The legacy of the one-time powerful boys program within the Richmond Field Hockey Club (RFHC) is evident on Canada’s junior men’s national team headed to the World Cup in Lucknow, India this week.
RFHC once had a reputation of producing outstanding players including Inderpal (Indy) Sehmbi, Kevin Pereira and Bob Childs.
Today, Sehmbi is coach of the junior national team, while Pereira and Childs’ sons Brandon and Rowan are on the 18-player roster. It’s only fitting former UBC and McRoberts standout Alicia Carey is also team manager. It was her father Lance Carey who coached all three men during their days growing up in Richmond.
“The Careys are basically my second family,” laughed Sehmbi. “They introduced my entire family to field hockey and I played for the club from the age of six to 18. It certainly made a big impact on me.
“Richmond had a really strong boys program basically up to the early 1990s. The main reason it died off is there was no astro turf field. That’s the surface you had to play on regularly if you wanted to be a top player.”
Sehmbi also developed a passion for coaching but his career actually began in basketball, guiding the senior boys team at Charles London for two seasons. It was during that time then teacher Nancy Carey convinced him to coach field hockey as well. He has never looked back.
The 36-year-old former national junior team player was soon coaching provincial teams.
His stint with the national program included five years as an assistant with the U21s before overseeing the U18 team that won silver at the 2014 Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China. He was appointed head coach of the U21s a little over a year ago and the Junior World Cup berth was secured with a second place finish at last spring’s Junior Pan American Championships in Toronto.
The Canadian team has been training separately with western and eastern based sessions, leading up to the departure for India on Thursday. Canada opens play Dec. 8 against the host country.
So has Sehmbi been busy this week packing his bags and making final preparations for the big trip? Hardly.
The UBC graduate now teaches at Eric Hamber Secondary and is front and centre with the Vancouver school’s athletic program. His senior boys basketball team opened its season on Monday night with an exhibition game against Hugh Boyd.
He has also been occupied earning his coaching master’s degree.
“(Eric Hamber) is a fantastic school. I absolultey love it here,” added Sehmbi. “(Longtime Richmond teacher and volunteer coach) Rory Brown is one of the big reasons I got into teaching. He was a very inspiring person in my life.”
