Saturday, September 16, 2017

Dharmaraj's One Night in Bangkok... My Philosophy of Coaching

NATIONAL women's hockey coach K. Dharmaraj has been invited to give a talk to an audience made up of badminton greats.
  Yes, you read it right.
  Dharmaraj, who successfully took his 22nd rankled team into the World League Semifinals in London, has been invited to the Badminton Asia Top Coaches Forum in Bangkok on Sept 30-Oct 1.
  His topic would be "My Philosophy of Coaching".
  "It's really a honour to be invited for this forum where I will give a talk on my coaching experience. There will be top badminton coaches there and I can also learn a thing or two from them and apply it where applicable," said Dharmaraj.
  The coach was given a rag-tag team to prepare for the World League Round Two in Kuala Lumpur, in his unorthodox coaching method saw his charges beat 15th ranked Italy in the semi-finals to qualify for the World League Semifinals for the first time.
  "This is the second time I have received an offer from outside hockey to talk at a forum. The first was when our national juniors beat Pakistan in the 2012 Asia Cup and qualified for the Junior World Cup in India.
  "Back them I was invited by Karate to their forum but could not attend because of my commitments.
  "But I will be heading to Bangkok thanks to all the support I received from the Malaysian hockey Confederation and president Datuk Seri Subahan (Kamal).
  "All this would not have been possible if they did not have faith in me to coach the national women's team," said Dharmaraj.
  Dharmaraj is in the midst of preparing his charges for the Asia Cup in Kakamigahara, Japan, on Oct 28-Nov 5. The tournament is a World Cup qualifier.
  Among the badminton coaches invited to the forum are BA of Malaysia Technical Director Morten Frost and BA of Thailand chief coach Rexy Mainaky.