World Hockey League Round 1: Singapore

Round 1 of the World Hockey League is all set to kick off in April. The World Hockey League, which consists of four rounds and spans over two years, serves as one of the deciding factors for whether a team qualifies for the Hockey World Cup and the Olympics. Therefore, it is believed to be one of the most significant events in Hockey.

The World Hockey League will commence from the 9^th of April. The participating teams have been divided into two pools. The teams will first play against teams from their own pool followed by matches against teams in the opposing pool from the 15^th. The matches will be hosted by Singapore.

Of late, Singapore Hockey has shown to be highly enthusiastic in promoting the game of field hockey in its country, constantly pulling strings to ensure that it invests in efficient methods for the development of the game. We’ve seen over the past year that Singapore held the National Junior League, SPSS and successfully hosted the TPG International Tri-Series. In addition to these events, Singapore Hockey was also able to hold several training and coaching sessions.

Over the span of 20^th to the 22^nd of January this year, an Advanced Coaching Development Seminar was held for the local coaches. It was coached by Norbet Nederlof, a Senior Coach and Coach Instructor. Nederlof is a renowned coach educator from Netherlands and is affiliated with the International Hockey Federation (FIH) Hockey Academy. A total of 9 coaches took part in the seminar. After the seminar, they were handed participation certificates by the Deputy President of Singapore Hockey, Ramesh Apoo.

The seminar focused on the significance of individual tactical skills, elaborating on how these skills contribute to a better understanding about how to use core individual skills and the effect these individual tactical skills can have on overall success of team tactics. It basically explained how the individual skills can be honed to produce a ripple effect which improves team dynamics and in turn leads a team to its success.

All in all, the coaches took a lot of coaching skills away from the seminar, the results of which we will see in the future matches.

In addition to the coaching session, Singapore Hockey in collaboration with the Asian Hockey Federation held the Regional Technical Officer’s Course from the 13^th to the 14^th of February. The event was conducted at the Sengkang Hockey Stadium. There were a total of 12 participants, four from Brunei and eight from Singapore.

The course was conducted by Josh Burt from Hockey Australia. Burt ranks high among the Technical Officials from Australia. He has experience of many International Hockey Federation (FIH) events worldwide and to top that, will be officiating at the Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil this year.

The course focused on Tournament Rules and Regulations, Advertising, Venue Requirements, Attire and Equipment Checks, Tournament Forms, Table Duties and Anti-Doping. To give all participants a better understanding of how things are done at the highest level, they were treated a demonstration on the FIH Tournament Management System.

The course was not just limited to in-class theories. In fact, the participants were to manage actual National Junior League matches and apply their in-class learning to good use.

Having hosted numerous events successfully under its wing, we are positive that Singapore Hockey will ensure that Round 1 of the World Hockey League runs smoothly and hence add another successful event to its list of accomplishments that it has achieved for the promotion and development of Hockey.

Participants in Round 1 of the World Hockey League

Male

Female

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