Jansenites is the hockey club that I'm involved in. My father was the first Jansenites captain in 1957 when they played in National Hockey League Division 3. I started playing hockey only at 17, while at Catholic Junior College. All along I played competitive Badminton and Football.
My passion for coaching hockey started at Xishan in 1993. We sent our first Xishan team to the Nationals in 1994 and surprisingly won the Senior Girls and Junior Boys! Now, I'm doing more Floorball coaching at Xishan. Hopefully, we will be as successful.
Xishan currently has 4 National Hockey Players. They are Saiful Seftu, Samuel Nee, Sabri Yuhari and Johnson Sivalingam. The two ex-Xishanites in the Ladies National Hockey team are Toh Li Min, Hazlin Husni and Chua Xinyi. They all play for Jansenites in the Premier League. All 7 of them will be participating in the Arafura Games in Australia in May 2007.
The joy I get out of coaching is seeing players picking up basic skills and getting more confident in their ability and self. The players also learn about being disciplined. They learn about time management and being self-disciplined.
50 and still going strong
The Jansenites, one of Singapore's oldest hockey clubs, will turn 50 on Monday. LIM SAY HENG explores the history of this 'kampung' team.
Newpaper Article
April 28, 2007
NO field, no clubhouse, no facilities - only human resources and a tremendous spirit and vision.
There can be no better way of describing the Jansenites than this phrase by Richard Gomez, one of the founding fathers of the hockey club.
The 'kampung' club, which has seven teams playing at different levels in the local leagues, has come a long way since its humble beginnings playing in a backyard.
But not just any backyard. That yard belonged to Percy Pennefather, considered to be Singapore's founding father of hockey.
'We were all living in the Jansen Road area then. The Pennefather family opened their home and we played in an area about the size of three badminton courts,' said Richard, who was a teenager when the club was formed in 1957.
'We used to share the pitch with the dogs, the chickens and even a monkey, which was chained up. About 40 of us would play on the field and there was no formal coach then.
'When the field got too crowded, Percy would go: 'You, you and you - get out',' added the 68-year-old over a steaming cup of tea opposite the Co-Curricular Activities Branch headquarters in Bukit Timah.
HONED THEIR SKILLS
Two years after they were registered officially as a club, the Jansenites entered a team in the Singapore Hockey Association (SHA) Third Division Championships and played competitively in the 1961-62 season. The players, who honed their skills under Pennefather, shone and, after two seasons, the Jansenites found themselves in the First Division.
From there, the club grew in strength and in the 1960s and 1970s, they produced numerous national players like Derrick de Silva, Bastine D'Cruz, and the Gomez brothers - Vincent and Richard. As with any great teams, the Jansenites had their ups and downs. The club suffered a decline in the late 1980s and in 1990 were relegated to Division 2 .
But Richard's appointment as the club president upon his return from his lengthy overseas postings sparked a revival of the club's fortune, along with a timely sponsorship and a sound talent scheme. 'S Thavaneson came in with Umbro and gave us $50,000 in 1994,' said 41-year-old Hector Gomez, the current club president.
'With that money, we started the JUST programme - Jansenites-Umbro Sports Trust.'
The programme provides scholarships for deserving young players who are playing for schools 'adopted' by the Jansenites. 'We have a few feeder schools, where our players and coaches coach the hockey teams,' said Hector, a teacher in Xishan Primary School, one of the schools linked to the club. 'Most players from Xishan and Peixin Primary will go to Northland Secondary School, where our coach, Gary Fidelis, is at.
'After that, some of them go to Nanyang Polytechnic, Anderson Junior College or ITE Yishun, where other Jansenites are coaching.' While the JUST programme is funded by an external sponsor - and they have just secured a jersey sponsor this season - the Jansenites are still predominantly a self-sufficient team, as far as finances are concerned.
'In the past, we passed the hat around when we needed money to join SHA competitions,' said Richard, who is one of the generous financiers of the club.
'These days, we still pass the hat around, and old timers will finance the club's activities. But we are trying to remove that dependency by bringing in more sponsors,'
While their fortunes on and off the field have fluctuated over the years, one thing has remained constant - the Jansenites are still nomadic in nature, without a clubhouse to call their own.
'After the Pennefathers moved out in the late 1950s, we used to play in the front yard of my house,' said Richard. 'But when my father built a badminton court in the front yard, we moved to Rosyth School and Parry Avenue Primary School.'
But since the early 1990s, the Jansenites have been been training on the astroturf pitch in the historic Bukit Timah campus, where the CCAB headquarters is now situated.
However, even without a clubhouse, most of the Jansenites keep in contact with each other, through informal or formal gatherings. 'We used to have regular end-of-the-year gatherings in the past. But after a while, everyone got busy,' said Richard.
'Nowadays, we gather once every five years,' Hector chipped in.
An estimated 200 Jansenites will attend Monday's 50th anniversary dinner at the Serangoon Garden Country Club, representing different eras of players bonded by the club's simple but meaningful motto: Play the Game.
Senior Boys and Girls.
Senior Boys
Senior Girls
Junior Boys training
Great Sportsmanship.
Whoosh! Off they go!
Sabri assisting in training
Yes, we did it! Xishan 6 Pasr Ris 0
Is Aidah asking for help from above?
The Game.
Our Goalkeeper in action after a good save!
Face-off! Go Amirah!
Natasha, is listening! (For once!)
4 Commitment and Senior players. Great support!
