UNIKL
Hockey Club and the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) yesterday
officially teamed-up to save a dying breed in hockey -- goalkeepers.
From the days of Khairuddin Zainal in the 1975 Kuala Lumpur World Cup,
right until the present No 1 S. Kumar, national goalkeepers have helped
keep Malaysia among the top 15 countries in the world.
However, the
supply chain of caliber goalkeepers has almost dried up, and that is
why UniKL and MHC started a specialised training programe yesterday.
Led by former national keeper and current national and juniors
goalkeeper coach M. Nadarajah, the trainings will be held every
Saturday.
Yesterday, about 20 goalkeepers from ages 10-16 turned up
for the official launch which also saw Kumar, former national
goalkeeper Nasihin Nubli, national coach Paul Revington and his
assistant Arul Selvaraj making their presence felt.
"We used to
have some of the best goalkeepers in the world at one time, but today,
even Malaysia Hockey League sides are finding it difficult to secure
good goalkeepers.
"And when Kumar and Roslan (Jamaluddin) retire in
the near future, the gap between them and those who are likely to fill
their shoes is just too wide.
"That is why, with the help of UniKL
and MHC, I hope to train young goalkeepers with the basics so that when
they move up to the club and then national levels, they will easily fit
in and there is no need to hire foreign goalkeepers for the MHL," said
Nadarajah.
Nadarajah, Kumar and Roslan will head for the
Netherlands, for the second time, on Monday to undergo specialised
goalkeepers training under Martijn Drijver.
The first was in
November last year: "In Netherlands Roslan and I learned how too combine
the Asian and European style in our last training. And it did help
improve our game, so we are looking forward to the second stint," said
Kumar.
Kumar, from Tampin Negri Sembilan, then parted his knowledge
with some of the young aspirants, who later lined-up for photo shoots
with him.
