Taditionalist v Modernist: The battle for the future direction of Australia Hockey

The Commonwealth Games has just finished on the Gold Coast, and a very successful hockey tournament has just finished as well, but now the real battle starts its a battle between the Traditionalist who want little or know change to hockey in Australia and the Modernist who understand that if the game is to remain relevant in Australia and to start growing again, then the time for change has come.

As everyone in the hockey community across Australia knows, Hockey Australia is in the throws of creating a new format and design for the old Australian Hockey League, and this is the first front in the battle between these two factions. The traditionalist don't want things to change they want the AHL to stay the same as its always been a contest between the states and territories at one time and in one place. The modernists on the other hand realise that in order to get more money into the game to help with development and growth, this needs to change to a franchise format on a limited home and away basis.

The sticking points however seem to be over what format the actual hockey takes, the traditionalist want it to remain the traditional game with zero rule changes, where as the modernist are prepared to try new rules and ideas in order to make the game more attractive to a new fan base. The traditionalist say that this will kill hockey, see thats the problem hockey was and is all ready dying to a degree and has been for sometime, it needs to attract new fans. So I say why not meet half way on this how about the following-

- 11 players a side remains

- Franchise based teams but licenses are instead granted to state bodies and perhaps even a couple of teams in New Zealand for those bodies to sell on to groups or consortiums to bring money into hockey in those states for the purposes of development and growing the game.

- There are some rule changes put in place but the overall integrity of the game remains as it is today.

- The new competition is on a home an away limited basis similar to the way the AHL use to be in the late 90's early 2000's period.

- This new comp doesn't take the place of the AHL rather it compliments it, and the old AHL remains it just reverts back to being called the Australian National Hockey Championships (Open Age).

Now I think that is a fair compromise, which works out for the betterment of Australian hockey as a hole and it keep the traditionalist happy and also gives a nod to the modernist and shows a path to building and growing the game of hockey in Australia again.

Remember at the end of the day everyone involved in hockey today in Australia is a temporary custodian of the game, they don't own the game, they need to be passing the game on to the next generation and the generation after that in good shape.

Hockey Equipment Review: Malik Sticks Worth a Look

In my time as a hockey coach I have seen many different brands of hockey sticks come and go, and have tried many different brands, some I have found good others not so good, but one brand of stick that I have found very good is Malik. As a brand goes Malik Hockey seems to have a stick for everyone, from the novice right the way through to the experienced top class player. Currently in Australia Malik don't seem to be a widely used brand, but they are one stick I urge players to have a look at.

One of the best websites to have a look at that offer a wide range of Malik Hockey Sticks is Field Hockey Sticks USA

Field Hockey Sticks USA which is part of the Best Soccer Buys Sporting Good Inc Group has a wide range of Malik Hockey sticks both for Outdoor and Indoor. Some of the sticks they have come under the following categories-

Malik Composite and Wood Sticks

You can check out this great range of sticks at the following link- http://www.fieldhockeysticksusa.com/field­hockey­sticks

Malik Junior Field Hockey Sticks
They also have a great Range of Junior Field Hockey Sticks-

You can check out the Junior Field Hockey Stick Range at- http://www.fieldhockeysticksusa.com/junior­field­hockey­sticks

Malik Indoor Wood Sticks
They also have a large range of quality Indoor Sticks including Indoor Wood Sticks

You can check out there range of Indoor Wood Sticks at- http://www.fieldhockeysticksusa.com/wooden­indoorhockey­sticks

An if you are looking for a top of the range Malik Hockey Stick to help take your game to the next level they have a good range of Platinum sticks-

Malik Carbon Field Hockey Stick: Platinum Curve

You can check these Platinum Sticks out at- http://www.fieldhockeysticksusa.com/field­hockey­stick­platinum­outdoor­ multi­curve­80­carbon­5­aramid­15­fiber­glass

They also have the top range of Malik Composite Hockey Sticks if you prefer a composite model to a pure carbon model-

Malik Composite Hockey Stick: Gaucho Multi-Curve

You can check these Composite Sticks out at-  http://www.fieldhockeysticksusa.com/field­hockey­stick­gaucho­outdoor­multi­curve­ 90­carbon­5­aramid­5­fiber­glass

So if Malik is the brand of stick you are looking for, or you a player who is looking for a wooden stick or a model of stick that is more forgiving for your game, then I recommend that you give Field Hockey Sticks USA a look and see what they can offer you, and while you are there why not check out there other stores if you are a soccer or cricket player or know someone that is-

Best Soccer Buys

Cricket Equipment USA

So do yourself a favour and check out Field Hockey Sticks USA

Lets pledge to do better be better Sports Coaches

For a sustained period of time now, I have noticed that the standards of Sports Coaches and the way in which Sports Coaches engage there players/athletes and others in the game is slipping. I have seen a growing trend particularly within the Junior Sport's Coaching ranks where it's become more about winning and less about what it should be about which I believe is about giving everyone young person not matter their skill all ability the opportunity to succeed and have fun. I have also noticed that there appears to be a disconnect and that Sport's Coaches are struggling to engage with their player/athletes in particular in the area of mental health and well-being.

Now on the second point this I believe requires a change to how we train Sport's Coaches to many sporting bodies simple teach through accreditation and there courses, how to play the sport, they don't teach coaches how to engage, and also how to act and conduct themselves as coaches. This short fall must and need to be addressed and addressed quickly. So where do we start, well I believe it starts with us as Coaches we must pledge to do better and bet better as Coaches, we must raise the bar and demand higher standards.

Today I am launching a campaign calling on all Sports Coaches out there in Australia and across the world to join me in taking the #SportsCoachesPledge .

Step 1: Download the jpeg of the #SportsCoachesPledge below-

Step 2: Post the Pledge to your facebook, twitter, instagram or combinations of all these, with this post-

I've taken the #SportsCoachesPledge to do better and be better in my coaching, and I call on my friends in the sports coaching community to join me, <tag five sports coaching friends names here>

Step 3: Post to your facebook, twitter, instagram or combinations of all these, this poster-

Thats it a very simple campaign to do better and be better as Sports Coaches.

I also want this Pledge to become something the grows and evolves over time and gets added to by other Sports Coaches, therefore I welcome you to add your own commitments to the Pledge as it goes world-wide.

So lets together pledge to do better, bet better as Sports Coaches.

Prescription for World Field Hockey

Recently I was reading a post on Facebook which was about the fact that Zambia have been unable to raise enough funds to compete at this years African Cup of Nations in Egypt, and also we have seen what I guess you could only describe as a one-sided Oceania Cup completed in Sydney where it was always going to be a Gold Medal final played out between the two power-houses of this federation Australia and New Zealand. Well all this got me thinking that perhaps something needs to change, and that perhaps the time has come for a more equal approach to the future of the game world-wide.

Now when the Hockey Pro League was first proposed I was a strong advocate for this, but I have since started to wonder if this is indeed a good think, because what it I think is actually doing is making sure that the powerful get more powerful, while, the weaker get weaker. I am starting to think the Pro League has been designed to make sure that the strong countries remain strong and keep all the power and control in the sport. Our sport should be aiming for it to be possible for every single country who plays the game to win the World Cup and Olympics and not just a select few which seems to current be the norm.

Therefore after some further thinking, I have come up with the following prescription for the future of World Field Hockey going forward-

- Scrap the Hockey Pro League, as this has clearly divided World Hockey with some people being for it while the majority are against it.

- Keep the World League but change the structure to the following-

Round 1: Regional/Zone Qualifiers

1. Pan America: 2 x Regional Zone Groups
1. North/Central America/Carribean Group
2. South America Group
2. Africa: 2 x Regional Zone Groups
1. Northern Africa Group
2. Southern Africa Group
3. Europe: 2 x European Zone Groups
1. Western European Group
2. Eastern European Group
4. Asia/Oceania: 2 x Regional Zone Groups
1. Northern Asia/Oceania Group
2. Southern Asia/Oceania Group

Round 2: Continental Federation Qualifiers/World Cup/Olympic Qualifer

1. Pan America Cup
2. African Cup of Nations
3. Asian/Oceania Cup
4. European Championships

Round 3: World Group Phase 1- Quarter Finals

1. World Group Q1
2. World Group Q2
3. World Group Q3
4. World Group Q4

Round 4: World Group Phase 2- Semi Finals

1. World Group S1
2. World Group S2

World League Final

- Every country would compete right from the start of the competition no matter what there ranking is

- In terms of the number of teams per group and how many go through to the next stage, I have not worked this out, right now this is just the bare bones.

- This competition would run over a 18 month cycle roughly

- The continental federation qualifiers would also be the world cup/olympic qualifiers and 4 spots would be given to each and this is the only way to make the Olympics or World Cup.

- I would merge Asia and Oceania together.

- Introduce a rolling four year International Hockey Calender like that which other sports have produced, this will include all International games, along with windows for the Domestic league etc, so that the best players are going back and playing in the domestic competition and for there clubs etc.

- Introduce an World equalisation fund, now this will be un-popular for some but anyway to bad it has to happen. The stronger Nations would contribute to this fund so much per year. Now how this fund works etc would need to be thrashed out.

Now I am sure this will get people going and get debate happen, I hope it does.

Two New Game Skills Practices for Training

Here are a couple of new Game Skills Practices I have roughly designed for training, these are based on similar drills out there I have tweaked and changed them a little bit. The first is-

PINWHEEL

The purpose of the pinwheel game skills practice is to work on the players hitting and trapping on the move. The players set up in two circles in alternative lines to each other and the inside circle rotates/runs in a clockwise direction while the outside circle rotates/runs in a anti-clockwise direction. Like I say the object here is to trap the ball in the run then pass to another who is also on the run in the other circle. If the GSP is working well then know one should run into each other.

The second GSP is more of a entire training one called

Building Attack/Countering with Defence

The purpose here is to give the attackers the ability to be creative and figure out how to score and create goals, and also to help the entire team to learn how to develop strong defence and counter attacking structure and measures.

Its done in two stages-

Stage 1- The Grid Games (Players Self Umpire & Self Coach)
Stage 2- Half Court Hockey Attack v Defence Alternate

The key points here are that this is also designed for the players to become self aware, because in both stages they will self umpire and self coach, with the coach only coming in and asking questions where needed.

Also in stage 2 the games work at 10 minutes hard followed by 5 minutes rest this is designed to also work on fitness and capacity to run out games.

Enjoy

Power shift in Australian Hockey is now complete

Today saw the completion of the Australian Hockey League for 2017 in Perth Western Australia, with the two Gold Medal Finals in both the men's and women's played between the states of Victoria and Queensland with Victoria winning both. This result today also signals that the power shift in Australian hockey is now complete, with the states of Victoria and Queensland along with New South Wales in Third now officially becoming the powerful hockey states of Australia and the engine room driving the future of the game of hockey in Australia.

Now this hasn't just happened overnight it has been on a slow burn for sometime, because its these three states along with the ACT that are working the hardest in the areas of-

- Development
- Promotion & Marketing of the Sport
- Innovation

It is these three states that have embraced the new more professional direction that is occurring in  the game in Australia the most, its is also these states and the clubs in these states that are doing the most to develop the game and grow the game through new innovations such as J-Ball, Kookaburra 8's and Hockey 5's. Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales have also put in place some of the best high performance/development programs in place anywhere in the country, with players have access to the best coaching and diversity of coaching from a very early age.

These three states, have also led the way in promotion of the game, with there top leagues being either live streamed or put on TV in some form. You now can pretty much see the Victorian Premier League and Vic League 1 game of the week streamed live each week, and this is pretty well the same in Queensland & New South Wales. Now don't get me wrong other states such as South Australia and Tasmania have followed suit in this, but its really been Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales leading the charge.

Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales now have the three largest numbers of registered hockey players in the country, they are also the three states where the greatest growth in occurring again in terms of young kids playing the game. Put all this together and this is why I am saying now that the power shift which has been happening for sometime in Australian hockey is now complete.

On the flip side of that the once great powerhouse of Australian hockey, Western Australia looks to by all the key indicators to be in the decline that I have been for telling for sometime. There was once a time when WA could boast against all those key indicators that they were the powerhouse and engine room state of the game. Well its safe to say no longer.

Can this be reversed, off course it can, but it now requires massive, sweeping, radical change to every aspect of the way the game is being run in Western Australia. All the dead wood and the baggage that the game is carrying in WA must be swept away, the time has come for new faces, radical thinkers and people that are prepared to accept and embrace that the game has changed and that the things done in the past are no longer working and its time to do new things.

But that is a post for another day, I will finish off by saying this.

The King is dead, long live the new King.

Urge all to read: Mandurah Mail Story Link

I don't often do this on my blog but I thought this article was relevant and I wanted to share it with you.

http://www.mandurahmail.com.au/story/4943707/this-is-not-the-olympics-the-cut-throat-nature-of-modern-kids-sport/?cs=7

I believe as a Sports Coach I have a responsibility to up hold the Spirit of Sport and show the values of -

Honesty
Integrity
Passion
Professionalism
Equality & Diversity
Compassion

An also as sense of fair play and morality.

This article hear highlight for me a worrying trend I am seeing in junior sports today and a worrying trend I am seeing with Junior sports coaches where they are forgetting that there role as Junior sports coaches is to be about at the heart of it development, winning is secondary. We as sports coaches should be empowering our players both on and off the sporting field, we should be up lifting them and showing and allowing them to have fun. We shouldn't be doing things like what is referred to in this article because that is just driving young people away from sport.

I welcome thoughts and comments.