Schools guide book

15/06/2002

A COMPREHENSIVE guide on hockey rules for schools was launched by the
Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
Available in English and Bahasa Malaysia, the Hockey Rules Book
launching ceremony also provided an opportunity for some to raise several
points with MHF.
Invited were the various heads of schools from every state in Malaysia
and Education director-general Datuk Abdul Rafie Mahat hit the nail on the
head when he said "dulu orang tak mahu pandang, kita pun buat tak tahu,"
(if associations do not look us up, we too keep our distance).
The MHF Schools Committee, formed in 1999 and chaired by Jen(r) Datuk
Manap Ibrahim, only held its first meeting last week. So Rafei was right
in ticking MHF for keeping its distance from schools.
But he was gracious enough to accept all four proposals made by MHF
deputy president Tan Sri P. Alagendra to bridge the gap and take hockey
back to its glory days.
In his speech, Alagendra said: "The current world champions Germany have
benefitted greatly by playing indoor hockey so I propose that the
Education Ministry introduce indoor hockey in all schools.
"In the long run, Malaysia will be the winner because we will have a
bigger pool of skillful players to take over from those who retire from
the sport."
The enbloc retirement of Mirnawan Nawawi, Maninderjit Singh, Nor Azlan
Bakar, Nasihin Nubli and S. Shanker after the Kuala Lumpur World Cup has
left a big void in the national team and chief coach Paul Lissek is
struggling to blood new players for the Busan Asian Games in September.
The other proposals made by Alagendra were: 1. Pay more attention to
Primary Schools hockey, especially those in Standard Four; 2. Allocate
more time for schools hockey because the current carnival style serves no
purpose; and 3. Start grooming umpires in secondary schools.
"What Tan Sri (Alagendra) proposed is nothing new. Schools used to
thrive on hockey back when I was a student because we used to do what he
just proposed," said Rafie.
"But somewhere along the line, hockey went into oblivation in schools.
But I laud the MHF for making an effort to work with schools to revive the
sport."
The director-general, who was a headmaster in Malacca High from
1985-1990, said that schools which do not have facilities for indoor
hockey can play on basketball courts.
"When I was a headmaster at Malacca High, Malacca won the Junior League
title because there was a concerted effort and students played on
basketball courts to hone their skills.
"So schools which lack logistics need not worry as they can improvise. I
am also keen to see hockey played at the Premier School level.
"For a start, maybe we can hold a triangular featuring Penang High,
Malacca High and the Sultan Abu Bakar College.
"These schools used to produce good hockey players and it is time they
received some assistance so that hockey will benefit in the long run,"
said Rafie.
(END)