KUCHING: Sarawak’s Under-16 hockey player Shawn Bradley Mathew is poised to experience his first international tournament.
Shawn Bradley Mathew
He has been selected for the 1Mas team for the FHE Cup to be held in Perth, Australia from Nov 27-30.
The FHE Cup, which started in 2007, is a prestigious international Under-16 tournament which regularly features strong teams from Japan and Singapore.
1Mas is the long-term national development programme aimed at increasing the pool of players who can be the back-up to the national team.
Shawn had impressed selectors at the programme’s National Under-16 Camp and Inter-Centre Tournament held in Ipoh, Perak in Sept.
At the Sept tournament, the Sarawak juniors had a decent showing winning one match, drawing two and losing four all by one goal margin.
Sarawak Hockey Association secretary William Lee was pleased to see that their development programme is working.
“The matches we played were all close matches. We are getting there but we need just a little more work,” said Lee.
For the last few years, they had been conducting a continuous weekend development programme involving some of the best young talent.
It has certainly begun to show a measure of success when they finished third in the recent National Sports Council’s Director-General Cup Indoor 6-a-side tourney.
Lee was pleased to see their young protege making the cut for Perth.
“It will be a good experience for him. We will also benefit from it as it will help us in our 2016 Sukma preparations,” said Lee.
Shawn is highly rated for his skills but he does have one knock against him, even if it is one that parents of teenagers would not mind.
“The coaches said that he is too quiet,” said Lee.
“In hockey, you have to be vocal, call for the ball and make your presence known,” said Lee.
The SMK Penrissen No.1 student agreed with the coaches’ assessment.
“I need to work on that and be more vocal,” said Shawn.
“I am excited to be going to Perth. I hope to learn new skills and improve my game,” added Shawn.
The 16-year-old, who is 1.68m tall and weights 59kg, has ambitions of becoming a professional player.
“It would be good to be a little heavier so that I can play with more strength and power.”
Shawn will attending the training camp for the 1Mas team in Pahang training camp starting this Sunday.