Lissek: Why can't players be serious?

30/11/2002

THE national hockey team had their last training session before breaking
camp yesterday and chief coach Paul Lissek sported a worried frown.
There has been no change in attitude among a select group of players,
who take things for granted and skip training at the drop of a coin, and
they do not even have the courtesy to inform Lissek about their
whereabouts.
Lissek had to resort to calling up the juniors just to keep the training
schedule.
"I still do not understand why players do not take it seriously when
they receive a national call-up for training. Fairuz (Ramli) is the latest
to copy the trend when he failed to show up today (yesterday) without any
notice," said Lissek at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
Fairuz was on medical leave for three days with a strained back, and was
supposed to report back to training yesterday but there was no sign of him - and he did not even call the coach to offer an excuse.
"Maybe he thought that it was the last day of training and he could skip
it," lamented Lissek.
The only call that Lissek received while in the midst of training was
from P. Prabahkaran.
"Prabha said he was involved in an accident while on his way to
training. He said it was not serious but he was too shaken-up to attend
training," said Lissek.
The national squad, training for the Azlan Shah Cup in March next year,
has been hit by a series of withdrawals and Lissek was forced to
call up several juniors.
"I recalled the entire squad which went to the Asian Games in Busan, but
a few players could not make it because of work or studies. So I called in
a few juniors to fill up the vacuum," said Lissek.
Among others, Saiful Azli wrote in that he had to concentrate on his
work as he has just received a promotion while K. Keevan Raj is studying
for his final year. However, both have said they will keep fit and make a
return for the Azlan Shah Cup.
Kulvinder Singh, who played for Kuala Lumpur Schools Sports Council in the National Junior League (NJL), benefitted from the withdrawals.
"We called up 30 outstanding players from the JHL to attend centralised
training and Kulvinder was among those who really impressed with his
commitment and skills. He was rated second among the 30 players in the
camp so we decided to call him for national training," said assistant
coach Stephen van Huizen.
Kulvinder, 17, received a golden opportunity to impress the selectors
and fight for a spot in the Under-19 International Invitation at the
National Hockey Stadium on Jan 5.
The national team will break camp today and regroup on Dec 16 for a
fitness test.
"I have given each player a training guide during the six-week break in
December right up till January. I will conduct a fitness test on Dec 16
and the second test will be on January 2. I will know then if they had
followed the programme as instructed," said Lissek.
(END)