DILEMMA - FIH JUNIOR WORLD CUP

Happy Fathers Day to all my readers. Have a great weekend with your loved ones...

The 2021 Men's FIH Hockey Junior World Cup - 16 Teams will be the 12th edition and it will be held in India from 24 November to 5 December 2021. 

To-date 7 teams has qualified - Host -India & 6 European teams - Spain, Netherlands, Germany, England, Belgium & France via 2019 EuroHockey Jnr Championship. Another 4 Jnr Continental Championship to be held soon as a decider on the remaining 10 slots i.e Asia 4 (with India) Oceania 2, Africa 2 & Pan Am 2.

The 2021 Women's FIH Hockey Junior World Cup - 16 Teams will be the ninth edition and it will be held from 5 to 16 December 2021 in South Africa. 

7 teams has qualified - South Africa (Host) and 6 European teams - Russia, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Belgium & England. Following 9 slots will be from Asia 3, Pan Am 3, Oceania 2 & Africa 1. 

As for our Jnr Women team - chances are very very slim to qualify as we have never participated in Jnr Women World Cup due to ill prepared periodization plan and lack of funds with poor emphasis. 

We could not match the top 4 in Asia - India, Japan, China & Korea, and Thailand is now a threat to us. Thailand has made a huge progress with their women team program. In the last edition of 2015 Jnr Women Asia Cup, Malaysia finished 5th placing beating Thailand. Even in this year's event, 5th placing for us will be an ideal target but please be wary of Thailand. As to get to 2021 JWC, must finish top 3 - no chance at all. 

Let's come back to our real issues about Men's Junior World Cup.

Qualifying Round Slots

As we know in last FIH Junior World Cup, Malaysia team was called in as backdoor replacement team due to Pakistan team visa issues. In the 2015 Junior Asia Cup in Kuantan, Malaysia failed to qualify on merit as finished 5th placing - top 4 qualifies. This was worst ever results other than 1996 Jnr Asia Cup.

The Coach was Arul & Amin with Mirnawan as Manager. These 3 are now managing the National Senior Team. Best wishes to them & team for  2023 World Cup & 2024 Paris Olympic Cycle.

The 2020 Jnr Asia Cup has been postponed many times due to pandemic and the Junior World Cup is in November 2021. What happens if Jnr Asia Cup could not be hosted due to - pandemic, 14 days quarantine rules, MyTravel pass issues and Malaysia still on red listing for travel. 

Then AHF has no other choice than to use the last edition 2015 Jnr Asia Cup standings - which Malaysia is 5th, therefore Malaysia is out to participate. We must understand that there is no dedicated world rankings for Juniors. But Senior rankings for sure is out of the window for comparison or make a decision on quota for each Continental. 

As usual, Pakistan needs at least 2 or 3 months buffer for their Visa Application to play in India, which means by September AHF has to make a decision if Jnr Asia Cup cannot be hosted.

But I hope that the Jnr Asia Cup could be held as soon as possible as this will be a fairer gauge for teams to qualify to JWC.

Age 

The Jnr Asia Cup supposed to be hosted last year, therefore there was an appeal to allow players born 1999 to play i.e. 22 this year to play in Under 21 event and AHF granted the approval but in coming FIH Junior World Cup in November would only allow players 21 and below this year. 

Malaysia would be badly hit in coming JWC with this methodology as many players can play in Jnr Asia Cup but not JWC. Results in JWC is important or else we are worried about the chances to qualify. 

In many cycles of JWC, the best is to have a team of U21 for JWC rather than using many players who could play in Jnr Asia Cup but not main event Junior WC.

This current Malaysian Junior team is badly prepared since 2016. Changes of Coaches, lack of International matches, one event every year Sultan of Johor Cup & friendlies with Senior team with MHL/JHL that's all their exposure. This is the worst in preparation of a Junior World Cup team compared to many other plans.

The best prepared program was Project 2013 initiated in 2009/10 and became Asia Champions (first time in history) and finished 4th in 2013 JWC. The team had one of the best periodization plan with high caliber Coaching Staff such as Dharma, Gobi and Azlan Bakar with Nadarajah as Goalkeeping Coach. 

While Project 2013 was in placed, there was already another layer of Project 2016/2017 running simultaneously. Total of 200 players were involved in Projek2013 & 2016/17 with the support of grassroot program "1MasHoki" handled by Lim Chiow Chuan with ad-hoc National U16 Team for Annual 4 Nation in Mannheim, Germany. Even this annual 4 Nations ended in sour relationship and we lost this "gold mine" exposure.

2023/2025 Junior World Cup

Those days each cycle was 4 years but currently in every 2 years there would be Junior World Cup. The next cycles would be 2023 & 2025. As for 2023 JWC, by today we must already have ready made National Under 19 team for 2023 JWC and National Under 17 team for 2025 JWC. 

Qualifying round for 2023 JWC will be next year, and where is the Team? We must understand that the success of a Senior team is always depended on Junior teams. Till today, we are still hoping on old aged players to deliver at international arena because we have failed at managing the Junior Program at its best. 

Coaches

The appointments for Junior programs are made on musical chair methodology. Example Jnr Women - from Lailin changed to Nasihin (Head of P2026), and Nasihin started with Women, then Men's GK Coach and Team Manager of National Men's Team and back to Women and now Lailin with Jnr Women Team from Asst Coach with Senior Team. Same as Jnr Men - from Nor Saiful/ Madzli Ikmar to Wallace/Megat. Let the Coaches finish their cycle. Even no dedicated Coaches for Indoor & Hockey 5s and it will be ad-hoc appointment approach again but set a high target. It doesn't make sense. Interesting - do you know who is the Chairman of Coaching Committee?

The problem is there is no clear consistency in appointment. Due to this musical chair approach, you have hindered the growth of young Coaches and the gap of quality international Coaches is too wide. In the last 7 years, no any new potential young Coaches that has obtained "International Standards". No young Coaches send for FIH Coaching certification. 

Based on MHL & WHL, there are few potential young National Coaches but not ready for International assignments due to lack of exposure and last minute appointments. Due to the Gap, seniors Coaches like Sarjit Singh, Stephen, Tai Beng Hai, Lim Chiow Chuan, K Dharmaraj, Nor Saiful Zaini, K Gobinathan & Azlan Bakar must be still involved and guide these young potential Coaches like Saiful Azli, Jiwa Mohan, Madzli Ikmar, Megat, Jabbar, Selvaraju, Azrul Affendy, Roslan, Baljit, Kelvinder, Nabil Fikri and others. There must be a long term strategic plan in Coaching Development to address this huge hole that is created due to using similar Coaches in most of the assignments and recycling it. 

Just like the recent news that Malaysia agreed to participate in Senior Hockey 5 in September - who are the players & Coaches. Again it will be a recycle approach again.

And changing Technical Directors & Coaches in short term imposes negativity in planning and implementation phases of National Teams. We need a High Performance Director and dedicated HP Unit to address all the issues that is plaguing our National Teams success at International level.

Since 2015 leadership, decision are made last minute and sometimes just to full fill the calendar. It's time to re-organize your objectives & importance of planning with implementation for Junior programs. We are far away in standard of play with top 10 teams in World Hockey. 

You must stop the bleed and move forward fast. Is a long road ahead but looking at current things and the policies, the sports looks dim to compete with World best. Its my honest opinion. 

A word to caretakers - You can't resolve a dilemma with all the very same mind that made it. Thinking without awareness is the main dilemma!

P/S - With our National Recovery Plan announced recently, use this as a guide for your domestic & international competition. Simple as that....we need to think outside the box!