TEAM NEED TO POWER UP
Van Huizen will have new programme
NATIONAL hockey coach Stephen van Huizen aims to turn his players into a welloiled machine for next year’s Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and World Cup.
Van Huizen said a programme will be formulated to make his players fitter and stronger in a move to help Malaysia make further inroads in world hockey.
His team have taken up the challenge from the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) to win the gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia, which will give Malaysia a direct entry to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games.
Van Huizen and the MHC will do a post-mortem on Malaysia’s performance in last week’s World League Semi-Finals in London and from there, they will come up with a plan for next year’s challenges.
“We thought we were very fit going into the tournament in London. Although we did a lot of fitness work. it was not enough as the players were already pushing themselves in the closing stages in London,” said Stephen after arriving with his team from London at KLIA in Sepang yesterday.
“We were against top teams like World No 1 Argentina and England who were better in speed and also played at a very high tempo.
“If we want to challenge the top six teams in the world, our players’ fitness level needs to be better.
“The fitness level of players cannot shoot up in a short period. It will take us at least two years.
“We must also work on our physically strength to match the well-built players from Argentina and Europe. Size does matter in hockey.”
As for decision making during matches, Stephen said his players need to handle tight situations a little better.
“The top teams make better decisions in crucial areas and we need to look into this. However, the outing in London was fruitful.
“We started our programme in October, 2015, and now after two years we have reached a good level in hockey. We need to continuously improve to get better,” he said.
On next year’s Asian Games, Stephen, whose players will report to camp next month, said winning the title will not be easy as the gap between the top six Asian teams is small.
“We may have finished ahead of India, Pakistan and South Korea in London but we cannot really say we are the best (in Asia) as the gap among Asian teams is not huge.
“I think the Asian Games will be a very tough event as all the Asian countries will be fully prepared to win the gold in Jakarta for the sole Olympic spot.
“India, Pakistan, China, South Korea and Japan will be our main rivals there. We need to be consistent and play well from now on to make the grade,” said Stephen.
The team’s immediate targets for the season is the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games in August and the Asia Cup in Dhaka the following month.
“We are committed towards winning a gold in the Sea Games… it is a priority as part of the ‘Kita Juara’ initiative.
“Our development squad are committed to the indoor hockey event in the Sea Games. We may make some changes in the team that played in London as I still have five other players in training.
“As we have already qualified for the World Cup, the Asia Cup could be used as a platform to expose our fringe players.
“Our top players have been playing hockey non-stop and some are still university students who need to complete their examinations.
“Hopefully, they can take their papers this year as next season will be busy for our hockey team,” Stephen added.