The organising committee and participants of the Miri Excellence Centre Hockey Camp held last week.
MIRI: Miri coach Rudi Naziri said it will be hard for hockey to develop further in Miri as the city does not even possess a hockey field.
“We have a number of good hockey players in Miri but it is a bit difficult for them to improve their talent in the sport when they do not even have a proper field to practice on.
“This is very saddening as all hockey tournaments in Miri are being played on concrete floor which is dangerous to the players,” he told The Borneo Post.
He added that Miri hockey players have done well throughout the years even though they only train on cement floor.
According to him, some of them have even made it to the national squad.
“I believe it is high time that a proper hockey field be built for Miri,” he said.
Rudi said hockey coaches in Sarawak are always doing their best to improve the standard of hockey but their spirit are dampened with the lack of facilities in a major city like Miri, towns like Sibu and Bintulu.
“We were told several years back that we will be given the very much needed hockey field but until today, our players are still carrying out their practices on concrete field in schools.
“Several meetings have been held in the past 15 years regarding the issue but until today there is no outcome,” he lamented.
Rudy added that even though there are obstacles which the hockey players here have to face while training, he and his team under the umbrella of Warrior Hockey Club, is determined to help the state hockey move further.
“We are always ready to scout new players to be included into Sarawak Hockey Association.
“We will not be put down by the lack of hockey facilities and we do hope that the government can look into this matter and help Miri hockey players get a place to call their own.
“Talent alone is not enough for our players to move further up but there should also be proper facilities to boost their talent,” he said.
Rudy disclosed that currently there are many talented hockey players in Miri such as Charlena Lawing, Stepvivia Siew, Davphenie Jarraw and Maswaja George from KTDTHB and Nurul Jannah from SMK St Columba.
“These are all Under-15 players but they play as well as our senior players. I am looking forward to getting them absorbed into Sukma 2016 team,” he said, adding that he will discuss the matter with the state coach soon.
Meanwhile, Miri Warrior Hockey Club held a Miri Excellence Centre Hockey Camp at the field of KTDTHB, in collaboration with the State Sport Council (MSN) on March 7.
The hockey camp was attended by about 150 students from five schools here namely KTDTHB, SMK Baru, SMK Chung Hua, SMK St Columba and SMK Dato Permaisuri.
Rudy conducted the camp with the assistance of school teachers Muhd Handi, Mohd Amin and Ahmad Faisal.