Sarawak women’s coach C Sivasubramaniam (second left) gives a pep talk to the participants of the skills clinic at the Sarawak Hockey Stadium last Saturday.
KUCHING: It was supposed to be a school term holiday last week but not for a select group of student athletes.
The 21 schoolgirls from the Bintulu region were here for an intensive skills clinic at the Sarawak Hockey Stadium from June 5 to 10.
Under the watchful gaze of Hockey Association of Sarawak coaches C Sivasubramaniam,
S Sakrunathan and C Sunil Roy, the girls were put through their paces in morning and afternoon sessions.
The clinic was funded by the Sarawak Sports Corporation and the sports council.
Based on a recent clinic in Bintulu, Siva had recommended that they be brought here for more intensive training.
“I also wanted them to train on a proper pitch as they had only practiced in confined areas,” he said. “I am very glad to see that they decided to bring in 21 players,” said Siva.
It was the first time such an intensive clinic had been conducted on a turf pitch.
“It is good to see this kind of effort put into trying to improve the standard of the game,” added Siva.
The players ranged in age from 14 to 17 years old.
SMK Sebauh contributed 10 players with four from SMK Kidurong, five from SMK Bintulu and two from Assyakirin.
“This trip will also help us prepare for the upcoming Sarawak school championship,” said Julian Lau, one of the teachers in charge of the students.
Sebauh’s Ellyiana Bawing was one of the 17-year olds in the camp.
“I really learned a lot. It has improved my skills and knowledge of the game,” said the defender.
She is just 14-year-old but Kidurong’s Felicity Candy already has four years in the game.
“I feel I have improved a lot after this, especially in dribbling. I used to lose the ball but now I can control it much better,” said the Form Two student.
She is one of the player the coaches were especially glad to see in the camp. They rated her highly for her skill set.
“She can control the ball, beat the defender and go on to score. For her age, she has very good skills,” said coach Sakrunathan.
The coaches would like her transferred to SMK Paku, the venue regarded as the game’s “project school”, so that she can fully develop her game.
The youngster declared herself ready.
“I am ready to transfer to Paku. I don’t mind being away from my family,” said Felicity.
In the main, Siva said he was pleased to see the skill level of the players.
“The teachers have done a lot of work to get them to where they are now. I am very grateful for that.”
However, he felt that a lot of time, they neglected the basic skills.
“Basically, I would like to see them concentrate more on the basics – the push, stop, hitting, the slapshot, the Indian dribble and close dribble.”
“Hitting is basically the long pass. It is an essential part of the game,” explained Siva. “If a player can master these basic skills, they will have no problem playing any system,” said Siva.
Another problem is that they trained on small surfaces.
“You can see that when they first start playing on the turf pitch. They are very tentative as they are not used to the big area of a real pitch,” said Siva.
He was glad to see that they could adapt to the pitch quickly.
The former coach of the Malaysian women’s team felt that the clinic went very well.
“Hopefully, they will do more camps like this,” said Siva.
Unfortunately, for future participants, they will not have the experience of this man to guide them.
After helming the Sarawak womens programme for more than a decade, coach Siva is calling it a day.
Sarawak hockey has been fortunate to have him all this while.