The International Hockey Federation (FIH)-led Targeted Assistance Programme (TAP) continues to help hockey grow across the globe, as Turkey becomes the latest nation to embody the principles of the FIH Hockey Revolution.

With two FIH Hockey Academy training and education courses already under its belt, the Turkish Hockey Federation is working with the KNHB – the national federation for the Netherlands – the European Hockey Federation (EHF) and the FIH in a joint partnership working towards the development of Turkish Hockey. 

The four-year programme focuses on the development of hockey, with courses aimed at players – including specific goalkeeper training – as well as umpires and coaches. The ambition is for professionalism in all aspects of the game to be raised, in line with the aims of FIH’s 10-year strategy.

In April the focus was on coaches and, to that end, a group of 19 Level One coaches attended a four day FIH Hockey Academy training course, as part of the “Training the Workforce” element of TAP.

While Turkey is the focus nation for this exciting programme, the EHF is keen that the expertise and impact of the initiative will spread further afield to the other South-East Europe countries. 

The April training course, organised in partnership with the FIH Hockey Academy, was the second educational course to be held under the TAP banner. In October, an Indoor Hockey Seminar took place in Alanya at the Sunprime Numa Beach. The seminar was aimed at regional coaches, club managers, umpires and players.

FIH Course Educator Michel Kinnen and FIH umpire manager and secretary of the EHF Appointments Committee Yolande Brada joined the seminar as well as other experts in their field.

Overseeing the project through its four-year time scale is EHF Development and Education Manager Norman Hughes who will manage the project on behalf of EHF Development and Education committees.

The indoor hockey seminar’s main goal was to expand the knowledge base of coaches, umpires and players. Over the course of the programme, coaches and players learned about patterns of play, training principles and bench management. The group worked together with interactive video workshops and assigned tasks to get a better understanding of the material.

Yolande Brada’s focus was on the umpires, where she covered the rules of Indoor Hockey and its interpretations, positioning and how the rules work in real life, with the aid of footage from different tournaments.

Approximately 90 umpires participated, ranging from FIH umpires and top regional umpires through to beginners. The range of ability and experience was used to great effect, with the more experienced umpires leading some activities.

There were also sessions on the ‘soft skills’ of coaching. Yolande Brada worked with Professor Dr. Ridvan Ekmekci, Head of Sport Management Department at the University of Denizli in a workshop about communication and with Özgür Atac, sport psychologist, about how to deal with stress.

The Turkish Hockey Federation President Kıvanç Hürdoğan said: "I would like to thank the FIH and the EHF for their support for our seminar. The seminar of Education and Development was attended by 250 people and, according to what we have seen, it was really beneficial and has accelerated the progress. Thanks to this progress we believe that we will succeed in the Round One of the World League for men and the U18 Championships for Girls and Boys’.

The aim over the four-year period is for the bodies involved to support the Turkish Hockey Federation in the training of their key workforce members (coaches, umpires and event management) at the same time as developing a High Performance plan for their National squads. The project links closely with FIH Engage and Empower programmes through the FIH Hockey Academy, a key part of the Hockey Revolution.

For more information about the Hockey Revolution, click here.

Other links:

- EHF
- Turkish Hockey Federation
- KNHB

#GlobalProjects

Back