Hockey World Cup: David Condon on mindset, super strengths, title dreams with new England

Bhubaneswar — “For me, there was too much light at the end of the tunnel and I didn’t want to just give up on this hockey dream.” So says David Condon, England’s most capped current player at this World Cup, on a career in the last few years which has been far from plain sailing. Unlike England’s start to this campaign, which kicks into life on Wednesday when they face their biggest test yet against old foes Germany. 

In a revealing interview at the team’s hotel in Bhubaneswar on Monday, Condon told The Hockey Paper how he overcame disappointments, how he turned to his super strengths, the chart which pointed to the men’s medalless tournament finishes and how he believes this current World Cup squad can finally end a 13-year wait for a global title.

Condon has been more or less part of the set-up in that time, encountering hundreds of training sessions at the national programme at Bisham Abbey. “The great transition for me has been how to see Bisham and training, and everyday not viewing it as a test that I had to pass to be selected,” he says. “As I’ve got older I’ve realised it’s not a series of tests you pass or fail, it’s practice. I read a book when I was around 23 on growth mindset and that’s what flipped the switch for that progression.