The first independent website for Belgian tophockey

Over the past 3 seasons I have watched, learnt, played and listened intently to the many things throughout the Belgian hockey world. Rarely have I commented publicly on what I considered the best way forward for our sport and have been content to sit back and let things go along as they have done in the past. Indeed I have been actively involved in the club scene and have had a lot to do with the recruitment and development of players within my club Royal Antwerp, however it has only been recently that I have begun to contribute in the development of Belgian Hockey. In my role with the Belgian National team programs in both the Men and the Women, I have been able to pass on some of the knowledge that I have gained as an International player and as a coach in Australia.

It was an honor and a privilege to play for my country, but in looking back I see how fortunate I was to have the support of top quality coaches, physical trainers, sport scientists, medical staff and the list goes on. In addition to this we have one of the strongest domestic competitions in the world and a National team development program that is second to none. It is no coincidence that Australia has been ranked in the top 4 Nations in the world for the last 50 Years!!! We have a tried and tested model for development that is continuously being reviewed and revised to gain the best results for our National Team. It is true that we have enormous support from a very sport sympathetic government that pour millions of dollars into our sport (and others) each year and it is true that many of the players now in the National teams are indeed full time hockey players and part time workers (rather than the other way around), but we do have one other very important thing- Teamwork.

What do I mean by this? I mean, every state, every province, every club is working together. All the National League teams adopt similar tactics, they all understand the style of play the National team is trying to adopt and all coaches are advised of things their players should "know" for the that time that they may be selected for the National Team. Everyone is moving in the same direction. And this is coordinated over a country many hundreds of times bigger than Belgium. In a country where teams have to fly for hours to play matches against each other, and in a country where National team players sometimes live 4000km apart.

How easy should this be in a country as small as the one we live in now? Yes?

No?

How is it possible in a country as small as Belgium, which is host to a magnificent multi cultural, multi international domestic competition that we are not able to move forward together as one?

How is it possible that club allegiances, personal vendettas and bickering over rules become more important that the development of our sport and a positive way forward?

How is it possible that in a country so small, we have no co-ordination/co-operation between teams, and no clear understanding of how we want to play hockey at the top level?

How is it possible that a sensible and common sense approach cannot prevail in the men’s highest division and a decision is passed that disadvantages all clubs except one? (RAHC- LEO debacle)

The answers to these questions I will discuss, but before then I will make a comment that is not only logical but one that can cover a broad variety of things in life.

Before I begin discussing a way forward, lets remember one thing- We would not have a federation, we would not have a competition and we would not receive any level of funding from almost all sources, if we did not have a National team. Competitions in amateur sport exist and federations are funded almost entirely in function of the development of our players for the National team. Don't laugh at this suggestion until you think about it in depth.

Would we be part of the EHF or FIH without a National team?

Would we receive funding from the Olympic Committee for the development of our youth if we didn’t have a National team?

Would children take up a sport that didn't have a National team they could strive to play for?

Now this has been made clear, I think we must agree that the performance of our National teams is therefore very important.

So now we have to find a way to maximize the performance of these teams. Clearly Belgium has not been a hockey super power at any point in time, so for us to begin getting anywhere near this status we need to CHANGE something.

This process has begun in many ways over the past 1-2 years and I have to commend the federation on the appointment of Bert Wentink. His impact has been immediate, with more streamlined training programs, higher quality coaches and coaching development programs being set in place. His efforts along with many others in around the National Team programs will get results, but it may take a bit of time before we begin to notice them on the International stage. We have the talent at the grass roots level and it is now up to us (as coaches) to nurture this talent and ensure that the players realize the potential that they have.

But a good National team program is by itself not enough. We must have a high quality club competition, and to achieve this we must have a certain level of teamwork that I mentioned earlier. It is not rocket science, to figure out if we have good club competition that is well organized and well controlled with high quality players, it will help our National team move forward.

This is where I would now like to shift my focus. I mentioned earlier about the teamwork involved in Australia and the easy flow of communication from the top down. It is this that can greatly improve in Belgium and with some of the Coaching evenings that have been put in place I believe this is also beginning to change, however we can still get better. Of course the existence of multiple languages can be a barrier, however I feel that the divide between the “2 sides" of Belgium runs deeper than this and it is something that needs to be corrected for us to move forward.

What has happened in the currents men’s competition is ridiculous. If a team (not just RAHC- all other teams are punished due to this decision) misses out on the Play Offs as a result of this very strange forfeit decision our competition loses all meaning and value. I am certain if my National Coach of Australia was confronted with this situation he would have asked 1 thing. He would have had the common sense to say

“Let’s all sit down and work this mess out"

He would not have wanted to qualify for the play offs as a result of a 10-0 Forfeit result. He would not have wanted to risk ruining his relationship with other teams he has to work with/against every week.

He would have wanted what is fair and reasonable.

To be honest I am not interested in what happened in this situation and who is right or wrong. I am not interested in the technicalities, the appeals and the subsequent discussions. I am only interested in having a competition that has meaning and integrity. I am only interested in having a competition that benefits the development of players in Belgium and benefits the continual improvement of the Belgian National Teams.

I only bring up this club issue as it is not an isolated incident. This was the straw that broke the camels back....... Every week, I hear more and more ridiculous stories of teams being disadvantaged due to poor umpiring, players being injured from deliberate acts of violence and rules being invented and made up on the spot.

It is clear that rules can be broken, we have a youth competition that has 7 teams in the top "6" to prove this.

Why do we have the Delta Lloyd Fair Play scheme- and then enforce decisions that are clearly not fair to all those involved.

What is a competition without integrity?

This list goes on and on and on. Something has to change. We have to put club allegiances behind us at times and look at what is best for Belgian hockey. Are these things good for hockey? Do these things happen in other competitions in the World? Do we have common sense? Or are we just scared of embracing any form of change?

Australia, The Netherlands and Germany have shown that you can have a competition with fierce rivalry, international players, tradition and club spirit. Because of this (and a few other reasons) they have led the way in World Hockey. It is about time that we begin to embrace the step forward that these powerhouse countries have made and follow them.

We can still have the wonderful tradition that makes the Belgian Competition unique, we can still have the derbies, we can still have the cup, we can still have the Belgian beer!, but we must look forward, have common sense and all work together if we are going to take the step that some of these other countries have made.

So far I have discussed numerous things, but let’s discuss the facts

1. We now have the funding for a National team program in both Men and Women

2. We have found the sponsors- VW, Selexion, Delta Lloyd etc

3. We have good quality coaches with International experience

4. We have an excellent coaching development program

5. We have good leadership with a young forward thinking federation president, who has 300+ international caps, and a vastly experienced high performance manager in Bert Wentink

6. We have the results in both the boys and the girls’ youth European Cups- Consistently we finish close to the top at European Championships in the Boys and the Girls

7. We have the Champions Challenge in 2007- one of the top tournaments of the world

We have all these things, so clearly we are in the right direction. But this still doesn’t address the problem of Teamwork.

Teamwork must come in all forms, within a team, between teams, within a federation, between umpires and clubs, between everyone.

Let’s begin to move forward, forget the past and look to the future.

Let’s be proud of the Belgian National Teams and do what we can to support them by creating a club competition, that has the integrity, professionalism and cooperation that is required to enable them to reach the world stage.

To finish I will say this............

Everything I have said is common sense. I am sure we have all thought about it before, but as I mentioned earlier....... We need change, we need teamwork and we need leadership. We have the leadership, we have the change...... now let’s work as one and show that Belgium can have the teamwork that many people once thought wasn't possible