Heuvel rejoins Pakistan’s hockey team
The differences between the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) and Michel van den Heuvel, the chief coach of the national hockey squad, have been settled and the Dutchman confirmed his availability with the national team till the 2012 London Olympics.
It is vital to mention here that the Pakistan’s hockey team succeeded in clinching the gold medal in the 16th Asian Games under the training of Dutch coach, Heuvel, and stepped forward towards the revival of the past glory.
The Dutchman, after the completion of Asiad, left for his home country, citing his family’s reservations over the uncertain security situation in Pakistan as the main reason. However, the Dutchman returned on 2 February and rejoined the Pakistan hockey team
after revising the contract till 2012.
The PHF, after detailed assessment, has revised the contract with the Dutchman, increasing his remuneration and awarding him extra power in the selection process. The federation also beefed up the security of the Dutch coach, which was one of his major concerns.
The federation also put him as in charge of the ‘coaching clinic’ underway in Faisalabad, which aims to groom the coaches on scientific and modern lines.
Secretary PHF, Asif Bajwa, while talking to the media said that the Dutchman was given a chance to review the contract and after Heuvel’s confirmation, the contract had been revised for another term.
He stated, “We had a five-month contract with him before. But after that he was given an opportunity to review the contract and this time the PHF have roped in him till the 2012 London Olympics.”
Bajwa maintained that the Dutch coach will also assist the federation to bring reforms in the domestic structure of hockey in the country. He said, “Apart from coaching the national team, Heuvel is supposed to work with us in setting up the reforms in our
domestic structure.”
Heuvel assumed charge of the chief coach of the Pakistan’s hockey team back in 2010, when they humiliatingly finished the World Cup at the 12th position. Later on, the Greenshirts under the training of Heuvel earned 6th place in the
Commonwealth Games, held in India.
Following that, the coach revved the team up, won a historic gold medal in the Asian Games after 20 years, and established them as the best in the continent.
Apart from the security concerns, the Dutchman would have to face many challenges to prepare the squad for the Champions Trophy and the London Games.
First, the coach will have to decide the fate of senior players of the team and determine whether to include them in the upcoming mega tournaments or not. Some of the officials in the federation wanted to replace seniors including Salman Akbar, Sohail Abbas,
Shakeel Abbasi, Zeeshan Ashraf and Muhammad Waseem with new faces.
However, the coach will have to take final decision in this regard as he will be responsible for the team’s selection and performance in the upcoming mega events.
Another task for the Dutchman is to improve the drag-flicking segment of the team. Though Sohail Abbas is a wonderful short-corner hitter, most of his techniques are known to other teams and they have formed counter strategies. The coach will have to prepare
new penalty-corner experts for the mega games.
However, Heuvel can only give the desired performance if he is given full authority to select the players and make other decisions. The team will hopefully succeed if the federation, team, and the coach co-operate with each other.
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