Soulful Jiwa

PETALING JAYA: The experience of studying and playing in Perth from 2008 and 2013 exposed former hockey international Jiwa Mohan to a different sports culture abroad and he is now putting his heart and soul into reviving the game in a big way back home.

Jiwa was attached to an Australian company as a mechanical engineer, and started pursuing a Masters degree in business administration (oil and gas) at the Curtin University from 2010-2013 while still part of the national team.

The hockey culture there allowed him to become a multifaceted individual where he played for the Northern Territory in the Australian Hockey League for Curtin in the Western Australian league and also started learning the ropes of coaching during his stay.

This helped Jiwa, as one of the only two players ( besides K. Gobinathan) from his successful era in the 2000, to turn into coaching after retiring from international hockey in 2013.

And it has been his goal to bring in the hockey culture he found so successful in Australia to the Malaysian shores.

Jiwa, who has 30 international caps, was also interested in inculcating the structured play and professional hockey club system that has made European nations strong in the game to combine with the Australian style.

The obvious way was to start in his own set-up. The 43-year-old founded the Jiwa Mohan Academy (JM) in 2018 where it started operating in Kuala Lumpur, Klang and Penang.

“Sport is the way of life in Australia and hockey was big there. I played there and also got the chance to get involved into coaching in Curtin and I believe the hockey culture that I saw there can benefit greatly if implemented here,” said Jiwa.

“My objective was to bring sport to the masses and start a hockey culture and I thought starting a club would be an ideal way forward.

“I also had some of my childhood friends, who were good hockey players and based in Europe, and I constantly get feedback from them on the effective structure there.

“So, the idea was to combine both styles and start it at the grassroots level and in the long run, produce elite players who can graduate into the national junior and seniors teams.

“My academy caters to all levels of players ranging from the age of five up to 40 who are able to play at the Malaysian Junior Hockey League (MJHL) and Malaysian Hockey League (MHL).

“As part of turning hockey as a thriving community sport again, we also allow players aged up to 60 to join specific sessions.

“We want the game to be a wholesome effort. The kids’ parents are trained to become managers and are also involved in coaching courses to understand the game better. This helps in their role of nurturing the dreams of the children.

Fast and agile: Jiwa Mohan in action during his heyday.

“I believe my growth had also helped in the formation of so many clubs (30-40) in the Klang Valley after the Covid-19 pandemic and they are actively developing the sport again. They are not big clubs but good enough to spend quality time to develop hockey.

“Hockey used to be big in schools during our childhood days as almost every school had a teacher who is a qualified coach but it does not exist anymore.

“Schools are still very crucial where we also engage with them regularly as to identify interested kids to continue playing hockey with the clubs and academies.”

Besides Jiwa, JM has a total of 11 certified coaches that includes former international striker R. Shankar and goalkeeper M. Nadarajan while former national coach Paul Lissek and ex-Kookaburra Chris Ciriello are the visiting coaches.

JM have a total of 450 players who train in the evenings six days a week (except Sundays) and also have a healthy number of 70 girls in their programme.

“All our coaching staff are qualified and this is something I’m strict about. I also keep upgrading myself by attending FIH coaching courses and international coaching conferences regularly,” added Jiwa.

“Our sessions are held in the evenings and nights as it doesn’t disrupt the children’s school while the parents are also not forced to get time-off from work to send and pick their kids up from training.

“Lissek is with us for six months where he trains the group from 15 to 21 who have the potential to become elite players.

“He also brings in the German system of training.”

While Lissek is familiar with local hockey for more than three decades, penalty corner specialist Ciriello has played 194 times for Australia and has scored 114 goals in his career.

Ciriello was also utilised by Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) last year to offer penalty corner training stints for the national junior squad.

Jiwa also registered a team in the MHL – JM Antsbees – for the first time while four teams – three in the boys and one in the girls – are playing in the Division 2 of the MJHL this year.

He is not looking at immediate results but the exposure is likely to put his players in good stead in the long run.

Meanwhile, Jiwa also has foreign training and playing tours where he brings the Under-16 team to Perth annually since starting his academy besides planning a training stint at the University of Busan next month.

JM have a memorandum of understanding with University of Busan where several of their players played for Antsbees in MHL this year and Jiwa is also planning to have a playing tour to South Africa later this year.

The initial success is being witnessed as Easwaran George, S. Yashvindraa, S. Karthikesan, Danish Irfan, Wan Jun Yong and S. Balasena attended the first phase of the national junior training.

The national junior squad will be selected after the MJHL which concludes at the end of the month.

Jiwa know if he puts his heart, mind and soul into developing hockey players, Malaysia will eventually be rewarded with hockey players with calibre and character.