Hockey Development in Hong Kong
Recent outstanding performance of Hong Kong athletes has caught public attention. Those include the local football team’s success at the Asian World Cup Qualifier, and snooker player Ng On-yee’s debut in the men's world snooker championship.
Hockey is no exeption.
The Hong Kong women’s team came fourth in the 3rd Indoor Asia Cup . They were also first runner-up in the 2nd Asian challenge in 2015. Public attention on the sports has increased with more hockey-related news available.Sports Road, The Epoch Times, and South China Morning Post.
But many local players say there is a long way if hockey is to gain popularity locally and become a mainstream sport in the city.
Arif Ali started coaching the Hong Kong women’s hockey team in 2015. He has since recruited more than ten new players who participate in international matches. “They are all very young players with great potential,” he said. “New blood to the team can bring positive results during competitions, and this is the only long-term goal in developing a sport.”
The squad trains three times a week, and plays league games every Saturday. Although the players have work and school, they attend to all the training sessions.
Hong Kong team player, Janet Ho Ka-ki says it is difficult to balance her work with hockey, and life in general. “Hockey is like an escape to me. I forget work and do something that I like. Training is hard but it also gives me relief from the tough parts of my life,” she said.
Primary and secondary schools
According to The Hong Kong Schools Sports Federation (HKSFF), 23 schools joined the All Hong Kong Inter-Secondary School Hockey Competition in 2015-16, of which 14 are local schools.
Local girls’ school, Good Hope School (GHS) established their first hockey team in 2009. Tim Tse Chun-ting was an English teacher in the school at that time. He is a player himself and wanted to introduce hockey to his students.
“I started hockey when I was studying at Hong Kong University. It was a popular sport there because of the interhall competitions,” he said.
Initially, Tim wanted to set up a football team because that was his favourite sport. But difficulties in finding a suitable coach in a rush made Tim turned to hockey instead. He became the coach/teacher advisor.
“I recommended the girls to join Leisure and Cultural Service Department’s hockey programme during the Summer to learn some basic skills. Then we would go directly into interschool competitions when school term started,” he said. The results were poor for the first two years. The school lost in all the games.
But after years of promotion, hockey at Good Hope School is now on track. The school team was the first runner-up last year in the interschool competition, and the players now get a scholarship from the GHS sports department as an encouragement for their hard work.
Coby Lau Pui-sze, a member of the Hong Kong Women’s team was among the first group of players from Good Hope School selected to play for Hong Kong. She is delighted to see the changes. “The school is putting much more resources into the team now. We don’t even have a goal, or a proper goalie kit at that time,” she said. “I hope the girls will continue this sport even after graduation, just like I have.”
Junior development is vital in nurturing the next generation of hockey players. Apart from sponsoring elite athletes, the government should not neglect support for schools and the need to promote the sport.
The Leisure and Cultural Service Department sponsors the Hong Kong Hockey Association to offer regular hockey programmes to general public, including adult courses and youth courses.
Knowing the need to promote it within school level, LCSD has also co-organized hockey school sports programme with the Education Bureau.
But Ali still thinks this is not enough. Compared with other countries, the competitive school system in Hong Kong makes it tough for local players. “This is something really lacking here in Hong Kong. Only a few local schools take hockey seriously.”
Singapore has introduced hockey onto the primary school curriculum in March 2016, aiming to spot the talent at an early age. Apart from providing equipments to schools, the federation will as well wil provide professional coaches and trainings to school teachers.
Singapore Hockey Federation (SHF) said to the Federation of International Hockey (FIH) that they are “determined to be all geared up to produce the best hockey players in the world.”
Noticing their country is one of the few that aspires to get good plays but did not implement effective methods to develop the sports, they believe such change would be “mind blowing” and the only way to achieve “hockey sustainability” in the future.
They also hosted tri-nations tournament in earlier 2016 with Netherlands and Germany, the current world number three and eight teams respectively; and Hockey World League Round One (HWL) in April.
SEE MORE: Singapore Hockey Annual Report 2014-15, by Singapore Hockey Federation
SEE MORE: Slinging Singapore's youth into new hockey programme, by Federation of International Hockey
SEE MORE: Know more about the FIH Hockey Revolution
Universities
Apart from secondary schools, hockey is only offered in two local universities.
Hong Kong University(HKU) has trained many local players, thanks to the interhall new ball game competition. Every year, each residential hall recruits freshmen to learn new sports and compete in the championship. They also have their university hockey team too.
Gareth Mak Ho-long has been playing for his hall team for four years. He has also played in the premier league and the Hong Kong Under 21 team. “I just wanted to participate in any hall activities at first, but then I fell in love with hockey.”
“I had never seen people playing hockey before, so I never thought of playing it,” he said.
Although it is a popular sport at HKU, there are no inter-university matches. There was team at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) three years ago, but a shortage of players meant the university only offers hockey interest classes nowadays.
Some hockey players are trying to startup a hockey team at their universities. Jasper Au’s proposal at Chinese University Hong Kong (CUHK), for example, has already been accepted and the team will be established in the 2016-17 academic year.
“I wanted to promote the sport I like to more people. But it is not easy,” he said. He wanted to start the team in his first academic year, and it took him two years to get the administrative work out of the way
This will be Jasper’s third year at CUHK, and he can only lead the team for two more years. He is anxious to know how new players will carry the team forward.
Mini Hockey
Amy Lip Wai-ting, the Chairperson of the Promotion and Development Section (P&D Section) in Hong Kong Hockey Association (HKHA), believed that children and youth training is the foundation for any kind of sports development.
Many hockey clubs are expanding their teams to mini and youth, such as Kowloon Cricket Club, Shaheen Sports Foundation, Hong Kong Football Club, etc. “Encouraging kids to learn hockey since young age is important. They are our future pillar, and the only long-term solution that we have,” she said.
READ MORE: List of clubs offering mini or youth hockey
Although HKHA and clubs have succeed in organizing courses and tournaments for mini hockey, they are facing talent gap in the youth hockey.
Players of mini hockey are aged from 3 years old and they will have to join the youth league when reaching 12. After 15 years old, they can further promote to the open league men’s or women’s section.
However, there is only boys youth league. Girls will have to join the women’s league immediately once reached 12 years old. Such gender imbalance makes the youth league rather uncompetitive and often ignored. Boys think it is not challenging when girls are already joining the adult’s team; and girls think it is unfair when they cannot join youth teams.
Lip said this is “a very structurize problem and they are still figuring out a better solution.”
Also, 12 years old is an important transition for children as it will be the first year for them to attend secondary school. “When there is no hockey in their new school, many of them will simply choose to play other sports. And there we face a serious talent lost,” she said.
Lip said that makes the situation even tougher because the hockey society is not only facing its own structuring problem, but also in need to compete with other sports. “We definitely need some more bridging and restructure to improve,” she concluded.
InspiringHK Sports Foundation is a non-profitable organization which provides opportunities for underprivileged children to participate in sports. Hockey is one of 18 sports in their 2-year programme.
Not only does the programme introduce a new fun sports to the children, but also broaden their horizon and benefit their personal development.
Zimon Chan Chun-kit is the founder of InspiringHK and also a secondary school PE teacher. Although he does not know how to play hockey, he introduced the sport to school curriculum. He believes it is vital to offer children choices and opportunities for more variety of sports.
Watch the video to know more about his thoughts!
Something new?
Apart from the normal (outdoor and indoor) hockey competitions organized by the FIH, there is a new type of hockey from raising up - the beach hockey.
Ahmed Khan, a committee member of local hockey club and an devotee in local sports development, is trying to introduce beach hockey.
“People love fun things! If beach volleyball works in Hong Kong, why can’t beach hockey?” With the help of LCSD, he is testing the feasibility to organize fun days or tournaments during summer time. He hope this can serve as another channel to promote hockey.
“Hong Kong is hot in summer and no one wants to train under the killing sun. But beach is different: players can jump into the swim and relax right after the hockey time, just like a picnic day,” he said.
To know more, check Beach Hockey Federation's video.