Scotts in our group

Scotland’s senior men face a World Cup qualifier in Invercargill, New Zealand this Autumn, with a place at the FIH World Cup in New Delhi, India in 2010 up for grabs.
The team will be coached in New Zealand by junior men’s coach Russell Garcia, whose assistant coach Derek Forsyth also steps up from his role with the junior men for the qualifiers, which take place 7-15th November.
The Scots’ fifth place finish at the EuroHockey Nations Trophy in Wrexham last month secured their spot in a qualifier. The qualifier will take place in Invercargill New Zealand this Autumn, with Scotland playing in a round-robin tournament along with China, Malaysia, Austria, New Zealand and Wales. The winners will take their place at the FIH World Cup in New Delhi in February 2010.
Coach Russell Garcia said: “I’m happy to be taking on this role, and we’re taking a long term view on it in terms of giving younger players the chance. We’ll be using these qualifiers as an opportunity to get to the World Cup, but also as a stepping stone for the European Trophy squad for 2011 as well as the Commonwealth Games in 2014.”
Scottish Hockey’s Performance Manager Callum McLeod said: “I'm delighted that both Russell and Derek have agreed to lead the programme as they bring a huge amount of experience with them. Both are fully committed and highly motivated to deliver the best possible programme in the short space of time.”

Scottish Hockey Union media release

Australia, of course....

29/08/2009

Kookaburras advance to World Cup with Oceania Cup victory

Kookaburras 3 New Zealand 1 (2-1 half time) Goals New Zealand – Nick Wilson Kookaburras – Grant Schubert 2, Jamie Dwyer 1

The Kookaburras have booked their spot at the Hero Honda FIH 2010 World Cup by defeating New Zealand 3-1 today at Invercargill, New Zealand to win the Oceania Cup. After watching the Hockeyroos go down to New Zealand earlier in the day for the women’s division of the Oceania Cup, the Kookaburras were determined to begin the match well. Unfortunately New Zealand had plans of their own, with Nick Wilson scoring the first goal of the match after a nice breakaway. Veteran and Olympic gold medallists Grant Schubert provided the spark needed for the Kookaburras, scoring two first half goals, the second coming just moments before half time. Continuing their momentum, the Kookaburras controlled the tempo after half time, but were unable to make the most of their various opportunities and further extend their one goal lead. With this New Zealand continued to grow in confidence as they remained within striking distance. A sustained period of New Zealand possession followed but the Black Sticks were unable to peg back the much needed goal. With just over a minute to play New Zealand forced their first penalty corner of the match but Hayden Shaw’s drag flick attempt was wide of the left post. Jamie Dwyer hammered the final nail into New Zealand’s coffin in the final play of the match, a cracking shot from a penalty corner. The Kookaburras will now plan their program towards the 2010 World Cup which will be played in New Delhi, India from February 28 – March 13, 2010. However their focus for the remainder of the year will be towards the ABN AMRO Hockey Champions Trophy which will be played in Melbourne from November 28 – December 6.

England crowned European King

The English men’s team pulled off a major upset in the final of the EuroHockey Nations Championships in Amstelveen, Netherlands on Sunday. The English team defeated Olympic and World Champion Germany (5:3) to become the new European Champion.

Host Netherlands finally claimed the bronze medal after a disappointing tournament. The Dutch secured a podium place after a 6:1 win over Spain. England, Germany, Netherlands and Spain earned direct qualification for the Hero Honda FIH World Cup 2010 in New Delhi, India.

Results Sunday 30 August 2009

Final:
England-Germany 5:3

Bronze medal match:
Netherlands-Spain 6:1

Classification 5-8:
Austria-Poland 5:4
Belgium-France 7:0

Final Ranking:

1. England (Qualified for Hero Honda FIH World Cup 2010)
2. Germany (Qualified for Hero Honda FIH World Cup 2010)
3. Netherlands (Qualified for Hero Honda FIH World Cup 2010)
4. Spain (Qualified for Hero Honda FIH World Cup 2010)
5. Belgium
6. France
7. Austria
8. Poland

Malaysia to play in NZ Qualifier?

Hero Honda FIH World Cup 2010, New Delhi, India, 28 February-13 March 2010

A SMART GUESS on probable World Cup Qualifiers:

In France:
Pakistan, France, Japan, Egypt, Austria, Chile

In New Zealand
China, New Zealand, Malaysia, Poland, Scotland, Italy

In Argentina
Belgium, Ireland, Argentina, Czech Rep, Russia, USA.

THOSE WHO HAVE QUALIFIED

• India (Host)
• Canada (Champion of the 3^rd Men’s Pan American Cup)
• Korea (Champion of the 8^th Men’s Asia Cup)
• South Africa (Champion of the Africa Cup of Nations, 2009)
• Australia (Champion of the 6^th Men’s Oceania Cup)
• England (Champion of the 12^th Men’s EuroHockey Nations Championship)
• Germany (Silver medalist of the 12^th Men’s EuroHockey Nations Championship)
• Netherlands (Bronze medalist of the 12^th Men’s EuroHockey Nations Championship)
• Spain (Fourth ranked team of the 12^th Men’s EuroHockey Nations Championship)

3 vacancies left:

• Winner of the Men’s World Cup Qualification Tournament – No. 1
• Winner of the Men’s World Cup Qualification Tournament – No. 2
• Winner of the Men’s World Cup Qualification Tournament – No. 3

Quotas for Men’s World Cup Qualification Tournament

Africa: 1 (EGY)
Asia: 4 (CHN, JPN, MAS, PAK)
Europe: 9 (AUT, BEL, CZE, FRA, IRL, POL, RUS, SCO, WAL)
Oceania: 1 (NZL)
Pan America: 3 (ARG, CHI, USA)

Centralise or de-centralise?

THE Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) should, by now, know that almost year-long centralised training has not produced any results at the international level.
In fact, the pampering of players has led to Malaysia free- falling to 16th in the world.
“There are different views on this matter, and it has been discussed many times, but personally, I feel the Malaysian players are still not ready for de-centralised training,” said National coach Tai Beng Hai.
The main reason, according to Beng Hai, in keeping the players in camp for long periods is fitness.
“We have tried giving individual players training pro grammes when there is a long break. But they return with extra kilos, and it only shows that they do not follow the fitness regime when away from camp.
“It will defeat the purpose if I have to conduct fitness training all over again to prepare for a tournament like, say, the World Cup qualifier in November,” said Beng Hai.
The evidence of a huge gap among European teams and Malaysia came to light again when Champions Challenge II winners Poland were hammered 9-0 by Netherlands and 3-0 by Spain in the ongoing EuroNationas Championships which is also a qualifier for the New Delhi World Cup, and offers four tickets to semi-finalists.
And Down Under, an e-mail from former Malaysian coach Paul Lissek advised Malaysia to do away with centralised training.
Lissek, a consultant with Australia now said: “In Australia players like Brent Livermore (pic) can still play in the national team despite not training with them but working far from Perth near Brisbane and staying with his family.
“Their main advantage is that players are very liberal and independent, which means they have a lot of self-discipline. The Australian players come for individual training-sessions and follow their different plan.
“They train with different coaches and they also come for individual video-sessions, and sit with a coach to discuss. The methodical principal ‘players as partners’ not ‘players as schoolboys’ makes the difference.
“Sometimes players work in groups on their particular issues and solve it themselves,” said Lissek.
Beng Hai feels the time is not right yet for decentralised training: “Malaysian players are not ready for de-centralised training as they do not have the discipline to work on their own when given a break.
“However, there is a possibility that the de-centralised system could be implemented in the near future,” said Beng Hai.
Centralised training has produced mediocre players, while decentralised training has produced Olympic champions, the MHF should have another look at their training programme for next year.