A few days before the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) was announced, the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) had already hatched a plan to avoid disruption to their national training schedule.
With the help of the National Sports Council (NSC), players from the seniors, juniors and combined women's team were quickly sheltered at the NSC hostel in Bukit Jalil as the CMCO was announced.
"We have already a plan in case the government announces travel restrictions that will affect national training for all three teams.
"As Covid-19 numbers are increasing, a discussion was held recently and it was agreed that the athletes be housed at the NSC hostel.
"A bus will be used to ferry them for training at the two pitches next door if travelling is not allowed," national men's coach Arul Selvaraj said on Sunday. The CMCO for Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, and Putrajaya was announced on Oct 14-27 following a surge in Covid-19 cases.
While Arul's men and Nasihin Nubli's women do not have any "immediate tournaments", Wallace Tan's Juniors team will be involved in a World Cup qualifier in Dhaka on Jan 21-30.
"It was in the nick of time that we managed to get all our national Juniors into the NSC hostel. Team officials are allowed to move in and out of the hostel but the players are not allowed the freedom.
"It's travel to training by bus to the stadium next door, and back to the NSC hostel with no allowance of going anywhere else," said national juniors team manager I. Vickneswaran.
However, Vickneswaran sees a silver lining in this "confinement".
"I see this as a blessing for the Juniors as not only can they continue their training, but the coaches are also able to conduct other sessions at night like team building and tactical discussions.
"We need to get the team to work as a family on and off the pitch to get the desired results at the Junior Asia Cup."
It's like forced centralised training three months before the Junior World Cup qualifier where Malaysia have to reach the semi-finals for a World Cup ticket.