Alan Brahmst announced as Canadian Men's Coach

As part of Field Hockey Canada’s (FHC) strategic roadmap and in consideration of achieving the near term objective of winning the Pan American Cup in March, 2008, FHC has appointed Alan Brahmst (Toronto, Ontario) as the interim coach for the Men's National Team. Alan will bring with him a proven staff with tremendous experience and varied expertise to continue the team's significant progress, which had been engineered and led by Louis Mendonca during the past 2 years.

'I feel confident in our capacities to further develop the tactical and technical capabilities necessary to continue our rise in world rankings. The coaching staff has begun to collaborate on a number of opportunities to introduce leading game strategies and has implemented new and innovative practice components. We have full confidence in our abilities to design and execute a successful tournament strategy in Santiago'. Alan further stated that 'the progress in our player development has paid dividends and with limited retirements since the Olympics, we have a strong pool of players from which to build a dangerous team'.

Alan Brahmst has been an assistant to Louis Mendonca since 2007 and was most recently part of the coaching staff at the Beijing Olympics with the responsibility to develop the tournament's tactical plan. With a 15-year career with the national team and 178 internationals, Alan was an integral part of the Canadian men’s team that ranked as high as 8th during the 90s.

Alan's appointment is in line with Field Hockey Canada's commitment to an innovative 'Made in Canada' approach for developing the sport by leveraging and building on the existing expertise of our Canadian resources.

Source: Field Hockey Canada

FIH names WorldHockey Player of the Year Award

Argentina’s Luciana Aymar and Spain’s Pol Amat were crowned as WorldHockey Players of the Year 2008 in Los Angeles, USA on Friday. Both hockey stars received their awards during a special ceremony on the occasion of the FIH Congress Dinner at Universal Studios in the Californian city.

Dutch Maartje Paumen and Australian Eddie Ockenden received the WorldHockey Young Player of the Year 2008 awards. All four hockey stars were present in Los Angeles to receive their awards.

The awards were presented by FIH President Els van Breda Vriesman during the special ‘Emmy Awards’ type of show. All players who participated at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing last August were able to vote for their favourite.

Aymar grabbed her fifth WorldHockey Player of the Year award after she won the title in 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2007. The 31 year old bronze medallist of the Beijing Olympics was excited with being the best player in the world again.

Amat became the first Spaniard to win the WorldHockey Player of the Year Award. For the silver medalist from Beijing it is the recognition for all the years he was among the best hockey players in the world. Amat took over the title from Australian Jamie Dwyer, who was again one of the nominees for the award this year.

Dutch striker Maartje Paumen was awarded as women’s WorldHockey Young Player of the Year. For Paumen this was the icing on the cake of a year she could only dream of. Paumen won with Netherlands the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics and became the top scorer of the tournament with 11 goals, a record in Olympic history.

Australian Eddie Ockenden took over the title of men’s WorldHockey Young Player of the Year from his teammate Mark Knowles. Ockenden proved to be in excellent form both at the Olympic Games and the WorldHockey Champions Trophy in 2008.

Past winners WorldHockey Player of the Year Award:

Men
1998 Stephan Veen (NED)
1999 Jay Stacy (AUS)
2000 Stephan Veen (NED)
2001 Florian Kunz (GER)
2002 Michael Green (GER)
2003 Teun de Nooijer (NED)
2004 Jamie Dwyer (AUS)
2005 Teun de Nooijer (NED)
2006 Teun de Nooijer (NED)
2007 Jamie Dwyer (AUS)
2008 Pol Amat (ESP)

Women
1998 Alyson Annan (AUS)
1999 Natascha Keller (GER)
2000 Alyson Annan (AUS)
2001 Luciana Aymar (ARG)
2002 Cecilia Rognoni (ARG)
2003 Mijntje Donners (NED)
2004 Luciana Aymar(ARG)
2005 Luciana Aymar (ARG)
2006 Minke Booij (NED)
2007 Luciana Aymar (ARG)
2008 Luciana Aymar (ARG)

Young Men
2001 Tibor Weissenborn (GER)
2002 Jamie Dwyer (AUS)
2003 Grant Schubert (AUS)
2004 Santi Freixa (ESP)
2005 Robert van der Horst (NED)
2006 Christopher Zeller (GER)
2007 Mark Knowles (AUS)
2008 Eddie Ockenden (AUS)

Young Women
2001 Angie Skirving (AUS)
2002 Soledad Garcia (ARG)
2003 Maartje Scheepstra (NED)
2004 Soledad Garcia (ARG)
2005 Maartje Goderie (NED)
2006 Mi Hyun Park (KOR)
2007 Maike Stockel (GER)
2008 Maartje Paumen (NED)

FIH names world AllStar Hockey teams for 2008

After the success of the WorldHockey All Star Teams in 2006 and 2007, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) is pleased to announce the WorldHockey All Star Teams of 2008. Only the best 18 players of the world in each gender are part of this team, which was chosen by hockey experts from all over the world.

The announcement of the WorldHockey All Star Teams was made in Los Angeles, USA on the eve of the FIH Congress and Meetings week, which starts on Sunday 23 November 2008. During the week, the FIH will also announce the 2008 Players of the Year, for which the award ceremony will take place at Universal Studios on Friday 28 November 2008.

The following players (in alphabetical order) were selected for the WorldHockey All Star Teams 2008:

Men’s WorldHockey All Stars 2008:

* Pol Amat (Spain)
* Sebastian Biederlack (Germany)
* Rehan Butt (Pakistan)
* Jamie Dwyer (Australia)
* Santi Freixa (Spain)
* Bevan George (Australia)
* Rodrigo Garza (Spain)
* Robert van der Horst (Netherlands)
* Alistair McGregor, goalkeeper (Great Britain)
* Barry Middleton (Great Britain)
* Teun de Nooijer (Netherlands)
* Eddie Ockenden (Australia)
* Jong Ho Seo (Korea)
* Eduard Tubau (Spain)
* Guus Vogels, goalkeeper (Netherlands)
* Tibor Weissenborn (Germany)
* Timo Wess (Germany)
* Matthias Witthaus (Germany)
* Maurits Hendriks, coach (Spain)
* Markus Weise, coach (Germany)

Women’s WorldHockey All Stars 2008:

* Naomi van As (Netherlands)
* Luciana Aymar (Argentina)
* Tina Bachman (Germany)
* Minke Booij (Netherlands)
* Kaori Chiba (Japan)
* Baorong Fu (China)
* Alejandra Gulla (Argentina)
* Rachel Imison, goalkeeper (Australia)
* Natascha Keller (Germany)
* Seon Ok Lee (Korea)
* Yibo Ma (China)
* Maartje Paumen (Netherlands)
* Carla Rebecchi (Argentina)
* Fanny Rinne (Germany)
* Maria Jesus Rosa, goalkeeper (Spain)
* Janneke Schopman (Netherlands)
* Qingling Song (China)
* Melanie Wells (Australia)
* Mark Lammers (Netherlands)
* Chang Back Kim, coach (China)

Congratulations

On behalf of the SAHA executive, we would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Southern Gauteng on the appointment of the following people, that will be doing National duties at the Junior World Cup in 2009.

Gareth Ewing will be representing the South Africa under 21 men at the Junior World Cup in Malaysia and Singapore as the assistant coach from 7th to 21st June 2009.

Patrick Tshutshani will be representing the South Africa under 21 ladies at the Junior World cup in Boston USA as the Video Analyst from the 3rd to the 16th of August 2009.

Yours sincerely,
South African Hockey Association

Lennie Botha
Coaching – High Performance

FIH releases Qualified Teams for 2009 Events

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) released the teams qualified for its World Level Events in 2009. The post Olympic year will see four men’s and four women’s tournaments.

The most important events next year are the Samsung Champions Trophy women (11-19 July 2009 in Sydney, Australia) and the ABN AMRO Champions Trophy men (28 November-6 December 2009 in Melbourne, Australia).

Men’s Champions Trophy – 2009 (Melbourne, Australia)
1. Australia Host and Champions Trophy Champion 2008
2. Germany Olympic Champions 2008 and World Cup Champions 2006
3. Spain 2nd ranked Olympic Games 2008
4. Netherlands 4th ranked Olympic Games 2008
5. England 5th ranked Olympic Games 2008 (Great Britain)
6. Korea 6th ranked Olympic Games 2008

Women’s Champions Trophy – 2009 (Sydney, Australia)
1. Australia Host
2. Netherlands Olympic Champions 2008, World Cup Champions 2006
3. Argentina Champions Trophy Champion 2008
4. China 2nd ranked Olympic 2008
5. Germany 4th ranked Olympics 2008
6. England 6th ranked Olympics 2008 (Great Britain)

Tornados win 1st Vietnam’s International Sixes

Tornados of Vietnam defeated the three top seeded Malaysian hockey teams to become champions of the 1st Vietnam International Hockey Sixes held in Ho Chi Minh City on 8 and 9 November, which saw 14 teams competing for the title.

Despite the fact that Tornados Vietnam was boosted by the three Vietnamese brothers Binh, Sammy and Tommy Hoang who had played competitive field hockey in the US but now pretty much retired because of business commitments, the team was never fancied to win the tournament after they only came fourth in Pool B at the end of the previous day.

God must have been smiling on the local Vietnamese hockey team on the final day when Tornados Vietnam knocked out tournament favourites Kelab Aman of Kuala Lumpur in the quarterfinals, then Kedah Veterans in the semifinals before beating another Kuala Lumpur side, “Sunday 2030” in the Final in a sudden death penalty shoot out to become champions.

As the organizers were hoping that the tournament would give the Vietnamese players exposure to international club hockey, never in their wildest dreams did they think a local Vietnam side would win the tournament especially since field hockey is hardly played in the country.

The other clubs participating from Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong certainly witnessed the birth of field hockey with this historic win by a local Vietnamese hockey team (albeit unexpectedly) as it will create tremendous interest amongst the local Vietnamese in this 100 year old Olympic sport. The Vietnam International Hockey Sixes will be an annual fixture on the fledging Vietnamese field hockey scene.

For more information about the Vietnam Hockey Festival please visit www.vietnamhockey.vn

Source: Vietnam Hockey

Paul Revington new professional coach of Ireland men's team

The Irish Hockey Association is delighted to announce the appointment of Paul Revington to the position of National Men’s Coach.

South African born Revington was appointed by the selection committee, which included representatives from both Sports Councils, a retired senior athlete, the High Performance Director, Chair of the Board and Chief Executive, after a rigorous interview process against internationally recognised coaches from around the world and Ireland.

Revington brings a wealth of experience to the role but in particular from his three years as Head Coach of the South African Men’s Team where under his reign they moved from 14th to 10th in the world rankings, qualifying and competing in both the 2004 Olympics and 2006 World Cup.

Chief Executive Angus Kirkland was clearly excited about the new appointment “On behalf of the selection committee, I am delighted to introduce Paul Revington as the new Men’s National Coach. Having coached the South African Men’s team qualifying them for the 2004 Olympics and 2006 World cup he is well placed to lead Irelands Men to the next Olympics. He will take over a team that is shaping up well for 2012, thanks in large part to the hard work Dave Passmore has put in over the last four years. Passmore becomes the High Performance Director, a role he has been doing in a dual capacity with the Head Coach. It is an exciting time for Irish Men’s Hockey as we move forward with a world class coach and for the first time a fully complemented High Performance structure.”

Revington, who will officially commence the position early in the New Year will have an opportunity to see his new team in action against Scotland later this month, commented earlier on his appointment “It is an honour for me to be appointed as the new Irish Men's Senior Hockey coach. I have watched the Irish Team and Irish Hockey grow consistently over the years and am excited to become a part this organisation. There is fantastic talent and existing strengths within Irish Men's Hockey and I look forward to creating a dynamic environment that enhances this talent and strength."

Passmore who will now have the opportunity to focus solely on his role as High Performance Director was keen to express his thanks as he know steps away from the Senior Coaching role “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those athletes and management that have committed so much to the program since I arrived four years ago. We can look back on the fact that we have made significant progress and laid the foundations for this group to now go on and get the results we came so close to achieving. Trying to establish an elite sports environment as amateurs requires real dedication and commitment. The athletes have sacrificed so much over the past few years as have the staff, many of which are volunteers. I hope they have enjoyed the journey (the highs and lows) as much as I have, and I look forward to watching the team achieving greater success moving forward.”

Source: Irish Hockey Association