Category: Sports

Asian Hockey, Field Hockey, FIH Hockey, Fitness, Global development, Pakistan Hockey, Sports, Sports Nutritionist, Strength and Conditioning

Little Things Make a Massive Difference

5:30 am alarm buzzing; I got up quickly and was looking forward to the Fitness Test in the National junior hockey training camp Lahore, we had no idea which test is coming up, well after the warmup, we divided into groups where we were going to complete twelve rounds of a hockey pitch in 12 mins which will decide our overall fitness, anyways my test went well, and it could be better if I know about the basics of S&C (Strength and Conditioning) and sports nutrition.

In the entire training camp what we do in the morning session is distance running and running 40 laps of the hockey pitch with the pace and every day one lap increase. The training load is increasing not the rest time or calories intake the same general food we use to have at home, no pre-post training meal or any supplements. 

Well, the camp is finished, and luckily I have been selected to represent Pak Jr Team for the first time and you know what we have won this five-match series against England with my goal in the final game.

In my Int-playing career, I have been coached by so many coaches, but unfortunately, I never got a chance to be coached by S&C or any other fitness professional who could educate me, identify my weak areas, help me to improve my athletic abilities and allow me to understand my potential. 

Well, I have played a few years for my country and in those years what I have seen is every coach have a different hockey philosophy which I found very interesting. Still, the funny thing was their fitness philosophy which always made me confuse. 

A lot of people know my story about how I was dropped from the system. I can’t tell you how depressing it was when you are giving your best in everything. You have shown your improvement through your performance and how I become a victim of the bogus system where no one helps you to bring out your best, I have been in the system for 7 years and I have seen what this bogus and fake system does with the senior players and I was pretty convinced that I’m not going to try again in this slavery system. and I want to enjoy my hockey and I want to become a sports professional and that was the one reason I put my self in coaching and fitness studies.

I’m not the only one who has gone through this terrible phase there is a long list including Sohail Abbas, Salman Akber, Shakeel Abbasi, Kashif Jawad, Zeeshan Ashraf etc when I see these names then I feel my pain is nothing as compared to theirs, how sad is that after playing more the 100-300 games for your country these player’s career ended with disrespect. 

Unfortunately, from that time onwards we had no S&C (Strength and Conditioning) specialists who could give us basic knowledge and educate us on how to identify our weak areas and how to improve our TOTAL FITNESS which will help to bring the best out of us and prolong our playing career.

Experience in any sport counts a lot, Roger Federer, Glenn McGrath, Teun de Nooijer, Delmee, Brent Livermore, Jami Dwyer, Barry Middleton etc. Are having a successful and long career. Oh, how I forgot the wall of ARG man’s Hockey team Juan Manuel Vivaldi, he is 40 years of age and still representing his country since 2001 he is fit and still maintaining his total fitness with the help of their S&C professionals.  

Unfortunately, in Pakistan when players become experienced, and they have got a better understanding of the game then our selection committee starts raising  questions on senior player’s fitness and compare them with 18-24 years old players, I mean how they can do that when they never brought any system or a basic understanding of human performance how sad is that when player ready to serve and utilise their experience and exposure, this system chucks them out. I have witnessed how they disrespect the senior players in the front of their juniors and the worst part is this system even don’t bother to say goodbye with respect and appreciate their services. 

This is one of the reasons behind Pakistan hockey’s downfall. 

A lot of people will not agree with me that Pakistan Hockey federation focused a lot on modern or FIH high-performance hockey system which is good. Still, they have failed to create a right balance between High-performance hockey and human performance. I’m not going to open the overall development programme because we never had any as our Ex Olympians and few politicians think they can bring Pakistani hockey back with their so-called talent hunt schemes etc. and one sector believes we should bring the League model, I’m not against these suggestions but my mind is not buying these ideas at all because, in the end, we need a system, we need a structure, we need those professionals who have an understanding of talent identification and can develop this talent in the right way but what we do with these 1000 of talented players? would you like to hear the bitter truth? We do nothing we set high hopes with them and start expecting too much from them, resulting in significant pressure on players which killed their talent.  

“Talent win games but not championships.”  

If you see some stats of Pakistan hockey team, then you will see foreign coaches made a massive difference in the team performance in a short period of time. If you collect some data from their tenure, you will realise that they have focused on Team and individual’s TOTAL FITNESS including physical assessments, tracking their fitness and performance, feedback system, remodelling eating habits, giving knowledge of sports nutrition providing an awareness of mental fitness, the utilisation of team and group video sessions (Visual Teaching Methods), creating a learning environment where players asking questions without any fear or hesitation because players know they are accountable for their given jobs, and make a balanced relationship between the coaching staff and players, creating a trustworthy environment which allows players to learn and play without fear of mistake and start enjoying when I say enjoying it means they are improving their performance and TOTAL fitness the most important they give respect, When we assemble all these little pieces and go to the books, then we will find the fundamentals of training principle, of team sports and Coaching. #Professionalism 

I know I just knocked on the door of a massive debate; Pakistan has a couple of highly qualified, experienced and well-reputed coaches but they are working with other national or domestic teams how sad is that I have already explained this matter in my previous blog, there is no room for professionals in Pakistan hockey because of Olympian mafia. 

Let’s get back to the topic if we see our neighbour India, they are doing well in the region at the moment their men’s team in the top 5s, they have won the recent Junior World Cup and their Women’s team qualified for the Olympics. So, I was looking at their overall structure and system I was amazed I didn’t find any Ex Olympians/Politician or selection committee drama in the current system, they are following the philosophy of “Team Behind The Team” professional setup and which linked to each other following the long term approach, I’m not going in the debate of local coaches vs foreign coaches this is another topic. 

If we go back in 2008-9 Hockey India appointed Spanish Coach Mr Jose Barca what he did, he spent months on their basics only (including dribbling), he changed Indian dribbling into rolling the ball, and guess who is in the camp? Sardar Singh, SV Sunil etc. imagine how frustrating for players like Sardara, meanwhile, Mr Barca brings Jesus Garcia Pallares the Spanish human performance analyst, who is helping and educating players, he spent hours and hours to work on the techniques and training systems, since then hockey India appointed so many foreign coaches and each coach bring one fitness experts but I found very interesting the appointment of Mr Robin Arkell the Head Strength and Conditioning coach of Sr. Men Hockey India, and the second appointment was Wayne Lombard Scientific Coach (FAP) who is working with their Women’s team, I admire both of them especially Robin who has been working with the rugby team earlier before taking the charge, he adjusts himself in a new culture quite well and utilising his top rugby experience in their system, he is the man who created a right balance I mean he transformed the players fitness which makes a huge difference and makes hockey coach’s life easier, I think he got the one advantage the players have a solid base of S&C understanding because they have been working and learning from different fitness experts which really helps him to take this group to the next level.

The second thing I would say is PHL and HIL where top players around the world were mixing up in the different teams and playing with the Indian players which allow Indian players to take their hesitation out and bring their confidence up while playing in the same team and against, also make a great relationship with them. Where they can enjoy hockey and discuss and share their hockey culture, this environment gives a boost of the confidence and players start believing in themselves.

In the same time, Indian media playing their role too I mean they making players bigger they bringing players in a lime lite and if I compare Pak sports media is working hard to get a tour from PHF and there are some decent sports journalist who still trying to play their role but this olympian mafia is quite strong that’s why Olympion mafia always in a lime lite rather then-current players.

When I present this Indian model then the argument came “Hockey India has huge funds” then I say what about Japanese Hockey Success? They are the real dark horse in the region they are Continent Champions and they have qualified for the Olympics on their performance which shows there is some system is running successfully. 

I agree finance is an essential aspect, but what happened to the Malaysian side then? they spent huge funds recently. 

Oh! Quick reminder Iran men’s indoor hockey team won the bronze medal in the recent indoor World Cup, and what about Southafrican Hockey team where players use their own funds when they travel with the national side, common please look at the Ireland Women’s hockey team’s journey of recent World Cup.

In short, I think, we need to be very honest with our national game, tell the truth and accept the reality, there is no other way to bring Pakistan Hockey back on track until we start telling the truth to this nation, we should get rid of all those fake and unprofessionals people from the system who are continuously misguiding the authorities with the help of their political or other influences. 

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different result” Albert Einstein

I firmly believe if we start from scratch and develop a robust structure with low funds with long-term approach than we can get there where we want to be, this isn’t rocket science at all.

In my next blog, I’ll explain the advantages of the physical and skills assessment and Identification of talent, where I’ll share my personal experience and give you some suggestions and ideas how we can start building a solid base at a grassroots level. 

Thanks  

Field Hockey, Sports, Uncategorized

Coaching Philosophy & Development of Athelete

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Since I started coaching in 2004, I have continued to learn and grow as a coach. I have been professionally coaching for more than ten years. I believe that a good coach should have a set of principles that he stands by and believes in his heart. I’ve been developing my principles over the years and thought I would share them.

Winning is not everything in sports. It is a part of the sport, but it should never come before the well-being of the athletes. Having fun is an important part of sports. People want to have fun, so they play sports. I strive to foster an environment where athletes can enjoy themselves. Developing an athlete physically, psychologically, and socially is an important part of sports. Athletes learn life lessons, playing sports as well in a class. It is my goal to push my athletes to become stronger people physically, have a strong and sound mind, to understand social situations, and how to work together.

These are all things that an athlete uses both on and off the field. An important part of coaching is helping an athlete to strengthen those qualities in their lives. That is the reason; I would choose to help an athlete develop in these areas over having fun and winning. If an athlete is strong in all these areas, having fun and winning will follow.

The art of coaching is to know what technical move, tactical behaviour or complex competition a player is ready for at a certain stage of physical and mental development.

The best coaches do not work at the beginner level of sports because coaching young athletes rarely give them any economic gain. Coaches with terrific knowledge and experience are interested in older teams that can afford to give them higher salaries. Not getting the best coaches creates a problem for younger athletes.

The failure to interest well-qualified coaches means that poor quality and tedious coaching is taught to young athletes in schools and clubs. Due to this fact, young athletes are coached in the same way that grownups are coached, without taking into consideration the natural order or development of the young athlete through time. The alternative schemes that most coaches adapt do not give a solution to the problem of affirming young athlete’s quality coaching. Moreover, coaching youth at the beginning stages of sports is too important for the future development of the athletes to allow coaches to assemble quirky methods of coaching.

Unfortunately, it is the force of habit that constitutes the greatest obstacle to progress in youth hockey. Traditional methods are often followed blindly without giving sufficient thought of the consequences, both in training as well as in the structuring of the youth competitions.

To move past these obstacles and achieve better results in the future, coaches, administrations, and federations must first review the structure and organization of their youth hockey programs. The complicated adult game has to be simplified until a logical progression of competitions with gradually increasing demands is designed that adapts perfectly to the actual mental and physical abilities and capacities of the child. A child should be presented with only those exercises, games, and challenges that suit their current abilities, interests, and expectations. The training program, as well as the competitions for children, should be like their shoes. They should fit perfectly to feel comfortable.
If we are to improve the development of young players, it is crucial that we recognize the mistakes made in the past. Awareness of these errors is the first step towards more effective training and learning methods.

Once hockey coaches have been convinced of the need to modify the traditional way of teaching their players, they soon discover that the process of understanding and learning hockey will shift increasingly to self-teaching.

The key to develop successful youth Hockey players is in understanding and meeting the needs of young players, rather than subjecting them to boring exercises or a game designed for adults. These are some basic, yet important, needs children have that coaches should always keep in mind.

Nothing can be understood completely as long as it has not been experienced. Coaches should allow the children to experiment with tasks. Children need to discover on their own everything that surrounds them. The discovery also applies to the world of sports and in particular to Hockey. Kids should be stimulated with games and activities that are within their physical and mental capacities. This method of coaching allows them to develop their abilities and capacities step by step through their own discovery.

Children get highly motivated when tribute is paid for their efforts in mastering a skill or problem. Through praise, they are encouraged to try even harder. For children younger than 12 years old, the teacher, coach, or parent is like a mirror in which they see their capacity or incapacity. That is why educators and parents have to learn to be positive, to praise the children frequently and keep critical comments to a minimum.

Children prefer to do things on their own without depending too much on the adults. They like to reach independence as quickly as possible. The coaching methods and behaviour of the educator should consider this need, making sure that the children are frequently allowed to find solutions on their own to problems the coach presents. The educator should interfere only when the problems can’t be solved by the pupils.

Youngsters can also perform the tasks of putting down or collecting cones, modifying the rules of a practice game, or choosing players for demonstrations or certain activities. They need to demonstrate responsibility can also be stimulated in each training session by allowing them 10 minutes in which to freely choose what to practice, how to do it, and where and with whom to execute a determined skill or game.

Coaches who are hesitant to give up some of the liability to the young athletes must realize that learning also takes place out of the coach’s presence. In any team sport, young athletes, organize their play in logical form even if a grownup is not available to guide them. First, the young athletes make sure that the teams are even. Young athletes want competitiveness. They want the game to be fair and challenging, thus making the young athletes play to their full ability.

Young athletes naturally look for communication with others. The older the athletes are, the more they need the companionship of the same age. Young athletes love to be affiliated and to identify with a group or team that strive to achieve common goals.

Young athletes crave variety, which yields less boredom and fatigue. A great variety of activities are essential to keeping their attention level. Unless you often vary the method of presentation and the contents, most young athlete’s attention drift. You should also vary the intensity of the exercises and games.

Young athletes seem to live in their own world. They have distinctive problems, they learn differently, and they don’t think logically as most grownups do. Their ideas, thoughts, or reasoning often are lacking rationality. Their emotional certainty depends on a high degree of their speed of biological growth. In general, young athletes don’t know how to use their energy and tire easily. They act exactly the way they feel. For all these reasons, grownups who live and work with young athletes should know how to stimulate and direct them in their search for personality and identity.

Coaching Philosophy
My coaching style depends on taking the group together, I learned so much in last 13-14 years of my coaching life where I coach beginner to Elite Athletes, for me healthy environment is important I value letting athletes have input in some of the aspects surrounding the team and how it functions. Not all aspects of the team are up to team discussion, but some are. One of those aspects is playing time. I think it is important to hear what the team wants to focus on, and how they want to achieve that, letting the team have input is important to me.

I value ethics in all aspects of the sports. I will not tolerate unethical actions from my athletes and coaching ethically is important to me as well. I need to set an example for my athletes, and if I go about coaching by breaking the rules, what kind of example would I be setting? In the same light of setting examples, I would stress a family first model. I would never want my athletes to put the team before their own families, and I would do the same. The family is important to me and having a team that understands that family is an important aspect of all their lives is important.

My practices will be long enough to get what I want to be done, but will not go past what is needed. I think that shorter and more efficient practices are better for the athletes and their well-being. If you practice too much, the athletes will get burned out faster. The same applies when it comes to games. I would not schedule any games that would be detrimental to the athletes physically or mentally. I want to have just enough games at the right level of competition, so they can play in an environment that will push them, but not damage them physically or mentally.

I want to allow as many people to participate on my team as possible. There are limitations regarding space allowed on a roster, but I want to find a place for as many people to play as possible. If I am forced to make cuts from a governing body, or if the number of players on my roster exceeds the number I am allowed, I would do all I can to help find the players that cannot take a place to play.

I strongly believe that coaches are mentors for the athletes. I believe that it is something that comes with being a coach, and it is my responsibility to help them on and off the ice as much as they want me to. I will never force my involvement unless it is surrounding something that puts my athlete or people around them in danger. I am not their parent, but as someone, they look up to, it is my job to support them in whatever way they need. In doing this, I can help them get stronger mentally and socially.

Principle of Developing Athletes

The most important factor in developing a player is belief, your player must believe they are capable of being great. Not only must the players believe in themselves, but you must also believe in them. Nothing is more powerful than a respected coach that a player looks up to for advice believing in them. Players (people in general) are often capable of far more than they believe. For this reason, a coach must help a player achieve more than the player believes possible. If a player doesn’t truly believe what they are trying to do is possible their practice will not be as effective or efficient, in the back of their mind they will think “what’s the point.”

I think balance is the foundation of all fundamental hockey skills, a coach that can help new players become balanced will set the foundation for faster development in controlling/running with the ball, passing verity, basic of attacking and defending, power, speed, agility etc

Challenge yourself, challenge others, the simplest key to designing drills/exercises and helping players improve is to ask them, does this challenge you? Achieving a skill/movement should be outside of the players reach, just close enough that they want to work harder to achieve it. Once the player can perform the skill/pattern consistently move on to a new challenge and continue to find new areas of the player’s game to improve.

An opportunity to learn can be found in every minute – Maybe the best way to get better quickly (when not practicing) is to become a good learner. During practice is not the only time that Learning takes place. Imagine looking at every hockey game you watch, every game you play, every hockey player/coach you meet, and other sports/activities as an occasion to learn and grow. It’s not easy, it can’t be done instantly, like everything you need to practice this strategy and it will get better with time.

Success is obtained by failing– If you are pushing yourself hard enough, you will fail, and you will learn. If you aren’t pushing yourself hard enough, then you’re too comfortable, you are afraid of embarrassing yourself, and it’s a hindrance to your development. Every failure is a chance to learn and grow.

Learn efficiently. How efficient are your practices? It’s great you’re at practice or working on your skills for 30 minutes at home, but you must give it your all, you can’t just go through the motions. Too many young athletes go to practice and go through the motion, not getting all, they can get from the practice. Don’t wait for someone to correct you, push yourself. If the drills aren’t challenging you, you need to challenge yourself with the drill. Get lower, go faster (or slower), push harder, try something a little different, ask yourself “how can I do this better.”

There is something valuable in everyone– No one player should feel more valuable than another in a team, although this often happens. It’s important to stress the point that everyone in the team is important and valuable for the team’s success. Every player will have their chance to make a difference in the team. You must treat, and train them this way.

The key to improvement is focused repetition– Many books, scientific studies, and research into skill development all come down to one key point. The more you do something, the better you get. It’s simple, practice often with a purpose. (for example, I know how to take a goal shot right handed, I have helped many players learn and improve their Goal shooting, I have a deep understanding of how the Goal shot works, however, if I attempt a backhand shot I look ridiculous…. it’s because I simply haven’t put in the time and reps!)

The goal is not to win. As a coach, your goal is to get the most out of each player (and staff member) you have, while you have them. Your goal is to teach, develop, motivate and inspire.

The process should be the goal; not a destination – If you set a goal with high expectations, and stumble early, you may lose all motivation and quickly give up on your goal. However, if your goal is simply to engage in the process of improvement – with your high expectations as your compass for your development – you will be achieving your goal every time you engage in the practice. This shift will keep you motivated longer and allow you to continue in development even after a goal is achieved.

If practice goes wrong, a drill fails, or a player doesn’t understand something it is my job as a coach to improve my delivery of the message. As a coach, I strive to make my instruction and expectations as clear as possible. When drills go wrong, I don’t blame the players, I rethink my delivery and improve.

The best teacher is a thing called Experience – While reading (or watching videos) is a great way to learn, actually doing something is the only way to improve and develop. Until the things you’ve learned have been tested and tweaked, they are not truly yours. For this reason, coaches and players should seek out every opportunity to practice. Practice turns information into tangible skills, potential into reality.

I think this is all for now. I’m still young in my coaching career and will continue to refine the above principles and beliefs while developing new ones 🙂

“Coaching isn’t a job. . It’s a away of life. ..You are either born for it or not. If you don’t love every second it,  it’s not for you.”

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Pakistan Hockey, Sports

Karachi Hockey On Ventilator

 

Karachi has always remained the factory of manufacturing national heroes and has blessed the hockey world and Pakistan with some world class hockey players. Whenever we talk  about Karachi and hockey, our minds, our automatically hit with huge names like the legend Mr. Hassan Sardar, Mr. Hanif Khan, Mr. Issalhuddin, Akhterul Islam, Shahid Ali Khan Mansoor Ahmed, Ahmed Aalm, Waseem Feroz, Qamar Ibrahim, Kamran Ashraf, Sohail Abbas and many others.

School Sports: Role played by Habib Public School in keeping hockey alive:

Those who are related to sports and Hockey will definitely agree that Habib Public School has played the played the crucial and vital role in promoting this particular sport along with the others and has acted as the main Karachi hockey academy for generating national and international hockey players. HPS has been the only school in Pakistan that took our national game seriously, encouraged youngsters to pursue it and provided quality sports education under great leadership to all the young players. History has witnessed HPS’s contribution to Hockey. Incredible players including,Hassan Sardar, AayazMehmood, Safdar Abbas, Qamar Ibrahim, Kamaran Ashraf, HaiderhussainSohail Abbas, Asif Ahmed Khan, IjazKhoker, FarazHaider, Shabbir, Ahmed Khan, Abbas Haider, SibtainRaza and a lot of others who have not only represented Pakistan in Junior sides, but most of them who have played at higher and senior levels in Pakistan, all are the product this prestigious institute.

The most respectable and legendary coach Late Mr. Waheed Ahmed Saab was the name behind the HPS hockey success. He had a hawk’s sight when it came to finding the talent during inter house hockey tournament and polished them into diamonds in a very short period of time. He very well knew his role and job and was an extremely hard working person

Not many hockey lovers are aware of this interesting fact, but Pakistan’s Hockey team has always been incomplete without a Habibian. I am myself a Habib Public alumni and Ex-international hockey player and I am very proud of being a Habibian.

Club Hockey:

YMCA Hockey Club, Customs Hockey Club, and Al Saghir Hockey Club have also played a very important role in the development of young and adult players and has also produced several Olympians and international hockey players.

I must appreciate the efforts of Mr. Shahbi Abbas and his efforts. He justified himself as the successful Director of sports in HPS and Director of YMCA hockey club where Mr. IrshadHaider, Mazhar Mohammad, and some other dedicated coaches also performed their duties very well, and took this Club to different a level. This club produces the best Goal keepers for the Pakistani National Teams like our legend

MrShahid Ali Khan, Mansoor Ahmed, Ahmed Aalam and Aijaz Khoker. All these names became a wall for Pakistan’s Hockey team defense.

I also appreciate the hard work of Mr. Saghir Ahmed, the founder of Al Sagheer Hockey Club, who put his best in bringing this club at the top level and produced several International players and Olympians in Pakistan that include players like Sameer Hussain, Aijaz Rasool, Mubashir Mukhtar, Asad Quraishi and many others.

I very much admire our Legend Mr. Hanif Khan. You would witness him every single day at the hockey pitch. Numbers never mattered to him. He was always busy in working on maturing the players. One thing that was really famous of his club was that you could learn hockey under his coaching and some other big names like Farhat khan, Mohammad Ali, Haider Hussain, Waseem Feroz, Kashif Jawad and others. One felt lucky to play with these legends for 5 minutes. Playing with them gave youngsters a chance to boost up their confidence. Their tips took players to a different level altogether.

This club’s role was to work on the mature players and it also worked on Pakistan’s young talent like Olympian Haseem Khan, Int- Asim Khan, Owais Khan and many more.

Crises:

At the moment, these clubs are almost finished and they are fighting for their survival. There are so many things behind these crises, especially the behavior of PHF. They have totally neglected Karachi hockey. They should ask this question from KHA but unfortunately PHF needs some regional votes. After PHF elections, they leave and isolate the KHA.

KHA Performance:

It really hurts when you see no representation of Karachi in national, juniors and senior teams. In some age group like Pak U-16 there is not a single player from Karachi in the entire camp. I’m not blaming PHF for not selecting players in camps or in the teams, I’m just saying that I don’t understand that why PHF is not taking KHA seriously. It was quite oblivious that KHA has totally failed to raise the standard of Karachi hockey and failed to improve and modify the structure, what worries me is the fact that why is PHF appointing the same people again and again?

Jan 2015 to August 2016 KHA didn’t organize an inter-club competition, after 2014 club championship there has been no activity in the club hockey at all. Senior and junior championship performances are not satisfactory at all. There is no camping, etc for the event; actually Karachi’s team has participated in these events for just the heck of it. They have set no targets. Why are they spending money on these tours when they have no courage to take a stand for the deserving players. Since ages Karachi players have been struggling to get a chance in the Camps.

 

And the worst happened when the PHF organized a camp for the Youth Olympic Games in Lahore and due to short notice, the camp was announced without any trials. Here the KHA could have suggested a few upcoming players to the PHF, but unfortunately they suggested a coach rather than any players and the young Karachi players missed the opportunity to learn and improve themselves in the camp. This did not happen only in this age group, even in juniors and seniors too, where the chief selectors, Senior team coach, junior team head coach are from Karachi, even they didn’t find a single player who could represent the national team in future ‘What a Joke!’

When young players don’t get a chance to participate in these kind of camps, then how are they ever going to improve and get more involved in hockey. At this point and time what players need is a little appreciation which they are obviously not getting at all.

This is the main reason why Karachi youngsters are not preferred to come at the ground. They need some assistance, some help to become better, to improve themselves and keep them motivated. We are now losing a lot of young, talented players. It has been ages to when some faces were discovered from KHA. It shows that something is going wrong. Not only PHF knows that, but due to some political reasons, there is no check and balance they just need some regional votes.

Players attitude:

Attitude is everything and in this decade KHI player’s attitude has been changed drastically. They are assuming that they are the victims of ‘Racism‘ and PHF is biased in selections and they only select players who are from Punjab but in real they not realizing that how much hockey is being played in Karachi! How many Ex Olympians and Internationals are working at grass root level! How many local tournaments are organized by KHA.

Players are so disheartened and demotivated at the moment. They don’t belong to rich families. They also have some responsibilities and pressures from their families. Every parent has concerns regarding their children’s future, when they see there is no progress in their Hockey career then they start forcing their kids to concentrate on their studies or to pursue something else in their career, and to be honest they are right!

Olympians & International Role:

Apart from the KHA performance, there is no one who can take a responsibility to work on the grass root level. This is so unfortunate that there is not a proper academy in Karachi or a proper hockey club, even KHI has 2 blue pitches and 3 Green pitches, but there is no one who can utilize these facilities properly. There’s only one so called evening academy is running, but they are using Mr. Sagheer Ahmed, the founder of AlSagheer Hockey club members. Actually, Mr. Sagheer has no choice, he needs a ground to run his club after UBL sports complex taken over by Mr Jan Muhammad, so he has sacrificed his club name and has brought his setup to this pitch. The worst thing is that you are not allowed to train on this pitch until you fully become a member of this club. So a lot of players who want to do some extra training, they get deprived of the chance to use these facilities. Let me clear one thing, this pitch belongs to Pakistan Government and it does not belong to an any individual and no one has the rights to become the owner of this pitch, but unfortunately, no one raises the voice against this crime because these people are a permanent member of PHF club. Yes, I call this a crime. Pakistan’s hockey is dying and youngsters are not interested in playing hockey at all when these kind of selfish people with their ego are not allowing youth to train themselves. This is a crime. Actually, these are people are the responsible for the downfall of Pakistan hockey.

There has been a lot of conflicts within the KHA itself. As previous secretaries where there only to boost their names rather than boosting the game of Hockey, previous elections, which were held in the month of November at that moment too many clubs were formed anonymously just for the sake of votes and immediately without any planning a tournament was scheduled. At that moment any Hockey lover could realize that the level of players and hockey was not upto the mark. Secondly, the level of umpiring in these tournaments seemed to be pathetic as those umpires doesn’t know the latest rules that have been implemented in international hockey.

I see lots of Hockey legends only in the newspapers and on TV shows, where they are bashing the current Federation or busy in blaming previous Federation all the time and after a few weeks and months they become selectors, coaches and gain some other positions in PHF, and when you ask them why you are not selecting Karachi players in the camps/teams then they reply that there is not a single player who deserve to attend the camp. Wow. BRILLIANT! Who is going to work with these players then? They have always pretended that they are working very hard to bring Pakistan hockey on the right track and to bring some young talent in the industry. So now where is all your hard work? Don’t you think we need to be a little sincere to our national game?

Umpiring:

Karachi Umpires are also struggling to make a place in the mainstream. Mr. Shahid is the only one who is doing his hardest to get to the International standard, and there is no improvement and working in this section at all. Young umpires are feeling neglected; there are not much hockey events in Karachi where Umpires can improve their standards. It’s all about the KHA structure and a system where there is no vision and plans for the young umpire’s development, and the PHF is not taking Karachi hockey seriously to be honest!

Women Hockey:

Karachi women’s hockey has disappeared somewhere; recently they didn’t participate in the women’s indoor hockey tournament in Islamabad either.

Women’s hockey is struggling In Pakistan, but Karachi women’s hockey is dying  due to politics. I am saying this because women hockey players aren’t allowed to train at different pitches due to some KHA Politics… what a shame! The Sports world is moving too fast and we are still busy in tug of war of positions.

Sports Media Silence:

There was a time when Karachi media were proactive and neutral for Karachi hockey, but unfortunately there are only a few media personalities left, previously they are providing a platform for the so called hockey professionals, and these people are blackmailing PHF to get some positions in the federation and it wouldn’t be wrong to say that they have been successful in doing so.

I didn’t mean that all media persons are doing this, but we have a right to question when our media is quite on so many things, including the isolation of KHI players and its system by PHF. Their biased TV shows and reporting are hiding the truth.

Punjab Hockey:

While Karachi hockey players are complaining, I must appreciate the hard work of Punjab’s Ex Olympians & Internationals. Most of the ex players are running clubs and academies voluntarily. Even though they don’t have any water base pitches around, but they run morning and evening sessions and play more local tournaments, which improve their players’ fitness and confidence. This is the main reason why Punjab players are not only improving, they are building a strong desi basics and players are getting competitive environment. This happens when PHF takes something seriously.

PHF Coaching Clinics:

PHF has taken a good step to educate local coaches and it has started a Level 1 hockey coaching certification in a desi style during the senior championship in Karachi, Dec 2016 where coaches can learn modern coaching skills and improve their coaching ability. I was invited by PHF as a Strength and Conditioning coach to give some basic knowledge of the training system and sports nutrition, it went well during the championship and coaching course, I realized that 90% of the coaches don’t know about the warming up and warming down exercises. They are still doing 1960’s style warming up in 2016 National Championship, where all the best players and coaches are participating. The most disappointing thing was the very low participation of Karachi coaches in this coaching clinic, it was a very good opportunity for all local coaches to learn from FIH high performance coaches. The turnout was not bad, but, only 3 coaches from Karachi participated in this course and the rest of them were from Baluchistan and Interionor Sindh. This attitude shows that we think we knows everything we really don’t want to learn anything, we need to realize that coaching is that not easy as we think, the world is progressing so fast and due to this attitude we are going down.

New KHA Appointments:

Recently PHF appointed a new and young Ex International Haider Hussain as a secretary of KHA, and we all are having a high hopes from him, I hope he will keep out his self from the dirty politics and bring back Karachi Hockey on track.

I request to PHF please inquire about the Govt new blue pitches and allow everyone to use them rather than two personalities, and also please form a KHA academy in the supervision of HOCKEY PROFESSIONAL.

‘Nothing is Impossible’

 

Field Hockey, Pakistan Hockey, Sports, Uncategorized

Me and Pakistan Hockey 1994-2015

Cuddled up to my pillow in my blanket on a chilly winter morning, I was half awake and half asleep waiting for my mom to wake me up for school and just like any other kid on a cold morning, I also wanted to skip school that day. I was busy thinking of reasons and suddenly the alarm struck, it was 6:30 AM and mom showed up to my room, “Hurry up, AD! Wake up son, I need to go to work early today. Come on, wake up or else I’ll be late!” I got up half-heartedly and showed up to the breakfast table quickly after dressing up. While putting Jam on my toast I realized that my dad wasn’t ready for his office. I asked him the reason of his delay and he said he wasn’t going. I was a little surprised because he seldom took off from work, so obviously I asked him why he wasn’t going and that’s when he told me that it our national television will be telecasting the Hockey World Cup Final and the match was between Pakistan and Netherlands.

I got a reason for an off too, and with dad’s help we convinced my mom and it was finally a day off from school.

As the match began, my father started to tell me the rules and knowhow of the game. The final one was a dream and the decider came through penalties. In the end Monsoor Ahmed GK of Pakistan saved the last penalty flick of Delmie and Pakistan made history on 4 of December 1994 by showing up as Hockey World Champions! Woo!! What a game it was, I still remember the moment we won; the excitement, the adrenaline rush that I felt in my body. Everyone in my building started to celebrate the win and dad and I both joined the celebrations too.

As I took to bed that night at 10:00 pm a few names remained stuck to my mind. Mr. Shahbaz Senior, Tahir Zaman, Kamran Ashraf, Qammar Ibrahim, Khwaja Junaid, Mansoor Ahmed, Delmie and Stephen Veen. It was that day when I decided that I wanted to be a professional hockey player and that historical day changed my entire life. My passion and hobby turned into my profession and now I have been working as a professional hockey Coach/Player for almost 15 years. This final game of the hockey world cup, gave me an Identity, wearing a green shirt and representing Pakistan in different FIH tournaments was more than stuff of any dreams.

In my short career, I saw many ups and down, but I must say the tenure of PHF president Mr. Gen Aziz and Sectary PHF Mr. Brigadier Mussurt Ullah was the best of times. I found myself very lucky to be a part of Pak Jr. and the senior squad in this tenure. They modernized Pakistan Hockey and worked in a professional way. At that time all the senior and junior coaches were FIH’s high performance coaches. For eg: Tahir Zaman, Asif Bajwa, Khwaja Junaid Qammar Ibrahim, Mr Ronald Oltamans and others. Also, in their tenure, the Pakistan hockey federation for the first time organized an FIH course for the local and professional coaches to give a chance to improve their coaching skills and implement modern hockey at grass root level.

During this tenure, Pakistan hockey was not only successful on the field, but also in the marketing department. We got Mr, Sardar Naveed Haider, who did a marvelous job and brought huge sponsors. The result of his hard work was that Pakistan became a host of FIH Champions Trophy and played many home series against different countries. PHF also organized a Super Hockey League for the first time in the history of Pakistan hockey. A lot of foreign players participated in this league and live coverage on TV made this event successful. Medals came in huge numbers during this time and a lot of youngsters also made their name. This PHF management gave us a boost and people all over started to recognize us.

Unfortunately, politics has always been a part of PHF. When this management started to work well, our Ex Olympians started to feel neglected and they began a huge campaign against the federation. In Pakistan, only if you are against the federation, the country’s media will highlight you. The media didn’t bother who spoke what till they had masala for the shows.

The worst part was most of these guests did not have basic qualifications required to be a coach. But in Pakistan if you are an Olympian or an international player that is enough for coaching, managing and trainer. When they become a coach they have nothing to teach. The only thing they do is wearing a green tracksuit, drink tea, eat Samosa on the side and watch players sweat it out. They have no training regimen for players; they have no clue of what players should eat and give them fatty goods and no supplements. They completely lack vision and there is no development program. Their behavior with players is appalling to say the least. They assume of themselves, as kings while the players are slaves of some sort.

This result in stressed players who never enjoy the game. The facilities are poor, which adds to the misery and this means there is no drive from the player’s side to improve him via competition, both domestic and international. This results in very few victories. These kind of coaches are insanely proud of their achievements of the 1960-1994 and don’t want to see beyond them. While we all respect that and we also are proud of them and acknowledge the fact that they are living legends, but as a coach/manager/trainer, etc when I see them, I know not much is coming out as a dividend.

Coaching:

The world of sports has transformed and sports’ coaching has become a subject. A number of nations spend a huge amount of money in the development of their coaches. Belgium is one of the prime examples. Seven years ago when the Belgium, hockey team was struggling to qualify for the European Championship, they spend the right amount of their funds in the development of coaches and systems. They brought in number of foreigner professional coaches who have not played internationals but have also worked on the grass roots levels. These coaches helped them build great processes and the result is for everyone to see. Belgium today is one of the top 5 sides of the world.

Doctors:

Pakistan is the only team in the world who takes a doctor along with the team for the past 15 years. If you have a chance to look at FIH match sheets, then you will find sports physiotherapist and trainers have replaced doctors. England is the only team that also has a Sports Scientist with the team.

Hockey is a pro-active game that requires top fitness and good health and only fit and healthy players are selected in national squads. Hence, what is the need of a doctor? What we are showing to the world? Pro Athletes get muscular and joint injuries, which can be only looked after by sports physiotherapists and trainers.

Disadvantage of an unprofessional Doctor:

I played in The Pakistan Junior Team in 2003, we had a doctor. I observed him quite closely and if there was one thing all players would unanimously to be that he was USELESS. He had no clue regarding physiotherapy but would pretend he knows everything and would always bring his portable massager that was useless. I have known him since then, he is not a qualified trainer, but he runs physical training sessions without any program/plan/targets etc. He is not a sports nutritionist, but he pretends that he is the best one. The worst is that he injects steroids to injured players to make them play in injury and unfortunately a few players finished their careers because of his stupidity. Now the question is why he is around? Maybe because he is a very good entertainer and keeps the management happy and he knows how to play with medical terms. Hats off to PHF officials who come under his influence.

Have you noticed Jamie Dwyer is still playing? Why is that globally top players keep playing even after crossing mid-thirties while Pakistan hockey players mostly struggle after they touch 30. That is because of the fitness issues. This is happening because the players’ fitness if not based on a solid foundation. Hockey is becoming a very high physical demanding game that requires top fitness. You are living in dreams if you think these kind of stupid fake doctors can take these players’ fitness to the international standards.

Tactical and Technical Coaching:

Pakistan has golden memories in hockey. I proudly have said before that we have won several top Gold medals at World Cups and Olympics but have struggled since 1994. Europe and others started research on hockey around that time. They started changing the game’s rules and introduced modern technology and brought fitness professionals to cope up with the game. Pakistan hockey, though kept basking in their glory and never tried coping up. The fact that they never wanted to come out of their successful era and still feel that their old style is good enough is where they fool themselves.

Pakistan should consider itself fortunate that they find so much talent. Unfortunately, talent can win games, but not championships. The players work so hard, but without a set regimen which is of global standards, not much can be achieved. The kind of people running the administration is unqualified professional and are in the majority. They are busy in playing musical chair like in the case of Pakistani politics (Aaj Saadi Vari kal Tuadi Vari).

There is no doubt in my mind when it comes to capabilities. We are fully capable to bounce back, but for that we need to appoint the right people for the right jobs. If the federation keeps appointing their friends who can’t even organize a senior and junior championship and can never be the coach of a local side, the results will be of the standards that we are seeing now.

Video Sessions:

Video analyzing plays a very important role in this modern era sport. But in Pakistan it’s become a joke where the laptop is an entertaining machine for the officials. I think it’s enough to say this here. We haven’t had any organized online library or any player database system where coaches and players can analyze their performance.

GK trainer:

Goal keeping is a totally different department of coaching and unfortunately no one is keen to work in this department. This definitely needs a specialized coach who knows his job rather than someone who rolls 1000 balls on GK pads every day. I think this is the more ignored department in the Pakistan set-up and also unfortunately there is also not a single qualified GK trainer. If you see current international matches, you can find Pakistan goalie dive on his both knees and do some very basic errors that shouldn’t be done at this level. I think Salman Akbar got lucky to have Shahid Ali Khan and Dutch GK coach Ronald Jenson, who polished Salman in a solid defensive wall of Pakistani defense. Unfortunately, due to federation behavior and pathetic policies he didn’t continue his services for his beloved country and moved to Netherland. Pakistan’s most talent GK is running his academy there and playing for a national league club.

Umpiring:

Pakistan used to produce quality Grad 1 FIH umpires like Rashid Ali Khan, Faiz Muhammad etc. But currently we have very low representation in FIH. The reason is no development program for umpires and no one wants to be an umpire simply because the federation failed in this department as well. A sad part of the story is no one respects umpires in Pakistan domestic hockey. PHF needs to bring educated players in this department and launch a development program for young umpires for the betterment of hockey in Pakistan.

Structure:

To be honest, there is no structure in Pakistan Hockey. Where are the academies and where are the academy coaches? Where are the grass root hockey projects? Where is club hockey, where is age hockey? Where is single hockey system?

Sorry to say there is nothing at all and even the so called legends don’t bother to visit a local ground, though they want to become the Head Coach of a National team. In this crappy system, there is no sign of any qualification for any Job. Being an Olympian or an international player qualifies you to be a head coach, which is ridiculous to say the least. It doesn’t matter whether you have played 5 minutes or 5 Olympics; these players sit on TV shows and pretend that they are the best coaches of the world without qualification.

The funny thing is that there is no post of Director of development and Director of coaching, which means there is no check and balance on coach’s performances. These coaches have a free hand and it is this system from which we expect a miracle.

Media:

PHF website is down and this highlights the progress of this department (Pun intended).

What we need to do:

We need to introduce a single hockey system ASAP. And also forget international hockey for few years and start working on the grass root level. We need to introduce a basic educational program for sportsmen and women. Start a development program for coaches and umpires, hire professional Trainers/S&C coaches, bring sports professionals on board to build a basic structure. We need honest and sincere people, especially those who really want to do something about this game rather than posting their picture on FB and Tweeter.

Make a criterion for each post, train coaches before they are coaching youngsters, and make sports lessons compulsory in schools. We need Sardar Naveed Haider Khan’s services in the marketing department as I think he is the only person who can help PHF at the moment in the marketing department. We need Waseem Ahmed,Zeshan Ashraf, Salman Akbar, Muddasir Ali Khan, Sohail Abbas, Mohammad Saqlain, Rehan Butt, and others seniors players in the coaching field. These players have played in the modern era and have a good understanding of FIH high performance hockey. Bring Mohammad Faiz in Umpiring department as Umpiring development officer. And in the end bring Mr. Tahir Zaman as director of Coaching with full authority and give him 5 years to build a solid structure.

Players Respect:

In Pakistan, there is no sign of a decent way of players retiring. PHF always treats big players like a tissue paper. Then being called in a training camp and didn’t pick them is a recent example of indecency that the recently did with Sohail Abbas, Kashif Jawad, Salman Akber, Rehan Butt, Mohammad Shabbir, Muhammad Sarwar, M. Saqlain, Mohammad Imran and others as well.

Though there are some players who use their brains. For example, I knew the monopoly and the politics of these coaches as I knew them very well. Like me who knows them very well and didn’t take any chance to make get their selves embrace and take an initiative and say bye to PHF with their heavy hearts, I never understand that why PHF invest in players? They select them in a team, give them an exposure and when they become mature and experienced players they kick them out without any sensible grounds. Also, PHF is the only federation who makes the debut of players in the World biggest events like the Olympics.

This is so strange but you can recognize that there is no vision no planning no system. Different nations planned for long times to participate in the Olympics. They designed their programs, select the best available players and started working on them. But In Pakistan there is no security of a player’s career, PHF has always given a shock to their players. This act makes players so stressed during the training camps and even during the competition and if a player is playing in stress, it means he is not going to give his best.

Due to this weird system of no proper Goodbyes, fans are left hurt to see their Super stars being treated like this, for example, if Sohail Abbas took a stand on this then I am sure it would not fall out with Salman Akber and Mohammad Imran and others. That’s all what I can articulate. This is so insulting to our players that we can’t even say proper goodbyes and appreciate our superstars for their services.

Unfortunately, we didn’t learn anything from the past and we are still blaming the players for the recent defeat and made Mohammad Imran and others to resign.

A part of this crap sportive system we still love our national game and we are hoping one day someone changes the disable system and take our national game to the top again.

Ameen