Australian Hockey Mentor Coach, Leroy Philips arrived in the country to run a training camp at the High Performance Centre for Solomon Islands men and women National Hockey 5s Squad.
Accompanying Mr. Philips is Mr. Andrew Vink, the President of ‘The Roosters Hockey Club’ on the Gold Coast where Coach Philips is coaching for.
Coach Philips speaking to SINIS MEDIA express that it is a fantastic opportunity to come and work with the young Hockey athletes who are getting ready for their stint at the Gold Coast Performance Centre which is essential to the qualifiers for the upcoming Pacific Games.
During the four-day camp, Coach Philips will establish some commonality and various techniques with the ‘Hockey 5s’, given that it is quite a new structure and format of the game.
“We are just trying to come and impart some of the knowledge on the athletes. Over the next few days, our real focus is on basic skills. And, not just imparting that on the players but really the Coaches to have a look at how to do things properly. This is so that when we depart, those skills are taken forward, and we can see that development come through when I see them again in the Gold Coast in July,” said Philips.
“And we will see what we make of it,” said Philips.
The Roosters Hockey Club President, Andrew Vink stated that it is good to have their Coach (Leroy Philips) in the country to support the Solomon five-a-side Hockey Squad to get some more technical skills.
“Leroy comes with an international playing background and he brings a lot of skills, so he can really help them find tune with the small things in Hockey that make the difference in attack and defence that will get through the hard parts of the game. So I expect them to all come away with at least one thing that is going to uplift their Hockey Skills for the next few days,” said Vink.
The national Hockey Squad were staying at the Solomon Islands National Institute of Sport (SINIS) accommodation for the four-day training camp that will end on today.
Since it is only a four-day training camp, SINIS Performance Manager (PM) for Portfolio Two (Team Sports), Amanda Korinihona said it is expected to be intense (2 sessions per day) to make sure that the hockey squad and the local coaches get a lot of value from Coach Leroy.
Source: Press Release, SINIS Media