Irish Hockey has today announced that National Men’s Coach Paul Revington has decided to step down after three and a half years. Revington commenced his position in January 2009 and since then has enjoyed great success with this squad taking them from 18th in the world to 15th over this time.
Paul has earned great respect throughout the Irish Hockey community securing numerous trophies and successes with his large squad, most notably, taking the team to equal Ireland’s highest ever finish in a Europeans (Monchengladbach) last August where they finished 5th and more recently reaching the finals of the Electric Ireland Road To London, Olympic Qualifiers, in front of a home crowd at UCD. Paul has also garnered worldwide recognition during his tenure with Irish Hockey receiving the FIH World Coach of the Year Accolade last December.
Revington wanted to take the opportunity to pay tribute to those whom he had worked with and the community at large “I will look back on the past few years having shared so many great moments with many players, staff and supporters involved with the Ireland Senior Men’s Team. Through an amazing collective response by players to perform for the good of a Squad we developed the Green Machine identity that has motivated and inspired so many people to support Men’s Hockey in Ireland and across the world. It has been a privilege to be a part of such an amazing Squad of people.
There have been many outstanding contributions to our Men’s Process that I must acknowledge. My very special Management Team – Arul Anthoni, Peter Jackson, Stephen Barry, Dave Richards, Jonny Caren, Nigel Henderson, Tristan Seaton-Stedham and Brendan Carolan have all added enormous value and quality to the Squad for so many years and provided great support and structure to the Team often under challenging circumstances. What has been achieved to date would not have been possible without this Management Team. The Senior Leadership Team of Ronan Gormley, Geoff McCabe, Eugene Magee, John Jackson, Tim Cockram, Andy McConnell and John Jermyn have been an inspiration to watch as they motivate and steer the Squad at every turn. I have been very fortunate to coach with these men running the Ireland Team. All the various specialist coaches who have been part of the Squad have also provided such valuable contributions: In particular Tim Goodenough and Mike Cooper (Coaching Unity); Wouter Tazelaar, Adel Fuentes, Martijn Drijver, Robin Van Ginkel, Brendan Carolan and Lucas Piccioli. The many clubs in Ireland who have made facilities available to the Team during my period as Coach must also be acknowledged and thanked. Thank you to the various coaches of local and foreign clubs for their mutual assistance in managing the Irish players so well and believing in them. A special thanks to the likes of Paddy Grimes, Andy Smyth and Peter Jackson for their assistance in getting Sandy and I settled on arrival in Ireland and creating a foundation to allow me to hit the ground running in early 2009. All various parties at the Irish Sports Council, Sport Northern Ireland, the Irish Institute for Sport, the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland and in particular to Gary Keegan for believing in the Ireland Men’s Team.”
Revington continued “I am extremely grateful to everyone involved in the IHA for the support and especially for providing me with the opportunity to Coach the Ireland Men’s Team. In particular I would like to thank Angus Kirkland, Dave Passmore, Joan Morgan, Katie Roche and Fiona Mills from within the IHA and Stephen Watt representing Ulster Hockey for their many individual contributions to our Team development.
Lastly and most importantly – thank you to the Squad of players who have represented the Ireland Green Machine with so much trust, energy and quality through my tenure as coach. I loved every minute with the Squad and each individual player and I look forward to seeing the next phase of “fast growth” as a Team and Squad.”
High Performance Director Dave Passmore was keen to pay tribute to him "Revs’ record speaks for itself in terms of the level of play in the men's team and the number of tournament successes and notable results they have achieved in the past few years. This reflects his own level of commitment, motivation and the ability he has to push and stretch players, management and Irish Hockey as a whole. His departure is of great disappointment to all but he has left a legacy which must now be built upon to ensure the squad fulfil their potential in the future, a future that he has done so much to shape".
Angus Kirkland, Chief Executive also commented on Revington’s departure saying “ Paul has been an inspirational leader to our National Men’s squad since joining the IHA. The success of the team has been a product of his planning, dedication and vision that the players have trusted, believed in and committed to wholeheartedly. Thanks to this our Men’s team are now well positioned to make a breakthrough into the Major Games in the next cycle. Paul leaves our Men’s game in a far stronger position then when he started and for this the IHA are very appreciative. All in Hockey will join me in wishing Paul and his wife every success in his future endeavours.”
Paul will remain with Irish Hockey until July 2012.
All in Irish Hockey would like to wish Paul and his wife Sandy the best in their future endeavours.
Irish Hockey Association media release
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Friday, May 18, 2012
The 20-year-old from Tampin, Negri Sembilan, played in the 2009 Junior World Cup but after that, weight problems weighed him down almost into the abyss.
But he shed eight kilos just months before the Junior Asia Cup in Malacca, and was aptly named as the Best Player of the Final.
That is not all, he also sacrificed one semester of his matriculation to make the hockey grade.
“I had to make many sacrifices and also work harder than the rest because I was overweight, but looking back now, it has been more than rewarding,” said Kartik after receiving RM12,500 from the Malaysian Hockey Confederation on Thursday.
And the only non-Malay in the juniors outfit is ready to skip another semester next year, as he badly wants to help Malaysia make an impact in New Delhi November next year.
“I would do it again (skip studies) as training is a full-time job, and I have the support of my parents to play first and study later,” said Kartik.
He was first spotted when as a 16-year-old in 2008, he scored a penalty corner brace to beat Kuala Lumpur 2-0 in the Razak Cup semi-finals after former skipper S. Kuhan failed in numerous attempts for Negri Sembilan.
K. Rajan, who was coaching the national juniors then, spotted his talent and drafted him into training.
“It was a dream come true to be selected for the 2009 Junior World Cup, and now that I have a second chance, I want to help Malaysia achieve their best finish ever,” said Kartik.
Malaysia will not have penalty corner flickers Faizal Saari and Noor Faeez Ibrahim for the World Cup because both will be overage for the Under-21 tournament by then.
“It will be a big loss as both the flickers played a major role in winning gold in Malacca, but I am ready to fit into their shoes if the coach wants me to,” said Kartik whose weight problem was one of the reasons why he lost his penalty corner touch.
And what is he going to do with the RM12,500?
“I will keep it for my education,” said Kartik whose father Govindasamy and family members came in force to see him receive the reward at a leading hotel in Kuala Lumpur.
RIP RAMAMURTHI
FROM http://www.malaysianhockey.blogspot.com
It is with profound sadness that we report the demise of Ramamurthi, the elder brother of The Star Journalist S. Ramaguru.
I received a call from Ramaguru at dawn informing me of the loss and am told that the funeral will be held on Saturday in Seremban.
The late Ramamurthi was 59 and rushed to the Damai Hospital at around 3.00am as he had chest pains but succumbed to a heart attack.
Will update funeral details later.
My condolences to Ramaguru and his siblings as well as the rest of the family.
I received a call from Ramaguru at dawn informing me of the loss and am told that the funeral will be held on Saturday in Seremban.
The late Ramamurthi was 59 and rushed to the Damai Hospital at around 3.00am as he had chest pains but succumbed to a heart attack.
Will update funeral details later.
My condolences to Ramaguru and his siblings as well as the rest of the family.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
RM12,500 each for Junior champions...
MHC president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah shares a light moment with the players yesterday. Pic by Yazit Razali
THE Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) yesterday feted their juniors to a gala dinner, and rewarded each player and official with RM12,500 cash for becoming champions in the Junior Asia Cup in Malacca.
Malaysia not only beat Pakistan 2-1 for the gold medal, but also qualified for the Junior World Cup in New Delhi next November.
"This is the first time such a dinner is held to celebrate everyone's effort to realising this golden dream, and not only the players but also their parents were invited.
"I would like to say my special thanks to coach K. Dharmaraj and his coaching staff as well as team manager Mirnawan Nawawi and National Sports Council support staff who made this achievement," said MHC president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.
But realistically speaking Tengku Abdullah reminded everybody that: "We have 18 months to the World Cup, so we need to prepare from now and realise that our mission is only half-completed.
"I would like to introduce a report card to make sure that we do well in the World Cup as well. From tomorrow we need to take care of the boys physical fitness, as it was lacking during the India and Pakistan matches.
"And my advise to the players is also to keep away from anything that will derail their concentration, and keep steady towards achieving a good result in New Delhi," said Tengku Abdullah.
As for the future of hockey, Tengku Abdullah said ongoing programmes like 1Mas would be intensified.
"And with help from parents, more effort would be placed on under-12 players and also the national league would also be revamped to make the grassroot stronger," said Tengku Abdullah.
Boy can play in girls team..
MITHTOWN, N.Y. – The biggest goal of Keeling Pilaro's field hockey career happened far from an athletic field on Tuesday.
An athletics committee determined the 13-year-old boy can keep playing on the girls' varsity team at Southampton High School, at least for one more season. The decision at an appeals hearing Tuesday reverses earlier rulings that claimed Keeling's skills as a field hockey player, which he developed growing up in Dublin, Ireland, had developed to a level superior to those of girls.
"I was jumping up and down; I was so excited when I heard," the youngster said in a telephone interview about an hour after the decision was announced by an attorney for the athletics committee. "I can play!" Kevin Seaman, the attorney for the committee that oversees public school athletics in Suffolk County, said panelists determined that Keeling's continued participation on the team ultimately would not have "a significant adverse effect" on girls' opportunity to participate in interschool competition. That was the same criteria used earlier this year when officials for the committee said Keeling's skills had exceeded those of his female teammates and competitors.
Reporters were not permitted into the closed meeting.
Seaman said the vote to allow Keeling to play was not unanimous, but he declined to break it down. About two dozen officials deliberated for about 40 minutes after the youngster and his mother and their attorneys presented arguments for allowing him to continue. The boy's high school field hockey coach also attended.
Officials previously cited the fact that Keeling was named to an all-conference team after scoring 10 goals and eight assists as an eighth-grader playing on the Southampton varsity last season. But the boy's supporters said another girl also made the all-conference team also was an eighth-grader. They noted that Keeling's skills did not earn him the more prestigious all-county honors, and also pointed out that Southampton's squad finished in fourth place in its conference last year.
In order to play with the girls after moving to New York from Ireland, Keeling had to get permission from Suffolk's mixed-competition committee, which screens players who want to compete on teams of the opposite sex. There have been several occasions where girls have been approved to play football, wrestle or compete in other traditional boys sports, but Keeling is believed to be the first boy to play alongside girls on Long Island.
An attorney for the Pilaro family said he considered filing a federal civil rights lawsuit had the ruling not gone in his client's favor.
The United States is one of the rare places in the world where boys do not regularly play field hockey.
Chris Clements, the national men's coach for USA Field Hockey, said in an interview last week with the AP that he thought the young teenager should be permitted to continue playing.
"Maybe by the time he gets to be a senior, it could be argued that there is a difference, but I would say right now he fits in just fine," Clements said.
Fox News
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