Poor Organising of Malaysian Hockey League

 safety of players is the priority-My brother Dharma and Roslan decided to wet the pitch than their throat.

A hockey fan went for a National Hockey League game today with the hope of watching a quality game between THT and UITM and ended up disappointed.
What a day for this hockey fan watching how hockey has fallen to the lowest level today. He shares his interesting day as below.

I left competitive hockey in 1995 since then have not touched or watched hockey till early 2018 maybe. So I decided to come to watch a National League game today and was shocked to see the difference from then to now. The stadium has only max about 20 spectators and the way the organisers have organised this prestigious tournament(once upon a time) is an utter disgrace.
Before the game, THT officials complained of a "Dry Patch" in the field. Next minute I see the THT officials themselves are carrying water in a container to water the dry patch.
This is ridiculous, where are the organisers? Malaysian Hockey Confederation, don't you make sure the game pitch is fully functional for a game of this standard?
What a disgrace the organisation of hockey in this country has become.
Where are the stadium officials to properly water the pitch? It is an AstroTurf for god's sake, if not wet can be dangerous to players. Let that, even on half time 3/4 of the pitch became dry due to sun and pitch was not watered. Seriously, what the hell are you organisers doing? Where is all the money going? 
MHC organising committee needs to be answerable for this.
Next is out National Sports Council who I believe is tasked to manage and maintain the first hockey stadium in the country. If not mistaken, it hosted the Champions trophy in 1993 but the upkeep of the stadium, make me want to cry. We used to have a working digital board for high-level games but today we have to human, mending a manual board.

The scoreboard is there. Where is the crowd?

Seeing And Taking Action In Development Part 3

One of the questionnaires in a survey done by the USA Olympic Committee with the USA Olympic medalist from 1956, Melbourne Olympics to 1984, LA Olympics was, "who are the key people behind their success", the answers were:

1. Parent
2. Coach
3. Friend

Parents and coaches have to work hand to hand in a child's progress from the fundamental stage to all stages; an enjoyable learning curve.

There are seven stages in the development of a child in sports: as illustrated below:

• Stage 1: Active Start ( 0-6years old)
• Stage 2: Fundamental (girls: 6-8, boys 6-9)
• Stage 3: Learn To Train (girls 8-11, boys 9-12)
• Stage 4:Train To Train (girls 11-15, boys 12-16)
• Stage 5:Train To Compete(girls 15-21, boys 16-23)
• Stage 6:Train To Win (girls 18+, boys 19+)
• Stage 7:Active For Life

In what are the qualities, these Olympians saw in their coach:

1.Former international
2.Ability to teach
3.Motivational skills

Coaches must have the ability to imbue their players with their knowledge on the game, and that will only happen when there is a two-way relationship between them.

How successful is your development program from Stage 1 to 4, can be gauge at the Stage 5 level.

At Stage 5; after the age of 21, if the dropout rate among the youth players is very high, and the quality of players is not as desired, then the development program must be revamped from Stage 1.

Vice Versa, when you have embodied excellence from Stage 1 to 4, players with such qualities as below will blossom from the development program and will end up playing hockey for life.

Self-discipline- The word discipline is derived from a relationship between a disciple and a master, and the etymological meaning is to learn. We will see players with self- discipline, that is want to learn.
Learning doesn't happen by compelling, or by instilling fear or suppression on players

Self-training-Short camps, and during off camp players doing self-training to master the skills the coach had thought them. Creativity cannot be given by a coach, it's the players that must work hard for the creativity to flower out.

Self-knowledge- You seek answers, to uplift your game.
You will question yourself " Where is my game heading?"; Understand your own strength and weakness, and seek ways to improve your game, that will elevate your team to greater heights.


Thank You.

Seeing And Taking Action In Development Part 1

Because there is so much to discuss when it comes to player development, I will be breaking up the information into three sections.

Looking back at the past results, especially in the Olympics and World Cup Qualifiers, we have consistently lost concentration in the last ten minutes 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 NZ to take the one spot available for the 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 winning goal in the last 5 minutes)

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

Whatever weakness we see at the senior level must be due to our development program whereby 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: "If you want to bend the bamboo, do it when it's young. 

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

"Excellence in development must give room for failure as a stepping stone to learning. While the obsession with winning does not.  

Above is a video where Coach Stan Van Gaudy, former head coach of the Miami Heat(NBA)  depicts the problem in developing quality youth basketball players at the development level in America. We in Malaysia are also facing the same scenario.

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 we trained our youth hockey players from the development level. Did we coach them on "what to think" or "how to think" to make the difference?

If it's what to think then we have created robotic players who have lost the ability to think to make a decision when faced with 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 vividly remember that after our Saturday training session, our national coach Terry Walsh would encourage us to take a book from the coffee table. There were many books written on how athletes and business 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 that was written by Dennis Conner.

Dennis Conner shares in his book that even the smallest details are important to regain the America Cup.

Dennis Conner achieved his dream of regaining the prestigious America Cup. And Malaysia too qualified in style for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

"Psychological aspect distinguishes between elite and sub-elite"

Thank You 

P/S To continue on this topic in my next posting

MHC-The Facts Were Staring Right at Us

First and foremost, using the term "post-mortem" to analyse why the Malaysian hockey team failed to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics sounds morbid and dreadful. Let's change it to "fact-finding." This sounds more forward-looking since we're looking for facts. This reminds me of Dr. Bertrand Russell's wise words: "When you are studying any matter or considering any philosophy, ask yourself only: What are the facts, and what is the truth that the facts bear out? Never let yourself be diverted by what you wish to believe or what you think could have beneficent social effects if it were believed, but look only and surely at what the facts are." My fact-finding mission began in July 2015 after Malaysia lost to India 3-2 in the quarterfinals of the Olympic Qualifier in Antwerp, Belgium. A win would have secured our place for the 2016 Olympics in Rio. This is where I got the phrase "It's so close yet so far." All these facts were compiled and written on this blog in December 2015 under the title "Seeing and Taking Action in Development—Parts 1, 2, and 3." I will repost it for MHC and my readers. Please bear with the English grammar and focus on the facts. The facts were staring at MHC, but they didn't change; hence, the players didn't change and the result didn't change. This was reflected in the 2018 Asian Games final in Jakarta, where the phrase "so close yet so far" haunts us again. Thank you. P.S: I hope my articles will help MHC to plan the future of Malaysian hockey.

Seeing And Taking Action In Development Part 2

The two areas we see from past results that need to pay more attention are physiology and psychology.

Let's move on to what are the components in Developing players and my thoughts are in blue,

1.Anthropometric

The measurement of the size and proportions of the human body.

From the talent detection stage, we must look for youths who are not involved in hockey but have the anthropometric to be a world-class hockey player as speed is the prerequisite to be one. Look for youths from the outskirt of Pahang(Felda Settlement), Perak(Trolak) and Sabah, as the environment they are in as played a role in developing their neuromuscular, cardiovascular and energy system, the much needed multilateral development before we move to specialize a sport.

2.Physiology

The measurement of aerobic and anaerobic system i.e speed with and without the ball, Beep Test, ISRT(Interval Shuttle Run Test)
Researches done in hockey had shown that the ability to change direction while maintaining balance without loss of speed is a key physical component necessary for world-class hockey player i.e agility.

Malaysian players' main strength in physiology is speed and agility, we must not lose this key physical component. Endurance is another area we need to improve.
All Sport and Project schools must have a full-time Physical Trainer to monitor and measure the players' progress.

3.Technical
The measurement of dribbling skills with speed and other basics skills i.e hitting, pushing, slap hit, etc
Dutch coaches consider these technical skills are one of the most important factors affecting the performance of top-level hockey players. Other technical skills that are key in the field are being able to dribble without losing speed and good vision.

Coaches must be equipped with a portable video camera i.e handphone or tab to video the player's technique in training and during the game. iThe coach then shows the video clips and correct the players' technique. With excellent technical skills, players will learn other specialized skills i.e drag flick, injector, and trapper with ease.
Basic stance in dribbling that the Dutch coaches emphasized, "Vision Dribble" must be imbued to all our young players.

4.Tactical

The measurement of tactical or game intelligent i.e positioning & deciding, knowing ball actions, acting in changing situation and knowing about others.

A player will get a proper understanding of the game when he is good at reading the game, right action at the right moment and the outcome is successful.
Coaches must create many mini-games that will stimulate the player's brain and show videos of high-quality international matches.

5.Psychology

The measurement of motivation, confidence, anxiety control, mental preparation, team emphasis, and concentration.
Excellent psychological skills play a decisive role in an important match.

All sports school and project schools must have a fulltime sport psychologist to guide the players.

Below every component, I have put the sentence "The measurement" is for coaches to measure the players' progress and with the results to guide the coach and player.

Another area of concern to me is " SAFETY", "Excellent" in your development program start with attire and please make it compulsory for all youth hockey players in Sports Schools, Project Schools and in 1 MAS Development program to wear a mouthguard.

Now we will move to the key people behind a successful athlete in the final part.

Happy Holidays-Merry Christmas & Happy New Year "2020."

Malaysian Hockey - The Affiliates Lack The Gumption To Put Things Right!!!! By Mr V.M.Chandran

Leon Brown said that " In the end, you deserve what you get. The amount of effort you put in determines your joy and happiness." Looking at the background of Malaysian hockey and the manoeuvres that have taken place to keep out deserving candidates in becoming contestants, one can see that it is a reflection of the greed for power. Unfortunately, the greed is not reciprocated by the performances of the Management and the teams both in and out of the field. Endeavouring to sustain power by whatever means is an indication that the Affiliates lack the capacity to take on the Management and change them. How right was Leon Brown, and it fits very well insofar as to the Malaysian Hockey Affiliates ie no joy and happiness. Sad isn't it?

"Promises are only as strong as the person who gives them" per Stephen Richards. It is a measurement of one's character and nature to honour the promise. When a promise is not fulfilled it raises the fundamental question of integrity and the true colours of the personalities. One wonders if the future promises of such people can ever be believed.

It was made known that if Malaysia does not qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for hockey, the key personalities promised not to seek re-election. Up till then the performance of both the men and women teams was very questionable, the various local tournaments did not attract sufficient quality teams and as a result, hockey was losing popular support. Development programmes lost their way and never recovered. Most Committees were only in name and failed to achieve their purposes. The list can continue including mounting debts.

The gentlemanly approach would have been to accept the fact that as Office Bearers they had been unable to deliver in their 4 years at the helm and therefore they must allow others to do a better job ie the bigger picture and for the good of Malaysian hockey. Such was not the case. Rather, and to compound it, they failed to conduct an independent nomination plus election procedure, tantamounting to having " a loaded dice" and ensuring all potential challenges were fizzled out. This ensured that a potential contestant was disqualified based on some mind-boggling action of an Affiliate having submitted an official nomination which was approved and another submitted independently by its President. This seems to be like a premeditated action to derail the contestant who is a renowned entrepreneur. 

This whole episode begs the question as to why such personalities want to hold on to power by whatever means despite their failure to deliver. Are the Affiliates so dull as not to comprehend such matters? Were some strange commitments made such that the future of Malaysian hockey is completely forgotten for the sake of other needs?

What further baffles me is the slow-moving nature of the Sports Commissioner and the Ministry of Sports in not intervening expeditiously to bring a sense of sanity to Malaysian hockey. I think many written complaints have been made of this procedural saga and yet the Malaysian Hockey Congress is set to proceed on the 16th of November with the elections.

My mind goes into "mental gymnastics" questioning how Malaysian sports could ever achieve standards of excellence when the personalities who helm Sports bodies do various things to sustain power,  moreso when they fail to deliver the expected results. Yet the Sports authorities seem to move at a "snail's pace" and nothing is being done to rectify the situation. Do such authorities only exist for "window dressing" to provide some form of optics? Maybe it is the local maxim " style mesti ada, kalah tidak apa"! If that is so we shall remain in a "3rd world mentality" trying to compete with "1st World" nations. Maybe that is why we are always on the losing end.

This whole saga in Malaysian hockey needs only a simple process to rectify it. An independent check of the Affiliate would indicate the truth of the matter. Thereupon a decision can be made to permit a true and fair election giving all contestants time to canvass for support.

I sincerely hope that if the Sports authorities do not act to postpone the elections on the 16th of November, the Affiliates would be enlightened and act responsibly to ensure that it is postponed. The future of Malaysian hockey is in the Affiliates' hands, which means that their efforts can bring joy and happiness to Malaysians. Affiliates, please be bold enough to take such steps. You will be remembered for changing the face of Malaysian hockey at this crucial moment.

V M Chandran
15th Nov 2019.