Heuvel takes army’s help to prepare team
Pakistan hockey coach has taken the army’s help in motivating players on the first day of the training camp.
KARACHI:
Pakistan hockey coach Michel ven dan Heuvel has taken the army’s help in motivating players on the first day of the training camp in Abbottabad. The Dutch, who is focusing on increasing self-belief of the players, has planned on making the hour-long session a daily feature in the camp.
The 25-player camp, preparing for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, will be trimmed to 18 before the selected players travel to the Netherlands for the second phase of the camp in which they play European clubs, Belgium, the hosts and Poland.
“The camp is about physical fitness and mental exercises,” centre-forward Shakeel Abbasi told The Express Tribune. “We’re trying to get into our best form before the European tour because once we get to Netherlands, we will not get enough time for training because of our matches.”
Although the assistant coaches and the Pakistan Hockey Federation told the players not to fast during Ramazan, Abbasi said that Heuvel has approved the player’s requests.
“For the players, the only problem with Abbottabad is that there are no floodlights in the ground, otherwise we could have practiced the game after iftar,” added Abbasi.
Meanwhile, centre-forward Rehan Butt said that the real test for the team will be the European tour before the Commonwealth Games which will show the team’s improvement.
“We are going to start more intense exercises today,” said Rehan. “We will have three sessions per day from now on, out of which two will be match practice while the other will be a power training session.”
Rehan added that Heuvel was a different coach and understood the players, unlike previous ones who would end up blaming them.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 18th, 2010.
Pakistan hockey coach Michel ven dan Heuvel has taken the army’s help in motivating players on the first day of the training camp in Abbottabad. The Dutch, who is focusing on increasing self-belief of the players, has planned on making the hour-long session a daily feature in the camp.
The 25-player camp, preparing for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, will be trimmed to 18 before the selected players travel to the Netherlands for the second phase of the camp in which they play European clubs, Belgium, the hosts and Poland.
“The camp is about physical fitness and mental exercises,” centre-forward Shakeel Abbasi told The Express Tribune. “We’re trying to get into our best form before the European tour because once we get to Netherlands, we will not get enough time for training because of our matches.”
Although the assistant coaches and the Pakistan Hockey Federation told the players not to fast during Ramazan, Abbasi said that Heuvel has approved the player’s requests.
“For the players, the only problem with Abbottabad is that there are no floodlights in the ground, otherwise we could have practiced the game after iftar,” added Abbasi.
Meanwhile, centre-forward Rehan Butt said that the real test for the team will be the European tour before the Commonwealth Games which will show the team’s improvement.
“We are going to start more intense exercises today,” said Rehan. “We will have three sessions per day from now on, out of which two will be match practice while the other will be a power training session.”
Rehan added that Heuvel was a different coach and understood the players, unlike previous ones who would end up blaming them.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 18th, 2010.