5 Jan 2010, SINGAPORE: The Hockey season in Singapore will start on Saturday 9 Jan 10 with the Singapore Hockey Federation (SHF) Under-21 Boys and Girls tournament. The under-21 tournament has grown in stature as the nation's brightest hockey prospects and biggest stars have in the last three years come from this age group. With a total of 24 teams (14 boys and 10 girls) participating, a good 500 young players will pit their skills against each other until a Boys and Girls champion will emerge on 13 March 10.

Singapore Recreation Club (SRC) are the defending boys champions but they will find the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Squad a huge threat to their crown. Its noteworthy that Police Sports Association, Jansenites and Khalsa are also in the reckoning for honours. Newcomers, C&C United will be dark horse along with Singapore Cricket Club (SCC). Balestier Plains clubs, Indian Association and Ceylon Sports Club have been drawn in the same group which should add spice to the tournament. However both sides will do well to negotiate past a very difficult group.

This season the boys tournament will include a second phase where the top two teams from the first round groups will be pooled in two groups of three teams. The top two will play in a cross over semi-finals and the winners will clash in the 13 March final. The girls competition, which starts a week later on 16 Jan 10, is less complex with the 10 teams divided into two pools of five teams and the top two will play in a cross over semi-finals and the winners will square off in the finals held on the same day as the boys.

The SHF is quietly confident that this season's under-21 tournament will probably be the best in recent years and one that would be keenly contested. In the year of the YOG this expected state of affairs can only bode well for the development and growth of the game of hockey in Singapore.-story by SHF