From young gem to grassroots’ guru, Vella’s passion burns bright for hockey

MY good friend Vellappan Sathappan’s (pic) mother burned his only hockey stick when he often missed his family duty as a food courier.

But she regretted her action later when Vellappan got a permanent job with a bank through his involvement in hockey.

This is one of the many stories that Vellappan, or as I fondly call him “Chief Vella” had told me over the years that I’ve known him.

When I was the principal at the Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School (SSTMI), I’ve built a close relationship with Vellappan as I saw his dedication for hockey.

In fact, this sport had changed his life. “Hockey was a game-changer for me. If I had not played hockey, I doubt I would be where I am today,” he said.

The 61-year-old who hails from Melaka was a former national hockey trainee from 1986 to 1987 but he got off to a humble beginning in the sport.

He used firewood as the stick and played street hockey after Malaysia’s exploits at the 1975 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia lost 2-3 to India in the semi-finals and finished fourth after losing 0-4 to Germany in the bronze-medal playoff, which is still one of the best moments on the world stage.

Vellappan joined the Kampong Kids club where he learned the fundamentals of the sport and had lots of fun along the way. The club was just 10 minutes walk from his kampung, Banda Kaba.

They played at the pitch commonly known as the Melaka Club Padang, and it is where a host of great hockey players from Banda Kaba was produced.

Among them were Joseph ‘Jack’ Johnson, Wong Choon Hin, Tam Chiew Seng, Tam Kam Seng, Razak Leman, Ariffin Ghani, K. Embaraj, and Mirnawan Nawawi and Vellappan.

Vellappan told me: “We would normally start playing from 3pm onwards until dusk in a bid to improve our game.

“My parents were underprivileged and had to cook and deliver food every day. I was the eighth child out of nine siblings. Life was hard in the 1970s,” said Vellappan.

“This growing up poor made me a stronger, more confident adult in life,” he said.

When Vellappan was in Standard Four to Six at Bandar Hilir English School in the late 70s, his teacher made him a ball picker during tournaments.

“My childhood friend Tai Yan Peng saved 50 sen every day and gave me RM15 to buy a branded Chakarvarti hockey stick.

“As I child, I knew not to ask for things that our parents couldn’t afford, like buying a hockey stick when food on the table was more important then.

“Hockey built my character and made me mature. The multiracial team I played with taught me understanding, tolerance, an appreciation of comradeship, harmony, and, above all, the ability to interact with every level of society.”

I’m really proud of my friend Vella, who served as a player for seven years and as a coach for 31 years. He was seconded to the National Sports Council in 2019 as a coordinator for the National Hockey Development Programme (NHDP).

Safrusahar Yusoff, the NSC Talent Division and Women Development Director, also has only praises for Vellappan.

“Until today, almost all his decisions are based on his experiences in hockey. And using hockey mechanics has helped him make the right decisions,” said Safrusahar.

He visits NHDP centres in the states but his tasks are mainly to strengthen the NHDP with a sport-specific framework providing an optimal training, competition, and recovery programme that respects and utilises the natural stages of physical, mental, and emotional growth of athletes.

His philosophy in coaching is to develop good coaches using the hybrid syllabus or model and coaching points to learn and progress.

I asked this visionary man on his future aspiration and he said: “Hopefully, the ecosystem of coaching hockey in Malaysia will move to the next level which is athlete-centred, coach-driven, and supported by officials, administrators, parents, volunteers and sponsors.

“I want to help Malaysia become a top playing country with good infrastructure, good coaches and consistently in the top bracket of world hockey.”

Vellappan has passed the mandatory age of 60 but it’s my hope that his service will go on in the NHDP.