an ever-present in the GB and England squad after playing at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and that summer’s World Cup in London before being dropped ahead of the Olympic qualifiers against Chile in late 2019. Part of Wimbledon Ladies’ promotion to the top flight this season, she had also admitted last October to trying to beat an eating disorder that she had “on and off” for the last decade as she bid to reach full fitness.
But following the qualifiers, she was called up one mid November evening to come in for an 8:30 meeting at Bisham HQ the following morning, which resulted in her axing from the squad, along with Erica Sanders, and never returning.
Petty, who now works for a medical company alongside her planned return to domestic hockey following the pandemic, said: “I did not feel that they considered the effect of a quick 10 minute meeting in dropping me, when I did not see it coming at all. They gave me no reason other than that they didn’t see me being part of the Tokyo squad.”
She was able to take a team-mate into that initial meeting and afterwards sought legal advice. The 28-year-old has now spoken up to The Hockey Paper after England Hockey admitted last week to “shortcomings” in how it dealt with Petty.
This has led to EH undertaking a review in partnership with the British Athletes Commission (BAC) which will focus on the deselection process and how the national governing body can best support athletes’ wellbeing following exclusion from the elite system.
Petty now hopes that other athletes – and those in other sports – do not experience the same trauma in the deselection process.
Petty eventually had a mediation in February with EH chief executive Nick Pink, performance director Ed Barney and a BAC representative, which paved the way for the athlete reforms.
She said: “We spoke about everything that had happened, I spoke from my side, they explained themselves and we all came to an agreement of some shortcomings.”
Ultimately, the agreement aims:
– To provide mental health and wellbeing training to all members of the EH performance programme staff
– Improve the process between the performance programme staff and the athletes to ensure clarity on status is known and documented
– Recognise the wider, but often very personal impact, of the process around the deselection meeting and to make sure all factors, for any athlete, are fully considered with appropriate support offered
– Encourage a meeting with BAC immediately following the deselection meeting and to make sure athletes are aware of this support
– Ensuring all Individual Development Plans (IDP) are completed for all athletes as per the Athlete Agreement.
Further, Petty says that her IDP review with EH performance staff – scheduled every three months as per athletes’ contracts – was meant to take place last June but an MRI scan had taken priority. At the time, coaches said that she didn’t need an IDP, which left her unaware as to her overall performance.
Suzy Petty, right, had worked her way through the England junior ranks before being capped 51 times at international level
Petty, who at the time had also extended her flat lease in Maidenhead, says that the help she received in employment law has left her satisfied with the outcome, even though she would “love to be back in the squad”.
“But I know that’s now not possible,” she added. “I have taken it all on the chin and the apology from England Hockey has closed that chapter.”
Petty’s story follows that of another athlete, Katie Knight, who shared her experiences dealing with mental health with The Hockey Paper, which ultimately resulted in a meeting with England Hockey staff to better wellbeing support in the future within the junior and EDP programme.
“I just hope that EH learn from their mistakes with me and previous athletes and that future athletes do not get treated the way that lots have in the past,” added Petty.
England Hockey had said in its statement: “We openly recognise the shortcomings on our part and would like to apologise for the impact this had upon her. We would like to place on record our best wishes to Suzy for the future.”
Please help keep independent journalism alive in these uncertain times. Ahead of the new season, please subscribe in print or in digital format.
The Hockey Paper
Sport, interrupted: Hockey academy counts cost of opportunities missed
Debayan Sen
Former India junior coach Jude Felix (right) in a file picture, seen passing on instructions to Shilanand Lakra during an India-Ireland match in Antwerp, Belgium in 2018. Hockey India
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought the sporting economy to a shuddering halt. In India, the lockdown and its longer-term implications threaten the future of clubs, academies, leagues, support staff, all the people who help move the wheels of sport. In this series, ESPN looks across the country's sporting ecosystem, from the big clubs to the neighbourhood academies, to see how they've been affected.
April and May are normally the busiest months for the Jude Felix Hockey Academy (JFHA), located at St. Mary's Orphanage in Bengaluru. That's when it hosts its summer camps for about 100 children -- boys and girls across ages -- who, for a token fee as donation, play and train for four weeks.
The JFHA -- run by a charitable trust under former India captain and two-time Olympian Felix -- has been holding this camp every year since its inception in 2009. However, the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing lockdown saw all hockey activities suspended from March 23 onwards.
The academy caters to hockey aspirants who come from families with meagre resources -- besides children of the orphanage, there are 35 others who train round the year -- and depends almost entirely on donations from friends, families and well-wishers. The loss of even this token donation income is another blow for the JFHA; the funds are drying up fast, say Felix and his former India teammate Shanmugham Pandurangan.
Summer, but no camps
"We were supposed to have three separate summer camps. Everything is dead at the moment with the academy closed," says Felix, adding that the majority of the regular trainees won't suffer yet because they would have been preparing only for local tournaments.
The academy has three full-time staff -- two coaches and an office assistant. Shanmugham -- who jokingly calls himself "a volunteer, trustee, secretary, treasurer, all-in-one" -- says the salaries of the three combined don't amount to much, but the yearly expense for the academy works out to about INR 10 lakh (approx. $13,000) on average. "We spend on training equipment, after-training nutrition, and we also take care of educational expenses of the children," he says. "We don't pay in cash, but we might buy their books, help with their school fees or take care of their bus pass. Some of them are from such poor backgrounds that we might buy provisions for them and their families. Being a trust, we can't organise commercial activities but we hold fundraisers, and that involves meeting people and approaching them. Right now, everybody is running for their lives."
To raise funds, Shanmugham wanted to participate in the Charity Run during the TCS 10K in Bengaluru, scheduled for May 17 but postponed now to November 22. The academy -- which owns a bus, donated by the State Bank of India -- had plans of acquiring a small van to take the children to local tournaments, for which Shanmugham's family had come forward to help. "My brother-in-law was going to buy the vehicle. Knowing the current situation, I advised him against doing that," he says.
Felix says the salaries have been given for April, but with the funds low and little coming in, clearing dues might soon become a problem. "We have managed to pay them this month, but I am not sure how we will be able to manage the next few. We just have to wait and see," he says.
JFHA's Deepandhar (front row, right) poses with his teammates after their title win at the Dhyan Chand six-a-side invitational tournament in Mussoorie in August 2019. Facebook/Jude Felix Hockey Academy Charitable Trust
Opportunity cost
The bigger price to pay may be slightly different -- literally, opportunity cost. For example, the delay has put in doubt the career plans of one of the brightest trainees, Deepandhar Deval. Son of a security guard, Deval came to the academy through a trustee near whose house he lived, and would play by the road. The midfielder played a key role in helping JFHA win the Dhyan Chand six-a-side invitational tournament in Mussoorie last year. Just ahead of the lockdown, he had attended a trial for the Sports Authority of India's (SAI) Centre of Excellence (CoE) project, a scheme where the best players across 17 disciplines, between the ages of 14 and 25, get advanced scientific training at SAI's regional centres of excellence for 330 days in a year.
"He has had that first selection, among the top 20 in the country in U-18 category, and there was supposed to be another round of trials. He doesn't know where he stands now, since everything is in limbo," says Felix.
Or take the case of Rajendra, JFHA's most celebrated graduate yet. He has played for Karnataka at both junior and senior levels, played in the French league last year, and has had a call-up for the junior national camp in the past. Financial constraints within the family forced Rajendra to leave the CoE this January and start working at a fitness centre. Two months ago he joined the JFHA as a junior coach, one of their three full-time staff, to increase his income.
Shanmugham had planned to set aside a significant part of his earnings from the 10K run to support Rajendra's family. Instead, he might soon need to give him a call and let him know that his job at the academy is over.
ESPN 5
Hockey fans urged to join MHC first Webinar
By Jugjet Singh
Arul Selvaraj
A SPEAKER from Dublin and two from Malaysia will be involved in a Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) first Webinar attempt tomorrow.
The topic is "Creating a Winning Touch."
Arul Selvaraj, who coaches University Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) during the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) season but otherwise runs an academy in Dublin, will be involved as one of the speakers.
The Webinar starts at 2pm tomorrow. The other speaker is former international and MHC coaching committee member I. Vickneswaran.
Rodhanizam Radzi, a former international, will be the moderator.
"I'm just playing a part to spread some knowledge, which I gained over the years as a player and coach (both for Malaysia and Ireland)," said Arul, who is now in Dublin.
The UniKL coach has been successful in the MHL. He guided the club to a treble (Charity Shield, league and TNB Cup) this year.
"This is our first Webinar attempt and will be live on the MHC Facebook page. The public can listen and pose questions during the session.
"We will try to answer as many questions as possible. In the future, I believe there will be more Webinar sessions," said Vickneswaran.
Vickneswaran and Rodhanizam also have vast knowledge in conducting coaching clinics over the years.
"We have done many field activities over the years, but this is the first time we will be going live to share our knowledge to the public," Vickneswaran added.
New Straits Times
BLACKROLL® joins Hockey Australia corporate family
Hockey Australia (HA) is proud to announce highly respected health style company BLACKROLL® Australia as a new corporate partner.
The initial one year deal sees BLACKROLL® Australia become the Official Supplier of Athletic and Recovery Tools Partner of Hockey Australia, including the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos.
Originating from Germany in 2007, BLACKROLL® products are a highly respected range of fascia (the connective tissue enclosing a muscle or other organ) training tools and the first of its kind to focus on the health, fitness, rehab and sports industry, as well as engaging in fascia research.
“We welcome BLACKROLL® Australia to the Australian hockey family and look forward to a mutually successful partnership,” said Hockey Australia CEO Matt Favier.
“BLACKROLL® have developed an excellent reputation and this is an area of our High Performance network that has not been fully capitalised on.”
“The equipment and partnership will provide significant benefits to our athletes and contribute to our national teams continuing to be a force in world hockey.”
Director and Certified Blackroll® Trainer Chris Heppeler, who established BLACKROLL® Australia, said the company is excited to become the official supplier of athletic training and recovery tools for Hockey Australia.
“This partnership has the ability to strengthen our ties with professional sports in Australia and provide a source of information and effective tools for injury prevention, performance and self-care to the hockey community,” said Heppeler.
“Our goal is to work with Hockey Australia and provide them with state of the art equipment and education on the elite level, as well as making similar benefits available to all members and players in Australia.”
BLACKROLL will supply HA’s High Performance Programs with all of the tools and equipment required for prehab, warm up and recovery.
There will also be a host of discount offers available to the broader hockey community as an additional component of the partnership.
For more information on BLACKROLL® Australia visit www.blackroll.com.au
Hockey Australia media release