The Singapore Hockey community mourned the loss of one of the county’s most passionate hockey characters and hardest workers. Sheik Abdul Kader S/O Sahul Hamid passed away on April 15 2022.
Kader coached a broad range of Singapore hockey players from the junior levels all the way up to serving as a specialist goalkeeping coach for both the National Women’s Senior and Under-21 Teams as well as the Men’s National Team and his passing has left a hole in many National players’ hockey lives.
One of his proudest moments as a national goalkeeping coach was watching Taylor Liu receive the Best Goalkeeper Award at the U21 AHF Cup in 2019. Taylor turned in some extraordinary performances at that tournament, due in no small part to Kader’s knowledge, dedication, and tireless commitment.
“Kader always believed in me even when I wasn’t sure of myself. His confidence and passion for the sport will always continue to inspire me,” said Taylor of her mentor.
As a player, Kader was an outstanding school-level goalkeeper and made the National Age Group Team. Kader always held his teammates from the Junior National Team close to his heart and was also proud of his brief tenure as a senior National Team goalkeeper.
Outside of his national duties, Kader was amongst the youngest players in the once-heralded Hougang Community Sports Club. As a member of the Singapore Airlines aircrew, he proudly played in the “Airlines World Cup”, a tournament that featured airline crews of the world.
As a coach, he spent a long a time at St Hilda’s Secondary School, and it was no surpris
e droves of boys from that school came to bid him farewell.
He was a key contributor to the transformation of the United World College (UWC) into a successful school team. Kader continued to encourage his fellow coaches to drive UWC further forward and he continued to work with UWC’s young players only days before he passed. Like all the other school teams under his tutelage, they were very fond of his jovial personality.
Finally in his desire to make as many young Singaporean players reach their potential, Kader yearned for knowledge and attended several coaching courses, especially those for goalkeepers.
He will be greatly missed and always remembered by the Singapore Hockey Community.
