TO some it may seem strange that a template used over two decades ago could be the answer in 2013.
But to Nicole Grant-Brown, vice-president of women affairs at the Jamaica Hockey Federation (JHF), the methods used in the country’s past Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games triumph could be the guide to more success.She feels that a focus on the technical aspect and getting more competition for local players could result in a much-needed boost for the sport.“We have to look at how we are going to develop the base… We won CAC in 1990 and there are some things we had done that made us into champions. We may not go back to all the things, but we can pull from some of them. Players were competing a whole lot, so therefore, we have to ensure that now our players are playing a lot more.“What we also have to do now is to involve more coaches. We want to have all these people playing, so how is it that they are going to be coached? We have to develop more coaches,” she recently told the Jamaica Observer Sports Club at the newspaper’s Beechwood Avenue headquarters.Grant-Brown identified a partnership with the University of Technology (UTech) that could bear some fruit.“We are partners pretty much with UTech and they are very much interested in getting more involved in hockey. We want to have a coaching school, and they are ready to partner with us.”She, however, pointed to a massive obstacle that sits in the way of what the federation is trying to achieve. She explained that coaching graduates from GC Foster College inevitably stick to more lucrative sports.“There are coaches at GC Foster, but a lot of these coaches are not focused on hockey. They are going to focus more on the sport that will pay them. We don’t have that kind of funding, so you find that when they graduate from GC Foster they are going to coach football and track and field, and so on. So we have to give more incentive for them to do that (coach hockey),” said the women’s affairs vice-president.Richard Wisdom, vice-president of men’s affairs, said widening and improving the umpiring base, as well as increased attendance at overseas workshops, is another area that the federation has been targeting.He said that since many aspiring umpires are active players, these individuals are being forced to choose between the two.“A challenge for umpires is that they have to choose between playing and officiating because they cannot do both,” he said.Wisdom added that the JHF has been looking to “push persons to go to umpiring seminars so they can come back and impart some of that knowledge to the umpiring or the technical committee”.Also in attendance at the forum were JHF boss Leon Mitchell, director of international affairs and facilities manager Richard Shaw and general secretary Denise Wisdom.Nicole Grant-Brown (left), vice-president of women affairs at the JHF, makes a point to members of the Jamaica Observer Sports Club at the newspaper’s Beechwood Avenue headquarters recently. Looking on is Richard Wisdom, vice-president, men’s affairs at the JHF. (PHOTO: NAPHTALI JUNIOR)View the original article here
Hockey federation looks to improve coaching, umpiring
