24 January 2007

JHF aims at boosting professionalism this year

With no major international qualifiers this year, the Jamaica Hockey Federation (JHF) will be active in establishing a financial base and running its competitions in a more professional manner, said president Victor Tomlinson.

Over the years the JHF has been wracked by discord, with the men and women lacking unanimity in vision, on the one hand, and infighting among executives on the other hand.
There has never been a working together for a common goal, with the various egos getting in the way.

"Persons in the federation were not in full agreement on many issues, for example, development, operational, and as a consequence, inadequate numbers of persons coming forward to serve," said Tomlinson, a former national player.
But Tomlinson, a Munro College old boy, has somehow been able to build a bridge and select persons able to work together on the seven or eight committees of the JHF.

With the federation just under $2 million in debt and needing another $3 million to train and send teams to major tournaments, the 51-year-old Tomlinson admits that financing is the greatest challenge.

"The concept that we're looking at is to get a sponsor on board for five years," said Tomlinson, who has been involved in the sport for some 35 years.

The funding is not only for national teams but for "domestic competitions and development programmes".
"We need to expand the critical mass of players (more active schools) and there is need for a paid secretariat," he said.
"The ability to get big sponsors depends on how popular the sport is and the popularity of the sport increases with big sponsors, so it's a chicken-and-egg situation.

"We're starting more competitions and asking for smaller sponsorship dollars to build the visibility of the sport, then raise the stakes to sponsors. And there are other challenges.
"We are also organising ourselves along more professional lines by adopting wherever possible all the FIH (International Hockey Federation) rules in our activities."

For the development of the sport, Tomlinson said "youth development programmes in Kingston, May Pen and Mandeville are being organised for the summer, and we're preparing more coaches - great work being done at GC Foster - to get more schools involved".

He said the outlook for the year looks positive.
"We are moving closer to a consensus on the development needs and direction of the federation."

As the JHF looks forward to the Pan American Cup early next year, it will use the remainder of the year to prepare by "selectively attending tournaments in the region to give our team the requisite playing experience for 2008," Tomlinson said.

The hockey boss said he would like to achieve this year "the rekindling of the competitive spirit that exists with all hockey players and an expansion of the number of players".
He believes that "having foreign teams playing on home surf with our teams putting up credible performances" would capture the imagination of Jamaicans and attract premier sponsorship. (bron: ://www.jamaicahockeyfed.org)

23 January 2007

Dutch take out second test 3-0

The Dutch Men’s hockey team stepped up tonight at Lloyd Elsmore Hockey Stadium to put the Black Sticks under pressure from the opening whistle, running out well deserved 3 – 0 winners.

The match, the second in a three match series, started at a furious pace, the Dutch giving an early indication they had come out to play after going down 2 – 1 last Sunday in the first test.

The first goal came in just the sixth minute when Ronald Brouwer picked up a clearance at close range to set up a simple tap home for Roderick Weusthof.

Matthijs Brouwer touched through a beautiful ball 10 minutes later to Timme Hoyng at the edge of the circle. He passed on to Laurence Docherty for another simple finish and a 2 – 0 half time lead.

After the Dutch goals New Zealand struggled to maintain possession for a period but were awarded their first corner with around eight minutes to go in the half. The Dutch defence worked hard to disrupt drag flick exponent Hayden Shaw’s rhythm and he was forced to replay the corner several times, and was unsuccessful on his final attempt.

A nice foray led by Lloyd Stephenson got the crowd excited in the dying stages of the half, but some stiff Dutch defence denied the Black Sticks going into the break. A stunning cross from Casey Henwood also found Simon Child on the left post, but he was unable to capitalise.

In the second half New Zealand went close to scoring again several times, but it was the Dutch who once again prevailed, when Mattijs Brouwer finished off a nice run by Roderick Huber in 53rd minute.

The increase in pace and improved defence of the Dutch was evident throughout the match, making it difficult for the New Zealanders to link successfully. Casey Henwood had a good game for the Black Sticks, as did Bryce Collins

The Netherlands 3 New Zealand 0

Half time score 2 – 0 Netherlands

Goal scorers- Netherlands – Roderick Weusthof, Laurence Docherty, Mattijs Brouwer.
(bron: www.hockeynz.co.nz)

22 January 2007

Netherlands claim 2007 BDO Champions Trophy title

Netherlands claimed the 2007 BDO Hockey Champions Trophy, women title after defeating host Argentina here in Quilmes on Sunday. An early goal of Maartje Paumen was enough for the World Champion to take another title home (1-0). Germany claimed the bronze medal after a 2-0 victory over Australia.

World Champion Netherlands was just stronger than Argentina in the grand final of the tournament. And the undefeated Dutch team quickly made their intention clear to stay undefeated here in Quilmes, shocking the stadium that today accommodated even more enthusiastic fans than on any previous day with an early goal after only three minutes as Maartje Paumen converted a penalty corner.

The match continued with the Leonas doing a bigger part of the legwork but they, like the Hockeyroos before them, had trouble finding their form and suffered from the many individual mistakes that broke down their play time and again. The Dutch on the other hand boldly emphasized why they are considered the best women’s team in the world at the moment, playing disciplined, tactical, and efficient hockey.

The early Dutch goal remained the only one in the first half and the teams went into halftime with the World Champions one step ahead.

In the second half, Argentina dominated field play with a much bigger percentage in ball possession, attacking again and again, but again and again they hit the Dutch defense like a wall. Ten minutes from the end, the Netherlands changed gear and showed some offensive action of their own again, but to no avail.

One goal was once more enough for the Netherlands however, and with a 1:0 win over hosts Argentina, they took the title in this BDO Hockey Champions Trophy Women, Quilmes 2007.

The final day of the BDO Champions Trophy Women, Quilmes 2007, started with Japan and Spain playing out the relegation match, with the defeated team to be excluded from the 2008 edition of the top annual tournament in hockey.

Japan did not start as strong as in yesterday’s encounter between the two, but still had slight advantages in the field. Spain had the better opportunities however, in the form of a total 11 penalty corners in the first half, none of which could be converted. The somewhat uneventful first 35 minutes ended with the scoreboard still at 0:0.

When the two teams returned for the second half, the atmosphere of the match gradually changed, with Japan improving continuously and taking charge of the match, producing a number of excellent shots on goal which might well have taken the tally to four or five. As it was, there were only two goals for Japan however, with a double hit at the hands of Rika Komazawa, first deflecting a penalty corner hit by Keiko Miura, then skilfully hitting a bouncy ball across into the roof of the goal.

Spain meanwhile were increasingly caught up in combating their desperation rather than playing the game. This development was epitomized by a yellow card awarded to Rocio Ybarra after she clubbed the goalpost in frustration when Japan were awarded a penalty corner in the 63rd minute.

With the clock ticking down, Spain no longer offered much resistance, and Japan pushed the game up into the Spanish half for almost the entire last ten minutes. With a 2:0 win, the Asians end their first Champions Trophy appearance on a high note and push Spain out of the next Champions Trophy, denying them a prime opportunity for preparing for the Beijing Olympic Games, should they qualify.
(bron: euro-hockey.org)

Hockeyroos finish fourth

The Hockeyroos' Champions Trophy campaign ran out of puff today as the exhausted team battled valiantly but went down 2-0 to Germany in the play-off for third.

Coming into the tournament underdone, with the scheduling suiting the other teams who'd just finished their national leagues, the Hockeyroos again had their chances, but couldn't convert.

While tired, the young side fought hard but failed to capitalise and continually turned the ball over under Germany's pressure.

While fourth is a disappointment for the Hockeyroos they went into the tournament missing over 1400 games of experience, without the likes of Halliday, Hudson, Skirving, Imison, Faulkner, Patrick and Munro.

That experience was sorely missed in the latter stages of the week but giving game time to a number of the younger Hockeyroos has been a positive of the tour for national coach, Frank Murray.

In fact, exposing these players had broadened Murray's net resulting in some real competition for spots on the team, a positive with Beijing now less than a year and a half away.

The Hockeyroos will now return to Australia where they'll break up into their respective state teams for the Australian Hockey League (AHL) which runs from 24 February to 8 April.

Hockeyroos 0 Germany 2(Half time 0-1)
Germany - Janine Beermann 9m FG, Silja Lorenzen 51m FG.
(bron: www.hockey.org.au)

Black sticks upset Dutch men in First test of home series

The Black Sticks got their 2007 season off to a stunning start today with an outstanding 2 – 1 win over the highly rated Dutch Men’s Hockey team, at Lloyd Elsmore Hockey Stadium, Pakuranga.

New Zealand made the most of their attacking opportunities and were composed on defence to hold out one of the world’s superpowers after going into half time 2 -1.

The win was New Zealand’s first over the Dutch since January 2002 when they prevailed at the Six Nations tournament in Malaysia

The Dutch were actually first on the scoreboard in the 19th minute, when unluckily for the New Zealanders, the Dutch were awarded a stroke after a well saved ball from keeper Kyle Pontifex deflected onto the foot of fullback Dean Couzins. Hugely experienced Teun de Nooijer, duly slotted.

Thirteen minutes later New Zealand responded with the first of two brilliant goals. Ben Collier put a nicely weighted ball through from defence to new cap striker Jan Peterson, who in turn pushed through a well placed ball from the 25 to the reverse stick of a diving Bevan Hari, for a perfectly executed goal.

New Zealand went into the lead two minutes from half time, this time through the stick of Simon Child, who collected a pass from James Nation skilfully on the right flank before driving into the circle and firing the ball over the approaching keeper.

The goal gave the Black Sticks a well earned half team lead, after making the better of their scoring opportunities than the Dutch had been able to.

Possession was evenly shared in the second half with the Black Sticks close to scoring again on several occasions. A second phase reverse stick penalty scorner strike by Phil Burrows was well saved midway through the half and Hari went close to spectacularly touching home a solid drive into the circle by Bryce Collins.

Three of the new caps were given game time during the match. Jan Peterson, Nick Haig and Andy Hayward all did well to step up a level into the pace of international hockey.

New Zealand’s win was a truly team effort, but standouts included captain Ryan Archibald in the midfield, Simon Child up front and James Nation and Hayden Shaw on defence.

New Zealand 2 The Netherlands 1

Half time score 2 – 1

Goal scorers- New Zealand - Simon Child, Bevan Hari. Netherlands – Teun de Nooijer
(bron: www.hockeynz.co.nz)

Strong Irish Draw Three All With South African

A strong Irish team took South Africa on for the third time in six days. After an intense and gruelling game it closed out three all.

Ireland took an early lead when schoolgirl Rachel Mulligan scored her second international goal. Cregan made a superb pass to be picked up by the school girl just inside the circle where she managed to squeeze the shot in at an acute angle to find the back of the South African net.

It didn't take the South African's long to respond and within seven minutes they found their equaliser when they capitalised on a free from outside the Irish circle to pull back to one all.

Ireland began to feel the pressure but maintained composure at the back, however, ten minutes before half time the South Africans found the back of the Irish net once again with a penalty corner which was switched to the left post and slipped passed the Irish keeper. Ireland again stepped up the pace and only five minutes later worked a penalty corner, which was converted by Irish captain, Linda Caulfield, to close out the first half two all.

Ireland were quick off the mark in the second half and played some strong attacking play. In the sixtieth minute they finally manage to convert again from a turnover ball in midfield which was switched to Roisin Flinn down the right whose excellent cross was reverse flicked into the goal by young Julia O'Halloran to earn her first international goal, giving Ireland a 3-2 lead.

Six minutes from the end South Africa found themselves awarded with another penalty corner which was converted through a strong strike from the top of the circle. The game closed out three all.

After a long and tough ten days tour and five matches under the belt so far Ireland will no doubt be going out to beat the Canadians in their final match tomorrow afternoon.

Newly appointed assistant coach, Denis Pritchard "What has been particularly satisfying about the trip is the progression made by the players. It is great to see the younger members making great strides forward."
(bron: www.hockey.ie)