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All the news for Wednesday 4 November 2020

2020 FIH Pro League - 4 November

2020 FIH Pro League (Men)

4 Nov 2020 18:00 ( GMT +1)     BEL v NED (RR)     -     Royal Uccle Sport, Brussels

2020 FIH Pro League (Women)

4 Nov 2020 15:30 (GMT +1)      BEL v NED (RR)     -     Royal Uccle Sport, Brussels

Live streaming and full game replay on the Watch Hockey App (May be Geo blocked if there is TV coverage)

Pool Standings

Men's Pool

Women's Pool

USA v NED (26.01.2020) worth double points because of the match cancelled on 24.01.2020
AUS v GBR (01.02.2020) worth double points because of the match cancelled on 02.02.2020

FIH Match Centre

Nilam Sanjeep Xess says he is working on technical issues to cement position in Indian hockey team

Bengaluru: Indian men's hockey team defender Nilam Sanjeep Xess says he is striving hard to address some technical issues in his game to cement his spot in the national side.

The 21-year-old, who has played 14 matches for the Indian team, said he has been honing his skills during the national camps.

"It's been a little rocky start to my international career. My last tournament for India was the Olympic Test Event in August 2019. However, I have continued to work hard on my game in various national coaching camps since the competition," he said in a Hockey India release.

"I have singled out a few techniques that I need to work on and hopefully, I will improve as a player. I am very determined to raise my game to a level with which I can cement a regular spot in the Indian team. That is my immediate target at the moment."

Xess said he is very fortunate to be rubbing shoulders with Harmanpreet Singh and Rupinder Pal Singh.

"I am very lucky to be practicing hockey with players such as Harmanpreet and Rupinder. They are very inspiring athletes and I have learned a lot from them," he said.

"They have been terrific defenders for India in the last few years and I hope they continue to help India win many more matches in the future. Hopefully, I will be as good as them one day. We have a terrific balance in the defence unit, which is very valuable for the entire team," he added.

Xess said that winning an Olympic medal is his ultimate dream as a sportsperson.

"It's the biggest achievement for any sportsperson. If I make it to the Indian Olympic team next year, it will certainly be a dream come true for me," he said.

"Our team has grown from strength to strength in the last few years and all the hard work is paying off. Hopefully, the Indian team will make history in Tokyo next year."

Firstpost

Drake Joins U.S. Women's National Team Staff as Assistant Coach



COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - USA Field Hockey is pleased to announce that Greg Drake has joined the U.S. Women’s National Team staff as an assistant coach. Alongside newly appointed USWNT Head Coach Anthony Farry, Drake will instill his coaching philosophy of trying to obtain the highest possible performance from all athletes while maintaining enjoyment of the process.

"We are delighted to have Greg join our staff," said Simon Hoskins, USA Field Hockey's Executive Director. "He has established a productive complementary partnership with Anthony Farry and will be a great asset to the USWNT program."



I am extremely pleased to be joining the U.S. Women’s National Team. I have great respect for the quality of the U.S high performance program. I’m looking forward to helping this team, and each athlete, be the best they can be.
Greg Drake

Drake, a native of Australia, is no stranger to Farry and his coaching style, having worked with him over the last several years. When Farry was the performance director and head coach of the Canada Men’s National Team, Drake served as a performance analyst. Over the last three years, he also worked with Farry as an assistant coach and performance analyst (2017-2020) with the Japan Women’s National Team. He accompanied the team to many tournaments, tours and camps including the 2018 Asian Games, where the team captured their first-ever event title with a win over India.

Through his role as the performance analyst at the Victorian Institute of Sport hockey program and through contacts with Hockey Australia, Drake developed intimate knowledge of the athlete pathway, system and infrastructure that are required for top level field hockey. He has a high level of technical expertise in goalkeeping, specialist knowledge of structures and set plays, and has studied the best performing women’s international teams and athletes over a number of years.

Drake, who holds the highest field hockey coaching accreditation available in Australia, has more than 15 years’ experience coaching teams from the junior to international level.  Throughout his coaching career, he has worked with a number of the world’s leading coaches, including Katie Allen, Jay Stacey and Colin Batch, at international level as well as in the Australian National Hockey League and Hockey India League.

Originally from Altona HC in Melbourne, Drake was an active player, competing at regional representative level and being involved in high-performance programs including the Victorian Institute of Sport.

Join USA Field Hockey in welcoming Drake to Team USA!

USFHA media release

Willmott will be ‘flag carrier’ for World Masters hockey



Well known in hockey circles, World Grand Masters Association has appointed John Willmott as its third president. WGMA said Willmott will be an “energetic flag carrier” for over 60s hockey.

The congenial Willmott will represent the association after Wim van Noortwijk stood down after six years.

Adrian Stephenson, WGMA’s hon secretary, said: “Wim was instrumental in the formation of World Masters Hockey and had resigned from WMH in August 2019 to concentrate on the future of WGMA.

“Ill health has made it impossible for Wim to give as much time and energy to WGMA as he would like and he has been working through this difficult year to find a suitable successor to lead WGMA and to shape the organisation in its new role in the changing world of Grand Masters hockey.”

As Southgate HC president, Willmott hosted the Grand Masters Hockey European Cup in 2015 and is now a committee member of Alliance International HC and chair of the Hockey Museum.

He has also been a driving force behind the Six Nations International Veterans Tournament which began in 1972 and continues to this day, involving club sides from France, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Italy and England.

WGMA said: “We have no doubt that John will be a very visible presence and energetic ‘flag-carrier’ at all Grand Masters events and that his love and experience of international hockey will ensure the future health and happiness of Grand Masters hockey around the world.”

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The Hockey Paper

European indoor hockey cancelled for 2021


Buckingham qualified for Europe for first time this year PIC: Will Palmer/England Hockey

Top European indoor hockey has been wiped out after the pandemic caused the cancellation of the 2021 EuroHockey Indoor Club Championships in February.

Seven traditional indoor EHF events were cancelled indefinitely on Tuesday, with the federation citing no obvious window to reschedule later in the year.

Some clubs will now have to wait to see if they will represent their countries in indoor hockey.

The EHF has already outlined that each national association can decide which team to represent them at the 2022 Championships.

“This can be either their national indoor team of 2020 or their national indoor team of 2021,” the EHF said.

This means that as far as English clubs are concerned, Surbiton men and Buckingham women, who were due to represent England in Febuary after winning their respective national tites, will be at the mercy of England Hockey’s decision.

The EHF had also confirmed that the EuroHockey Indoor Junior Championships will be put on hold until December 2021.

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The Hockey Paper

Hall of Fame - Terry Walsh



Australian hockey has been blessed with a host of exceptional attacking players and coaches throughout its history, and Terry Walsh can be included in that list.

Terry is widely acknowledged as one of Australia's finest ever strike forwards. He burst onto the WA state hockey scene from Kalgoorlie and it wasn’t long before he was a permanent member of the state team before making his debut for Australia. Such was the quality of Terry’s debut for Western Australia, he was immediately chosen in the national team for the World Cup in Malaysia in 1975 where he would receive his first cap against Pakistan.

Terry scored 70 goals for Australia from 175 appearances, the last of those goals fittingly coming in the Gold Medal game of the 1986 World Cup against Germany in London. Terry competed at four World Cups in all, winning a gold and two bronze medals.

Terry was selected in three Olympic Teams, Montreal in 1976 where Australian claimed the silver medal, the boycotted Moscow Games in 1980, and 1984 where he was the tournament’s leading scorer.

For most of his career, Terry was used exclusively as a striker where his great attributes were explosive speed and strength. As he matured as a player, he developed wonderful ball skills and highly perceptive tactical knowledge. Walsh was the ultimate team player, his superb goal-scoring feats matched by boundless energy and enthusiasm for his sport.

Terry retired from playing after the successful 1986 World Cup campaign and then went into coaching. He took charge of the Malaysian for three years in the early nineties before taking on the head coaching role of the Kookaburras. Under his guidance, the Kookaburras won gold medals at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and 1999 Champions Trophy, and bronze at the 2000 Olympic Games. He also coached the Netherlands to a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics and was appointed Head Coach of India’s men’s team in 2013. Walsh is recognized as a Master Coach by the International Hockey Federation.

Terry’s induction into the Hockey Australia Hall of Fame was ratified in 2018.

What he said…
“Being inducted into the Hockey Australia Hall of Fame is extremely humbling. Hockey has provided me with a lifetime of involvement and experiences within our sport encompassing many parts of our world’s hockey family. Playing through an era where Australia strived to overcome the world’s powerhouses of Asian and European hockey was truly exhilarating. The guys in our team, along with the many significant challenges we faced, have made indelible memories. In acknowledging all our players, coaches, support staff, administrators and supporters over many years, I would say thank you.” Terry Walsh

From those in the know…
“Terry possessed great speed, enormous strength and had a sheer desire to score goals. Moving to centre forward in the early 1980’s he continued as a goal scoring threat in every game he played. Knee problems threatened to shorten his illustrious career, but a sustained remedial programme allowed him to continue playing until the World Cup Gold Medal game in 1986.

After retiring Terry continued his coaching at the AIS Hockey unit in Perth before coaching overseas and then the Kookaburras to a bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Terry Walsh is champion of our sport.” Richard Aggiss (former Australian Coach)

Hockey Timeline
Player
Western Australia
1974 Western Australia Team

Australia
1975-1986 Men’s National Team
1976 Montreal Olympic Games Silver Medal
1978 World Cup Bronze Medal
1980 Champions Trophy Bronze Medal
1981 Champions Trophy Silver Medal
1981 World Cup Bronze Medal
1982 Champions Trophy Silver medal
1983 Champions Trophy Gold Medal
1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games
1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games leading goal scorer
1984 Champions Trophy Gold Medal
1985 Champions Trophy Gold medal
1986 World Cup Gold Medal

Coach
Australia
1997-2000 Men’s National Team Head Coach
1998 Commonwealth Games Gold Medal
1999 Champions Trophy Gold Medal
2000 Sydney Olympic Games Bronze Medal

Hockey Australia media release

Where is she now? Former Blacks Sticks captain Chris Arthur

Suzanne McFadden


Chris Arthur is still wielding a hockey stick at 57 – playing masters for Auckland and player/coach of the New Zealand W55 team. Hockey NZ/BW Media

Having struggled with Olympic defeat, former Black Sticks captain Chris Arthur is now helping the current crop of Olympians deal with disappointment, while she still plays hockey and coaches in the new national Premier Hockey League.

Chris Arthur knows only too well the phenomenon of post-Olympic blues. She lived with it for four years.

A former Black Sticks captain, Arthur came home from her second Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992 – where New Zealand finished eighth of eight teams – and struggled.

“We didn't achieve what I wanted to achieve. I was so upset … It took me four years before I could even talk about it,” she says.

“I had this huge sense of failure, and the media were quite brutal with us and it felt like I'd let down the whole of New Zealand.”

Arthur loved her first Games – in Los Angeles in 1984 – when women played hockey at the Olympics for the first time.

“I was a young kid and so I just loved the whole experience, I didn't have any expectations,” she says. New Zealand finished sixth (of six).

“It was only a couple of years ago, when we had a reunion for the 1992 team, that I realised there were a whole lot of other players in that team who also had a terrible experience. Because you have this huge expectation and if it's not met, you're not given the opportunity to really grieve publicly. And people just don't get it unless they've lived it.”

Nowadays, Arthur is in a position to do something about it. She has the chance to help other Kiwi Olympians cope with that disappointment or prepare for emotional drop from celebrated hero back down into training's daily grind, in her job as head of Athlete Life at High Performance Sport NZ.

“Hopefully, by the work we do with athletes now - helping them with their identity and their purpose and knowing that they are more than just their results - that we're going some way to making sure that if they do have those post-pinnacle event blues, they won't stay in them for long,” she says.

Arthur was a teacher and then deputy principal of Auckland's Diocesan School for Girls before taking on this role, heading a holistic programme helping high perfomance athletes deal with professionalism, care for their wellbeing, and plan for life after their sporting careers.

And the job has taken on even more importance during the pandemic lockdowns and the year-long postponement of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“It's an amazing privilege really, to be able to work with athletes and support them to basically grow their dream, whatever that dream may be,” she says.


Chris Arthur reckons she's been coaching almost as long as she's been playing hockey. Hockey NZ/BW Media

“They bring their agenda and me and my team help them to plan and decide what's important, challenge them and support them to grow to be better people and better athletes.”

At 57, Arthur is still learning, as she continues to play and coach hockey. She’s player-coach of the New Zealand Masters W55 team, the trans-Tasman champions who were to have played at this year's World Cup in South Africa (canned by Covid). She’ll keep playing, she says, until her knees give out.

Arthur loves coaching, and although she has no aspirations to guide the Black Sticks, she will be part of the national coaching cluster in the new Premier Hockey League, which finally gets underway in Hamilton next week.

While all four of the women’s teams in the league are coached by men, they will each have a female assistant coach or two during the competition. It’s part of a new women’s coaching initiative as Hockey New Zealand acknowledges they need to develop more female coaches.

Arthur and former Black Sticks defender Danielle Cranston (nee Jones) will be the assistant coaches of the Hauraki Mavericks. The side is coached by Dutchman Mark Borges, a high performance coach at Hockey NZ.

When the call went out for women to join the programme – either as coaches or observers throughout the league – there was no shortage of candidates. “I believe they were inundated with women putting their hand up,” Arthur says.

“That’s one of the great things about the hockey network. There were a lot of women on the phone to each other saying, ‘Hey, we need to put our names forward. We need to be involved in this. We've got things that we want to give back to New Zealand hockey’.

“It's often said there haven't been women ready and willing to coach. But there are actually lots of great coaches out there who want to be involved.”

Arthur is passionate about encouraging women to have more influence on the game.

“I think the female coaching perspective is different. We really emphasise - I don't like calling them the softer skills - but bringing together the teamwork, and challenging individuals to be the best for the team,” she says.

“Guys emphasise the technical and tactical side of the game a little bit more. And I believe females are a little more intuitive around having empathy with the players and connecting the players together. And we’re finding that in all sorts of sports now.”


Liz Thompson will co-captain the Hauraki Mavericks with Tarryn Davey in the Premier Hockey League. Hockey NZ/BWMedia.

Arthur, who grew up in the Taranaki town of Stratford, played for the Black Sticks for 11 years after her debut in 1983, notching up 86 test caps.

Her highlights on the field were winning the Olympic qualifying tournament in Auckland in 1991, boosted by the home crowd, and playing in the 1986 World Cup play-off for third in Amsterdam, and losing to Canada in extra time. “Playing in front of the orange army with the ‘oom-pah-pah’ band is unforgettable,” she says.

Her vast contribution to hockey was recognised by naming the national schoolgirls 2nd XI tournament the Chris Arthur Cup.

After getting her degree in physical education at the University of Otago, she trained as a teacher in Christchurch. She stayed in the city and taught first at Linwood College then St Margaret’s College – and naturally coached the school hockey teams. “I’ve been coaching almost as long as I’ve been playing,” says Arthur.

She received a Prime Minister’s Scholarship in 2005 to attend an FIH coaching course in India.

“It was fascinating. I was the only female on the course and most of the participants were Indian or Pakistani men,” she says. “We were coaching Indian boys and under 21s, but no one had organised a translator for me. It was challenging.

“But it gave me a huge amount of confidence that hockey is not that complex. It's about possession, and numerical advantage and then bringing the players together so they understand and can play as one.

“It's like any leadership role, bringing the best out of everyone. Often we're put off because there's some new fancy trick or skill and you’re like, ‘Oh, I can't coach’, but with those sorts of things you can get experts in to teach that technical stuff.

“That’s a big lesson all female coaches have to take on board. You don't have to know everything. Because often we look at what we don't know as opposed to what we do know.”


NZ chef de mission Chris Arthur with Olympians Moss Burmester and Nathan Twaddle at the 2013 Australian Youth Olympic Festival. Matt King/Getty Images

Along with coaching the New Zealand U15 girls and being an assistant coach to the Junior Black Sticks, Arthur has also been involved in the Olympic movement.

She was chef de mission for New Zealand at three Games – the 2013 Australian Olympic Youth Festival, the 2014 Youth Olympics in China, and the 2015 World University Games in Korea. It helped her to better understand team culture.

“I always thought I wanted to coach with the Black Sticks, but I now think I'm quite happy where I am. My interest now is all around team culture, relationships and bringing the best out of people," she says. "Where I can have an influence and support young people, that's where I'm happy to be involved.”

The chef de mission roles also brought her back into the world of high performance sport, and piqued her interest in the Athlete Life position.

Lately, the role has involved helping Olympic and Paralympic athletes through the shock of postponing the event they've worked four years for, and helping them to change their plans for another 12 months.

“Initially there was that huge devastation, like, ‘Oh, what am I going to do?’ And then there was a realisation for athletes that this was actually bigger than them and bigger than the Olympics," she says.

“The first thing was helping athletes understand what you can control, and then we had to reduce their goal-setting to short-term. 'What do we need to learn? What do we need to do? How do we grow?' And the athletes have been really good. Athletes are actually really resilient.

“That’s the privilege of my position - you see these athletes, you hear their vulnerabilities, what else is going on in their lives. And, you know, they’re just real people who are working jolly hard to be good at what they do.”

Stuff

Draws of national hockey C’ship today

KARACHI: Draws for the National Hockey Championship will be announced on Wednesday (today) in Rawalpindi at Mari Petroleum stadium, ‘The News’ learnt on Tuesday.

The championship will be organised from November 5 to 20 at the newly-laid blue astro turf of Mari Petroleum stadium. The matches will start from Thursday morning and four matches will be organised a day.

PHF sources said that six teams had reached Rawalpindi and the remaining four teams would reach there on Wednesday.

Tournament Director (TD) Zahir Shah will meet the technical officials and umpiring manager and brief them about the championship.

Sources said that it would not be possible to organise night matches as the floodlights have just been installed and are still not operational.

Sources said that spectators would be allowed to witness the matches with strict implementation of SOPs. The sources mentioned that sanitising walk-through gates have been installed at the stadium.

They added that PHF was making efforts to arrange prize money for the winners and runners-up.

The championship is crucial for Pakistan hockey as the players of Pakistan senior and junior teams have not played international hockey for a long time due to Covid-19 and poor ranking at international level. They have also not played any bilateral series.

Pakistan are to take part in Junior Asia Cup 2021, and Asian Champions Trophy in March 2021 in Bangladesh.

The News International

Dar Academy has become an essential ingredient of the success recipe in Pakistan`s domestic hockey.

All the Semifinalists at Tray Championships included Dar Hockey Academy Boys

By Ijaz Chaudhry

Recently, National Tray Hockey Championship was held at Lahore`s National Hockey Stadium.

The Tray championship served as a qualifier for the 66th National Championship scheduled in Rawalpindi from 5th to 20th November.

The top two of the 10 teams which participated in the tray championships, Punjab and Mari Petroleum Corporation Limited, qualified for the National Championships.

In the final of the tray championships, Punjab defeated MPCL on a penalty shoot out after a 2-2 draw in 60 minutes.

Pakistan`s premier hockey nursery Dar Hockey Academy had a massive presence in the tray championships.

A total of 16 Dar Academy boys appeared for five teams.

Remarkably four of these five teams reached the semifinals.

Islamabad, who had the services of one Dar Academy player, were the lone exception.

Punjab (Winners): Gul Sher Khan & Saad

MPCL (Runners Up):Mohsin, Wasim Akram, Asif Hanif, Aqeel, Abdul Rehman, Awais Arshad & Murtaza Yaqoob

Pakistan Air Force (3rd Position): Ibrahim Khan

Higher Education Commission (4th Position): Shahzaib, Roman Khan, Asad, Umar Farooq & Safyan

Islamabad: Fazan Janjua

Dar Academy`s highly promising forward Murtaza Yaqoob being declared the Player of the Tournament was icing on the cake. Murtaza, grandson of late Afzal Manna silver medallist 1964 Olympics, scored both the goals for the MPCL in the final against the Punjab in the regulation time.

Ijaz Chaudhry writes on hockey & other sports. For more about him and his work, visit: www.sportscorrespondent.info

Fieldhockey.com

Hockey legend Rasheed Junior passes away



Iconic hockey star, former Olympian and captain of national hockey team Abdul Rasheed Junior passed away, a private news channel reported on Wednesday.

Hailing from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district, Rasheed Junior produced many brilliant field hockey players for Pakistan. With three Olympic medals to his credit, Rasheed Junior’s career was full of numerous achievements as brilliant hockey player.

Rasheed Junior’s Namaz-e-Janaza will be offered at his ancestral town in Bannu.

President Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Brig (Retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokar and Secretary General Asif Bajwa, in their separate condolence messages, have expressed grief over the death of hockey legend Abdur Rasheed Junior and prayed for rest of his soul in eternal peace.

They also paid glowing tributes to him for his services to the Hockey Federation and the country.

The Nation

Pakistan hockey legend Abdul Rashid Jr no more



Hockey legend Abdul Rashid Jr, 73, who worked in New Delhi as an officer of the Pakistan International Airlines, breathed his last today, according to many social media posts emanating from his home town in Pakistan.

Abdul Rashid Jr was a brilliant centre-forward of his times. He was one of the three leading top scorers of 1968 Olympics, where Pakistan wrested the gold from their arch rival India.

He also struck the extra time goal to give his country the Asian Games gold in 1970.

Abdul Rashid made his international debut in 1968 and continued to don green jerseys till 1976.

He turned to coaching-managing teams that included 1994 World Cup which Pakistan won.

He was with the Pakistan team when India hosted the South Asian Federation Games in 1995. He interacted heartily with the editor of the site for long hours, explaining intricacies of hockey and Asia’s journey thereto.

He was born on 29th April 1947 at Pannu in the the undivided India.

www.stick2hockey.com express its deep condolences to  the bereaved family and friends.

Stick2Hockey.com