2009 IIHF men's world hockey championship tour

Come cheer for team Canada! We are the travel partner of hockey Canada and the complete fan tour package is now available on our website. Follow this link http://msat.ca/2009_iihf_world_hockey_championship.html to get all the details and download the complete itinerary.

You will be able to reserve your place for this once-in-a-lifetime experience and also check the testimonials and a picture gallery of the fan tour we did last year for the world juniors in Prague! A video montage of last year's event is also available at this adress

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrja8WRNalE

Your 10-day WHC inclusive tour to beautiful Switzerland includes:

" Airfare (from Montreal or Toronto) (from Calgary & Vancouver*)
" 8-night deluxe accommodation
" Breakfast daily
" Five local specialty meals
" Transportation to the games
" Ticket for 8 WHC Final Round games
" Sightseeing tour of Berne and Basel
" Excursion to Alsace (France) on the wine circuit (with vineyard visit and typical Alsace meal)
" One-day excursion to Luzerne with sightseeing
" Visits and attractions
" MSAT/WHC 2009 apparel
" On-site MSAT tour guide

You can also check the website to stay updated on everything related to the events like participating teams and the official schedule.

If you need help or if you have any questions for us, please do not hesitate to contact us: ericbeaudet@msat.ca or fill the help form on the website. Please note that we also organize all kind of teams wishing to go on hockey tours so check out WWW.MSAT.CA to get to know all of our offers.

THE position of head coach of the SA men’s hockey team is available.

Courtesy of Jon Cook
SA Hockey Association (Saha) general manager Paul Richards sent out a statement Friday that the successful applicant is required to “take our men to the World Cup in 2010″.

Saha president Dave Carr told Weekend Witness Friday that this new development doesn’t mean the national hockey body is firing the current coach, Gregg Clark, who took SA captain Bruce Jacobs’ side to the Beijing Olympics last month, where they finished 12th and last.
“Gregg has a one-year contract that expires at the end of this month and in terms of legalities and a professional approach there is a requirement to advertise the post once again,” said Carr.
“Clarkie has indicated to Saha that he is considering applying for the job again, while it is also in SA hockey’s interest that we take this opportunity to cast the net in order to look at the quality of candidate that would be interested.”

In answer to a question as to the future of SA women’s head coach Jenny King, who took captain Marsha Marescia’s team to the Olympic Games in China, where they finished 11th out of the 12 countries who qualified for hockey’s quadrennial showpiece event, Carr said the situation was different. “Jenny has a four-year contract that expires after Hockey World Cup 2010,” the Saha president said.

One of the requirements of applicants is to explain what they, as SA men’s head coach, can bring to the role and how they would set out about achieving this.

There could well be a number of leading coaches in KZN who would be interested in the full-time position, which has a negotiable remuneration package.
They are invited to apply to Saha coaching portfolio head Lennie Botha at lennie.botha@hp.com by October 14.

The case for specialisation

I read an interesting article this week from one of the local sports journo’s who commented that part of the reason South Africa did so poorly at this Olympics was the lack of structure in our approach to this campaign.

In a nutshell the writer pointed out that the reason Kenya had gotten more medals than South Africa was because they had gone to the Olympics with a specific plan. Their plan was that they produced runners, not show jumpers, not hockey players, not swimmers – just RUNNERS.

South Africa on the other hand took the policy of sending anyone who was good enough to be at the Olympics (I said BE not COMPETE).

I’m going to use South African hockey as an example because it’s a topic I know some things about. I thought I ladies might have been in with a shout for a top 6 finish if they played out of their skin. If they had pulled it off then they would have been a huge boost to SA hockey from both a sponsorship and marketing perspective. Unfortunately they were out of their depth and they didn’t do the business.

On the other hand, our Men’s hockey side were never in with a shout. The selection row before they left, the scramble for sponsorship money and then the poor results at the games, ultimately were a black mark against hockey.

(Just as an aside – I agree that smaller nations need to play stronger opposition if they hope to improve, I disagree that this should happen at the Olympics).

Quite simply we committed funds and resources to a team that would never deliver. That is 20 people worth of resources that were sponsored despite having no chance. Let’s pick a nominal value of R25000 per player and that gives you half a million Rand that was spent on a side we knew could never bring us home a top 4 or top 6 finish.

This is not taking anything away from the men’s hockey side, its simply looking at the bigger picture of the Games campaign as a whole.

Fairness of it all?

Was it fair to them to be sent to the Olympics to produce an average performance?

Conversely was it fair to other athletes who might have been in with a shout to have been denied that additional sponsorship?

Could the same money not have been better invested in SA hockey development for the next campaign?

I argued this point with certain people within hockey this week and I got the argument that it is the Olympics and if you are given the chance to participate, it only comes around every 4 years and most athletes only 1 (occasionally 2 chances) to compete.

I guess I am torn on the issue.

Should the Olympics have been a chance to showcase ANY sporting talent or rather the BEST sporting talent we have?

Hindsight is obviously 20/20, but I don’t believe we thought this campaign through and we never had any goals. We sent a bunch of guys and girls out to take on the world and then bemoaned the fact that we brought home a single medal.

If you don’t have a goal, you can never expect to bring home the results that you demand…

Indoor / Close skills

Somebody picked up on an interesting aspect relating to the South African Olympic hockey teams which I thought I would briefly touch on - our inability to handle and control the ball in close in situations has let us down during this campaign.

The person I was chatting to believed that this has a lot to do with South Africas lack of interest in promoting indoor hockey.

Obviously indoor hockey is a much tighter game where there is a demand for much greater close in skills.

Indoor hockey is not treated particularly seriously in South Africa with many players simply using it as a warm up / knock around for the main outdoor season.

The lack of dedicated infrastructure (most of the games are played in school halls) has been an ongoing problem and there doesn't seem to be any obvious intention to change this.

Maybe this poor Olympic campaign will force a rethink.

The South African side looked good in open play but when compared to say the Australians, who showed plenty of composure under pressure in the circle, the SA sides seemed to lose possession or fire off a hopeful (hopeless?) shot.

Positive can be taken out
Identifying a specific problem that the South African sides can work on, is a positive. A failed campaign highlighted a weakness and we now know what we can work on.

The question though will be whether or not something is in fact done about it...

Olympic Hockey Schedule for today

Women's Hockey Group B - Game 1
Japan vs. New Zealand
10:30 AM EST, 10/08 Olympic Green Hockey Stadium

Women's Hockey Group A - Game 1
China vs. Spain
12:30 PM EST, 10/08 Olympic Green Hockey Stadium

Women's Hockey Group A - Game 2
Australia vs. Korea
08:00 PM EST, 10/08 Olympic Green Hockey Stadium

Women's Hockey Group B - Game 2
Argentina vs. United States
08:30 PM EST, 10/08 Olympic Green Hockey Stadium

Women's Hockey Group A - Game 3
Netherlands vs. S Africa
10:30 PM EST, 10/08 Olympic Green Hockey Stadium

Women's Hockey Group B - Game 3
Germany vs. Gr Britain
11:00 PM EST, 10/08

Pirates Hockey Club Golf Day

ManufacturingHub.co.za (www.manufacturinghub.co.za) is a partial sponsor of the 2008 Pirates Hockey Club golf day – see details below. We’re urging some of our partners to get involved and enjoy a round of golf and then perhaps chat about some of the opportunities for you and your clients to get some exposure in ManufacturingHub.co.za and our industrial reports.

If you would like to participate, the details are as below.

We do have some hole sponsorship opportunities available from R750 a hole should your clients wish to get some extra exposure.

All funds raised go to Pirates Hockey Club.

Event Details Date: 28 August

Time: 11 am start Venue: Parkview Golf Course

R2000 per 4-ball if you pay on the day or R1600 per 4 ball if you pay up front – includes dinner

Pirates Hockey can do an invoice for you

Tournament format - Stableford 4 ball alliance - 2 scores to count

Enquiries – Marc Ashton (082-561-1585) or marc@rival.co.za

About Pirates Hockey Club

Pirates Hockey Club in Greenside is one of the leading hockey setups in Gauteng. Currently the side has 2 international representatives at the Beijing Olympic Games. The club offers hockey to around 100 adult hockey players and another 100 junior and mini players. Pirates Sports Club in Greenside provides facilities for the likes of Roosevelt, King David and Greenside to have access to fields and a hockey astro turf that they do not get at their schools.

About ManufacturingHub.co.za

ManufacturingHub.co.za (www.manufacturinghub.co.za) is an industrial online publication and research company aimed at the South African Food, Pharmaceutical, Chemical and Cosmetic Manufacturing industries. The site receives approximately 3000 unique visitors each month and continues to provide a valuable source of news and information to the SA Regulated Manufacturing industries.

www.rival.co.za – Corporate Wellness, Industrial Research, Publishing and Design

www.remspeced.co.za - Remedial & Special Education in SA

www.manufacturinghub.co.za – News for the SA Food, Pharmaceutical, Chemical and Cosmetic Manufacturing industries

Pullilng the ball to the right

Had an interesting discussion with 2 junior hockey coaches last night with regards to the ability to pull the ball to the right hand side.

Because the majority of hockey players are right handed / right hand dominant the natural instinct when running with the ball, is to pull the ball hard to the left to go round an opponent.

Much of this is attributed to not developing these muscles and body mechanics early on as a youth player.

Youth players need to be coached to move the ball to the right - it is a physical skill that takes practice and the earlier they learn it, the stronger they will be at it when they get older.

Create entire exercises that focus on movement to the right.

It is important also to not let players simply pivot on their right foot and then still pull to the left. That is defeating the object and is as predictable.

The pull must be a genuine controlled movement to the right hand side...