Solomon Islands national field Hockey 5s four-day camp at the High Performance Centre concluded today.
Performance Manager (PM) for Solomon Islands National Institute of Sport (SINIS) Portfolio Two (Team Sports), Amanda Korinihona said she is impressed with how the camp ended as so many positive things came out from the four-day camp.
SINIS PM Korinihona expressed that Australian Hockey Mentor Coach Leroy Philips was phenomenal, being the right mentor coach for the camp.
“He met the needs of the athletes and coaches which were brought to our attention before setting this camp. The players and coaches were also a class act, they all gave their best and obtained as much from Coach Leroy. Overall, I am happy and I look forward to more team sports have training camps locally and internationally,” said Korinihona.
SINIS Strength and Conditioning (S&C) Coach under Portfolio Two (Team Sports) looking after Hockey, Joachim Rande earlier explained that training involved gym, video analysis and practical field sessions for the male and female athletes, followed by recoveries.
This is focusing more on specific areas that will help them on ‘movements’, including learning to strengthen up their muscles, working more on cores and legs as a lot of movement involves ‘swings’.
“We are happy for these learnings with Coach Leroy Philips as such training is something new for the athletes too. From observation, they [athletes] have learnt a lot,” said Rande.
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 established some commonality with the ‘Hockey 5s’, given that it is quite a new structure and format of the game.
National female Hockey 5s player, Alice Alide sharing to SINIS MEDIA said the four-day training camp had been really helpful for their teams.
“First of all the camp bringing us together made us learn the importance of ‘team bonding’, giving us the chance after sessions to discuss in areas we have improved on and also in areas to improve on. We had learnt new things such as in ball handling, how to stand when passing and receiving a ball. Through the camp made many of us realize that we were doing quite the opposite of many ways in how to play,” said Alide.
Hockey athlete, Alice Alide said ‘game formation’ is another technical area they have trained on.
“During the camp, we underwent learning three formations of diamond, square and pyramid. We learned which formation was to apply when defending, which formation to apply when attacking, as we learned how to keep formation throughout a whole match as well," said Alide.
“We also learned in how to carry out subs during games, this included how to use the hands and weak parts of the body to score. Including how to change formation when an opponent changes formation. It is all about playing ‘smart’. And so yes, we have learned a lot and thank SINIS for organizing the camp and also Coach Philips for his willingness and time to come and help our Hockey teams for both men and women.”
Source: SINIS Media