Seeing And Taking Action In Development Part 1

Will be disseminating information on the Development of players in three parts as this is a vast area to cover.

Looking back at the past results, especially in the Olympics and World Cup Qualifiers, we have consistently lost concentration in the last ten minute of the game e.g

• 2010 World Cup Qualifier in Invercargill (New Zealand 2 Malaysia 1), Malaysia was leading from Amin Rahim's goal until Hayward scored in the 57' and 60' minute for N.Z to take the one spot available for 2010, World Cup.
• 2012 Olympic Qualifier in Ireland(South Korea 3 vs Malaysia 2)it was 2-2 till Jung Hyun scored the winner in the 67 minute that put Malaysia in a difficult position against Ireland)
• 2016 Olympic Qualifier in Antwerp, Belgium(Malaysia 2 India 3)India scored the winner in the last 3 minute)

From the above results, we can see that two areas of concern are physiology and psychology.

Whatever the weakness we see at the Senior level must be due to our Development program, where improvisation must be put in place.

Excellence must be embodied in the development stage in producing quality players.

There is a Malay proverb "Nak lenturkan Buluh, Biar Dari Rebung" in English is "If you want to bend the bamboo,do it when it's young.

During my tenure coaching the age group teams,I can see that coaches and parents are obsessed with winning without realizing the psychological damage they are doing to the child.

Excellence allows room for failure and learning, while obsession with winning does not.


Below is a video where Coach Stan Van Gaudy, former head coach of Miami Heat (NBA), shares the problems in developing quality basketball players at the youth development level in America.

We are also facing the same scenario here in Malaysia.

The issue of thinking players was brought up by some hockey officials during the Junior Asia Cup in Kuantan, Pahang.

The question to ask is, how did we train our youth hockey players from the development level, did we coach them on "what to think" or "how to think".

If it's what to think then we have created robotic players who won't be able to make decisions when they face situations new to them.


"To create thinking players, we need thinking coaches".


Before I pen off, I will share with you the key to my successful penalty corner conversion rate in 1991,Olympic Qualifier in Auckland, New Zealand.


Till today I can still vividly remember after our Saturday video session,our coach "Terry Walsh" will remind us to take a book from the coffee table, where there were many books written on how athletes and personalities achieved success in their respective fields.


Guess what, I took a book on how America going to regain the prestigious "America Cup" from New Zealand, written by "Dennis Conner".


"Dennis Conner" shared in his book that even the smallest details are important to regain the America's Cup.


"Dennis Conner" achieved his dream to regain the prestigious "America's Cup", and so did Malaysia; qualified in style for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

"Psychological aspect distinguishes between elite and sub-elite". 

Thanks for Reading and will continue on this topic in my next posting





"Words Of Wisdom and a Beautiful Song"

Beautiful Sunday,just like to share with you some words of wisdom from "Gautama Buddha" about how the mind describes the world we live in.

"We are what we think,
  All that we are arises,
  With our thoughts, with our thoughts,
  We make our world"

So watch our thoughts and its way with care.Let it spring from love,born out of concern for all being.

One of my favorite movie "To Sir With Love",enjoy this beautiful song from this movie.

Remember "What we appreciate,will appreciates i.e giving away extra turf shoe or hockey sticks to boys or girls who are in need,will inspire them to take up a healthy habit.

"Have a Great and Beautiful Sunday."







Journey to become a World Champion

The great "Confucius" once said, "The Journey Of A Thousand Miles Starts With The First Step". Please take this journey with me in what is needed to become a world champion.

Don't think of having overnight success as such success doesn't last. Instead, it has to be a journey that will build a foundation for the future of hockey and all team sports in Malaysia.

The future starts with whatever actions we do now. Every action we take must embody excellence.

The etymology meaning of excellence is the state of possessing good quality in an eminent degree.

Administration and Development move in tandem.When your Administration embodies excellence, your development will be excellent and your National teams will show excellency in their performance.

Eminent researchers in the field of sports have emphasized that when your development is excellent, your learning capacity will be infinite and finite when it's not.

There are five components in Development:-

• Anthropometric
• Physiology
• Psychology
• Technique
• Tactic

Will take you on a journey on the above areas on my next posting.

Watching the Malaysian team performance in the recent Junior Asia Cup was the great impetus to start writing on my blog because I see our young hockey players have the talent to become World Champion.

Failing to qualify for 2016, Junior World Cup must not be a tombstone but a stepping stone to success.

For the Project 2013, Junior World Cup(JWC) team which was formed in 2009, a road map was drawn to achieve a top eight finish in 2013, Junior World Cup. 

The man who drew the road map is my good friend, former Secretary General of Malaysia Hockey Confederation, Mr. Maninderjit Singh, and I knew deep in his heart he believes that Malaysia can become World Champions. He is a man that embodies excellence in any task given to him.

The coaching staff was headed by my brother Dharma, and assisted by Gobi, Azlan Bakar. Psychological aspects was taken care by Siva, from ISN and the manager was Mirnawan Nawawi. 

With the blessing and support from HRH Tengku Abdullah, the Chancellor of University Kuala Lumpur(Unikl) and the President of MHC at that time, Unikl embark on a journey to develop these youth hockey players in the Project 2013 team.

Unikl appointee, Mr. Amir Azahar took a role of a fatherly figure in taking care of these budding youths in the Unikl team; in terms of welfare and exposure in the Malaysian Hockey League.

The majority of these youth hockey players in the Project 2013, team are from Unikl.

With their essential needs taken care, these youths can train with ease

By putting the right people with the right skills in the right place in executing this excellent plan, the 2013 JWC team showed excellence in their performance by achieving excellent results as below:

• 2011-inaugural Sultan Johor Cup - Champion
• 2012-7th Junior Asia Cup-Champion(1st time since the inception of JAC in 1987)
• 2013-Junior World Cup-4th in the world

Please enjoy this motivational video montage prepared by the coaching staff after their victory in the 2011 Sultan Johor Cup: a new impetus for their journey to the 2013 Junior World Cup.

Have a good weekend and I will end with a few words in Malay that I prepared with the Project 2013 boys during my tenure with Unikl,

"Dari Bukit Ke Bukit Kita Mendaki"
Akan kita hadapi banyak cabaran,
Janganlah putus asa,teruslah mendaki,
"Akan tercapai cita-cita kita jadi 'Juara Dunia Piala Remaja 2013"

In English

"From hill to hill we climb"
Many challenges we shall face,
Keep climbing and never give up,
"Our dreams of becoming 2013 JWC Champion will become a reality".
(translated by my beautiful niece Miss Sasmiita Segar)

The above words were written on a picture of "Mount Everest" with images of players climbing the great mountain and nail on our meeting room wall.

Thank You for reading and have a great weekend.