Shane McLeod, the Kiwi who took Belgium to Olympic hockey gold, has revealed how the Red Lions players turned to a form of speed dating to create an honest environment.
McLeod guided Belgium to European, world and Olympic champions, as well as world No 1 status, after joining the Red Lions in 2015. He left the set-up for a sabbatical following Tokyo gold.
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A day after scoring the only goal against Uni of Birmingham as Hampstead & Westminster continued their fine start atop the Vitality Women’s Premier Division table, Lucy Hyams was out in the Yorkshire Dales.
Hyams, 27, is a charities business development manager at Brewin Dolphin and, like most top club players, understands the importance of using hockey as an escape from a busy workload.
“We are lucky in the UK where we have a good club system and that a lot of the players are successful on the hockey pitch as well as their careers,” says Hyams. “It’s our way to escape work life.”
Hyams is also a former England and GB under-21 international. She played the Junior World Cup before the former Canterbury player took up a hockey scholarship at the University of Virginia.
Finding a place on the GB senior women’s programme, she says, never really worked out. She is now into her fourth season at Hampstead, having joined the London outfit in the Conference East during their promotion-winning year.
She is aided in a tight-knit squad by one of her best friends, Grace Balsdon, the pair having played together since they were 12-year-olds on the Kent junior scene. And while the international game wasn’t to be for Hyams, she has nothing but respect for the journey endured by Balsdon.
“We have travelled a lot together and to see her win Olympic bronze was just fantastic,” says Hyams.
Sarah Kelleher and Kate Richardson-Walsh, Hampstead’s joint head coaches PIC: MARK CLEWS
“I’ve watched Grace the whole time and been with her on the journey from not being picked for Rio to seeing her get selected [for Tokyo]. It’s amazing. People only see the medals but when you are friends with them you see just how much work they have put in.”
Hyams, who has moved to the forward lines this season, says the likes of GB and Scottish international Sarah Robertson seeing the potential of Hampstead and Westminster before they were promoted, has given the team extra impetus as a squad.
And so too with the co-head coaches of Kate Richardson-Walsh and Sarah Kelleher.
“They work really work together and training is fun,” adds Hyams. “We have a great core group of players who have been there for a while and know how the club works, with the love of hockey and the social side. It’s a great team atmosphere and Kate and Sarah work really hard in putting the team sessions together.”
And the early season form is testament to that as they look to make it five on the spin with a tricky trip to Buckingham looming on Saturday.
Great Britain and England international Henry Weir has backed our #watchyour1s campaign after Old Georgians were lifted by home support at the weekend.
“It was such a brilliant atmosphere following the Watch Your 1s campaign,” said Weir. “Having that level of support for both teams pushes the hockey to another level.”
Weir added that putting more focus into club attendances were “very important if we want to take a step forward with the sport in this country.”
Old Georgians crowd lifted Premier Division clash
He said: “As a sport, we have always found it hard to generate large and consistent crowds, at Premier Division and sometimes international matches.
“Clubs and our governing body are set up to prioritise participation, which serves the country in many positive ways.
“Unfortunately, this can be to the detriment of our sport, as a well-followed, well-supported and commercially attractive investment of time and money.”
Old Georgians played out a memorable 10-6 win over Oxted last season
On Sunday, Old Georgians held a prize draw and urged more locals to attend the top flight clash – and Weir says that it’s up to more clubs to focus in on peripheral entertainment for supporters to make the experience more attractive in the long run.
He added: “Club-led events like this are helping to bridge the gap and push our sport to become not only a great game to play but also a fun, exciting and atmospheric game to watch.”
The Hockey Paper’s Watch Your 1s competition and campaign is running for a second year. Clubs have until the end of November to get their entry in.
Glynn will work with new head coach David Ralph as they work towards shaping an England side ahead of a packed 2022 schedule.
Her guidance and attacking guile has seen no less than 14 players score since Glynn joined the programme.
Great Britain scored 18 goals at the Olympics – only The Netherlands scored more – and beating USA 5-0 and 5-1 in the FIH Hockey Pro League back in May.
She said: “It is a huge privilege for me to be part of this world class programme and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here since joining.
I have huge belief in the programme and I very much look forward to supporting the direction David Ralph can now take us in.”
After her career was cut short by injury, Glynn began coaching in New Zealand’s junior set up, transitioning to the senior women in 2019, before moving across to England and Great Britain last year.
Ralph said: “Katie has had a huge influence on the attacking side of our game and her work with the team and individuals has been of an exceptional standard. Along with Katie’s excellent coaching contributions, her energy, hard work and passion have really stood out in her time with us and there is no doubt that Katie was integral to the team winning Bronze in Tokyo.
“All players and staff have enjoyed working with Katie and I really look forward to continuing to work with her.”
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In our regular anything goes Q&A, we speak to players and coaches on topics ranging from temptations, influences, fashion sense and match teas. This week: GB EDP and Hampstead & Westminster goalkeeper Miriam Pritchard
At home
What was your earliest ambition? I wanted to be a chef that was in charge of all the puddings! Hockey wise, I remember telling someone in the primary school playground that I wanted to go to the Olympics.
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In an interview published on the FIH website, chief executive Thierry Weil says world hockey “will work on the future Stars Awards with the global hockey community”after India won all eight categories in 2021 awards
If, in an Olympic year, the Gold medallists don’t win any Award and another nation gets all of them, it is clear that this won’t come across well! Therefore, I of course do understand the disappointment and also, to some extent, the anger, especially of the teams concerned. At the same time, I want to congratulate the winners.
They were all nominated by an expert committee – made of FIH, FIH Athletes Committee and high performance representatives – and therefore were as much entitled as the others to win! And both Indian teams had a fantastic performance at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. I assume that the natural joy which they should rightly feel by winning such an Award may have been altered by all this, and that is not nice either.
Do you think the current voting process is right?
I’m not sure if there is any ideal process, to be honest. But this process – as long as it is implemented by everybody – should work. It is very similar to what is applied successfully by other organisations. It gives the chance to major hockey stakeholders – teams, players, coaches, fans and media – to cast a vote for the most important yearly awards in global hockey, while a higher weight is given to national team coaches and captains.
Was it a new process this time?
No, it was pretty much the same as last time. There were two differences. Firstly, we made it compulsory for the National Associations that their votes should come from their national team coaches and captains; I believe that everybody will agree that this was the right thing to do in order to increase the technical legitimacy of the vote. Secondly, the voting process for the coaches was the same as the one for the athletes this time (while the FIH Coach of the Year Award was determined by an FIH panel previously).
India’s stopper was in inspired form against Team GB in Tokyo PIC: Reuters
Was this vote transparent enough? Shouldn’t you publish the individual votes, at least for the National Associations and media?
Before the vote, we explained in detail the voting process as well as the weight given to the various voting groups. And after the vote, we published all results, from every voting group and for all nominees. Revealing who voted for whom is a question which we should have a look at. Will it bring something or not, I can’t tell at this stage. But we should not exclude any option before examining them.
Is it really a good idea to have fans voting for an Award which is meant to define the best athletes and coaches from a technical perspective?
Our overall strategy at FIH is to put athletes and fans at the centre of everything we do. So, it is essential to give fans an option to express their views. If in this regard the current process is the right one or not, is something we will need to analyse of course. But clearly we need to involve the fans one way or the other.
After all, thanks to this vote, we will have the opportunity to engage with almost 300,000 fans. This is not only good for India – where most of these fans are coming from – but for the growth of our sport overall and therefore the whole hockey community! Also, as we’ve mentioned on the day of the vote, all winning athletes have topped the standings in each of the three voting groups (National Associations / Fans and Players / Media). In other words, even if fans wouldn’t have voted, the winning athletes would have been the same.
Carlos Retegui congratulates Alyson Annan as Netherlands won gold PIC: Eurosport UK
How do you explain that almost half of the National Associations (NAs) did not take the opportunity to vote?
I have to admit that I have no answer to this yet. Maybe we haven’t been clear enough? But we did send reminders to the NAs before the end of the vote. And I have personally contacted several members of the hockey community to warn them about this situation, and I know they were active. But still, many National Associations did not cast their vote. Clearly this had by far the biggest impact on the results. If you set up a jury but half of this jury doesn’t vote, how can you expect that people will unanimously accept the results? In our analysis, we will have to establish why this situation happened.
Will the process remain the same in the future?
I can’t answer this question before we do a thorough analysis. But I can tell you that we will work on the future Stars Awards with the global hockey community. We will engage with many stakeholders to come up with a process which receives the support of most, and then go with it for next year. These Awards are here to promote hockey, athletes and coaches. It isn’t good for anybody if they lead to controversy. I’ve already engaged with a few and will continue to do so. We will most likely create a Task Force to look at this. And I’m absolutely convinced that we will find a compromise which will ensure that the global hockey community celebrates these Awards in the future.
In the third part of a special series on junior hockey coaching, TODD WILLIAMS says importance of technical development through drills can’t be underestimated
If you’ve happened to read my last couple of columns, you may have noticed some references to the way England Hockey expects the game to be coached.
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In our exclusive video series, Heidi Wells, England over-50s Masters player and chartered physiotherapist, talks about the importance of Sports Body Conditioning, as she discusses and explains the importance of our body core and the muscle groups that make up this key body area.
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