Eleven AHF Coaches Educators and 39 Level One Coaches from 14 countries received their certification from HRH Sultan Azlan Shah at the AHF – MHC Hockey Academy in Ipoh on 2 Dec 2011.  The two courses were held simultaneously over the past 11 days at the site of the new Academy which is just beside the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Stadium.

The Coach Educators who have qualified will now assist the FIH accredited coaches to run Level One Coaching Courses all over Asia, especially amongst newly emerging hockey nation in Asia.  The Level One Coaches are expected to develop hockey at the grassroots in their own country.

“It is not possible to serve the whole of Asia by running one or two courses a year at the academy.  That is why we have trained Coach Educators who can now go the various countries and train large number of coaches for local use”, said Tan Sri P. Alagendra, the AHF Secretary General.

The largest group of participants came from Sri Lanka which had 16 men and 4 women at the course.  Most of them had to find their own sponsorship or paid their own way to attend the course.  The AHF believes that Sri Lanka will soon become active in all International Hockey Tournaments.

“The commitment and passion shown by the Sri Lanka participants is truly amazing.  We looking forward to a new resurgence of hockey there”, said Dato’ Hj Abd Rahim, the Chairman of the Academy Committee and Member of the AHF Executive Council.

The Level One Coaching Course followed a new AHF Curriculum and Course content designed by a newly established Academy Curriculum Committee headed by the Malaysian Hockey legend Dato’ R. Yogeswaran.  The course was conducted by Curriculum designers Mr. Aloysius Lee, Mr. M.P. Haridas and two FIH Coaches Mr. Tahir Zaman and Mr. Lim Chow Chuan. Throughout the AHF Level One Coaching Course duration, Dato’ Tayyab Ikram, Secretary FIH High Performance and Coaching was present and provided his technical expertise.

In the closing ceremony of the course, HRH Sultan Azlan Shah also presented hockey sticks to the Hockey Association of Mongolia which were sponsored by AHF.