The participants of the training camp posing with (from third left, back row) Puniyaraja, Sri Sakrunathan and Sivasubramaniam at the end of a training session at the Sarawak Hockey Stadium.
KUCHING: Thirty-four students from SMK Bintulu and five from SMK Mukah enjoyed themselves thoroughly in the training camp at the Sarawak Hockey Stadium from Nov 13-16.
It was good experience as most of them got to play on a full-size artificial hockey pitch for the first time.
The camp was conducted by Sarawak head coach C Sivasubramaniam who is assisted by Sri Sakrunathan @ Murti, Netty Elvis, Beatrice Sawin, Pamela Tia and Echa Samantha.
Sivasubramaniam was pleased with the initiative taken by both schools to send their players for the training camp at their request.
“They are more used to playing on cement floor, grass or sand pitches and they have come for proper training in both basic and advanced hockey,” he noted.
“We taught them the correct techniques which were not taught in their schools. They have very good potential,” he added.
According to Sivasubramaniam, SMK Bintulu chartered a bus to transport the players to Kuching and they were accompanied by teacher in charge of hockey Puniyaraja Nakapian, teacher coaches Danny Dancan, Olivia Layas and Safini Murni.
The trainees, who were mostly in form one and form two, stayed at Hockey Association of Sarawak hostels and only needed to pay for their food and drinks.
“This is one of the activities of the school hockey club which has around 80 members. The students have keen interest in the sport and we want to instil in them the skills on a proper pitch,” said Puniyaraja who has been teaching at SMK Bintulu for five years.
“The students are very happy and they love it here. I would like to thank our principal Ananthan Subramaniam who is also a former hockey player for his strong support,” he added.
SMK Bintulu were the inter-school boys champions for the past two years and U13 boys and girls champions in 2015.
“SMK Bintulu is also proud that two of our boys Raylence Ajeng Rajih and Miroslave Aricsson Alex Kim Hua have been selected to the state squad for the National U14 Hockey Championship at Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur from Dec 8-17,” said Puniyaraja.