7 September 2009

LLOYD MADSEN

IT WAS a real honour for me to have been given the opportunity to play top-class hockey in Holland.

I play for an Amsterdam-based club called Pinoke and spent three and a half months playing the second part of their 2008/2009 season earlier this year. I have recently returned to Amsterdam where I will be preparing to participate in the 2009/2010 season.



The Hoofdklasse, as the Dutch league is called, is arguably the best club competition in the world, with 56 international players from afar afield as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, Spain, Germany, England and obviously the Netherlands participating in the 2008/09 season.

With 12 teams taking part in the competition, each team boasts an average of four to five international players. To compete against teams of this calibre every week, was a great experience for me as the standard of hockey is as good as playing an international game every weekend.

With most of the international players being strikers or attacking midfielders, there is a huge emphasis on playing attacking and direct hockey. Not only does this allow for a high-tempo game but also players are encouraged to express themselves without the fear of making a mistake.

This brings a lot of flare to the games, and that is why players like Teun De Nooijer are a joy to watch (and a nightmare to defend against). There were a total of 782 goals scored during the season out of 132 games played - that is an average of about 6 goals a game!

The hockey culture in Holland is incredible. The support that we receive from our club members every weekend is really amazing. On average, about five hundred people show their support for us each game and depending on our opposition, this number could easily get as high as a thousand. To play in a game with a great atmosphere every weekend, is something special.

Most of the supporters are very knowledgeable and really like to get involved in the game and seem to always offer plenty of advice for the umpires. Often after games random people will approach me and ask questions about the game and share their thoughts.

A wonderful family atmosphere is evident after every game, as all the supporters and players head to the bar for a late Sunday afternoon drink. The home side always provides dinner and drinks for the visiting team and socially this is really good as it allows you to chat and mingle with the opposition team.

At Pinoke we have four artificial fields all next to each other and have 2 000 members at the club. This really is a phenomenal amount of members, if you were to compare it to our clubs back home. We have 21 open men’s teams plus five veteran teams and 20 open ladies teams, with an extra three veteran ladies' teams. Together with the 74 boys and girls youth teams this gives the club a huge base to work from.

This obviously provides great depth as well as competition within the club as players strive to improve their game. This depth provides for a healthy hockey culture of keen competitive participants.

Since returning home from Amsterdam after my first season, I was often asked what the difference is between South African hockey and Dutch hockey and why there is such a big gap between the standard of hockey?

For me, it is a simple answer - so much emphasis is placed on youth hockey, and the discipline that is shown by these youngsters is incredible. I watched an U12 team practice, which included 10, 11 and 12-year-old kids, walk on to the field. They warmed up as a tightly knit unit, with no supervision and then chatted quietly amongst themselves. There was no messing around and they were disciplined enough to go through the same routine in a professional manner.

Once they were on the turf, the main thing that stood out for me was their excellent ability to hit and stop a ball. Their basics are brilliant at their young age and for me, that is the big difference between the world’s best teams and us. As there is no school sport these children have each chosen to play club hockey.

Every coach in South Africa that looks after a young team needs to focus on the basics and to make sure that we take care of these fundamentals of the game and excel at them before we move into the tactical and structural aspects of the game. The best thing about this is that no matter how [little or] much money there is in hockey, teaching someone the basics of the game is simple.

When kids grow up with sound basics and technical skills, I firmly believe that that generation of hockey players that will follow will be better prepared for international hockey and will be able to set a precedent for South African youth hockey, and this will be the springboard for South Africa to become a potential force in world hockey. This would lead to a variety of positives for hockey players including sponsorship, professionalism, endorsement deals etc.

We all know as South Africans that we are a talented sporting nation, and we definitely have the players to become a force in world hockey. Yes, we do have a challenge with the availability of financial support and sponsors but that is a hurdle that we have to overcome. I’m positive that we have the potential despite our financial difficulties to overcome these challenges.

For aspiring young South African hockey player that want to improve their hockey and experience a completely different hockey style and culture, I would definitely suggest that you go overseas and play for a European club - you are certain to extend and develop your game and hopefully come back as an improved player.