PHF announces structured national development plan for women's hockey

KARACHI: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Saturday announced a structured national development plan for women's hockey in collaboration with the provincial associations following the upcoming National Girls Hockey Championship, scheduled to be held in July.

According to the federation, the upcoming championship will serve as a key talent identification platform aimed at strengthening and expanding the national women's hockey program on modern, merit-based lines.

Following the conclusion of the aforementioned tournament, a national selection committee will identify a pool of 30-40 outstanding players based on performance, fitness, and potential, who will then be invited to a centralised high-performance training camp to be held in Islamabad.

The PHF further shared that the camp in Islamabad, the schedule for which is yet to be announced, will focus on advanced technical training, tactical development, physical conditioning, and mental strength enhancement under a structured coaching system.

After the centralised high-performance training camp, a core national squad of between 15 and 18 players will be finalised, which will represent Pakistan in upcoming international assignments and friendly matches, with the PHF actively working to arrange them.

"The federation is actively working to arrange international friendly matches and exposure tours to strengthen competitiveness at the Asian level," said the PHF in a statement.

"Engagements with regional hockey nations and participation in international training camps are part of the roadmap."

The PHF then went on to emphasise the importance of establishing a sustainable pipeline through provincial and regional women's hockey academies, U-16 and U-18 development programs, regular inter-school and inter-college competitions and coaching modernisation and professional training support.

"The initiative reflects Pakistan's commitment to reviving women's hockey and building a competitive national team capable of performing at the Asian and international levels," the PHF said further in the statement.