That may surprise some people to hear me say I’m loving it after seeing the results of Footscray’s first 3 SL1 games however its important to keep things in perspective.

Coming to the club I saw that we needed to raise the fitness levels of the club and that involved spending more time than I would have liked on working with our fitness expert Troy Fluitsma from Elite Sports Performance Conditioning to achieve the desired level of fitness I wanted. It was an important aspect to cover as having a higher fitness base would see us being competitive for longer periods of matches.

As a result this pushed back our preparation on the balls and saw us really only have about 3 proper weeks of skills training before round 1 and the boys are on the track making up for lost time.  Keeping things in perspective I really can’t see us starting to handle the ball well for around another 4-6 weeks.  When you put on top of the playing group learning a new structure and way of playing there has certainly been a lot going on around the place and getting comfortable with the new landscape will take time.

Our first 3 results have been mixed bags. Our round 1 hit out against an understrength Doncaster outfit I think put a false sense of where the group was at.  SL1 is a huge step up from SL2, something you’ll only ever know if you manage to play in both.  I have a fair idea where we are at in comparison to the rest of the competition and having a reasonable outing first up didn’t paint a true reflection as to where we are starting as a club on our journey to maintaining SL1 for years to come.  But it is important to remember it’s not where we start it’s where we end up!

I’ve seen some positive signs from the first 3 rounds and things are really starting to take shape. As the guys are becoming comfortable with the structure and style of play I’m after I’m seeing longer periods of control in matches.  3-0 down against Hawthorn at half time, then a solid start to the second half showed some signs but again a reality check was given to us as they banged in 6 goals in about 20 minutes of hockey reminding us that we have to continue to be focused on our job for longer periods of time.

Again on the weekend we learned another valuable lesson of being prepared from the start as Mentone blew us out of the water in the first half zipping to a 5-1 half time lead.  A much better and disciplined group took to the pitch in the 2nd half and we saw a much more flattering scoreline of a 2-1 loss in the 2nd half.

But all in all I’m loving it and despite the scorelines there has been some really positive things taking place. The young kids (16-18) have all grown in confidence and ability in the short space of time and to see just how much they have improved is staggering.  We’ve lost a couple of guys to some State/National commitments and as we all come back together and play more together we will continue to improve. Roles in the structure are becoming clearer, understanding of hockey principles is increasing and as we continue down this topsy turvy road into SL1 its important we keep an eye on how we are going week in and week out, but never forgetting to keep the other eye on where we want to be.

Things are on track, a solid platform is being constructed and we are heading in the right direction and looking at where we’ve come from I’m excited where the next few weeks will take us.
Stay tuned…………….

I’m big on the belief that one of the biggest, if not the biggest things that is the difference between having success and not is the culture of a team/organisation.  Coming fresh into the Footscray Hockey Club has allowed me to take a step back an identify the good parts of the club’s culture and the way it operates as well as identify the areas that require change to ensure we give ourselves the best opportunity for success in the future.  So the Friday night was about me hearing from the wider group what they thought were the good and bad parts of the FHC’s culture are to see just how it married up with my thoughts.  Pleasingly we were very similar in our thoughts which is good and most importantly everyone was aware that we have some work to do.

We then discussed what the culture of successful teams were and how we could use some of our observations of these groups to help form our own culture.  By collating all these points we used this to generate a Modus Operandi that we will carry into the 2012 hockey season ensuring that every action whilst wearing representing the Footscray Hockey shirt is able to be measured against how we want to go about our business.

The weekend also provided club fitness trainer Troy Fluitsma an opportunity to further the fitness of the playing group by asking the guys to compete both mentally and physically challenging tasks with the highlight definitely being the 70+minute run completed with some of the biggest ropes I have ever seen slung over the shoulders of the boys.  What was more impressive a out this run was that it was completed after they were challenged to complete 6000 push ups collectively. This equates to about 300 push ups individually. Wow!

The remainder of the weekend we began discussing our structures and the style we wanted to play.  This should filter down through the teams as training begins to focus on stick and ball stuff, providing a style of hockey that will see us play with some flair and excitement as well as a style that will give us every opportunity to win games.  Beyond the structure, the playing group used the time to meet newcomers to the group as well as make friends with those that they hadn’t had the opportunity to really interact with on previous occasions.

Overall it was a positive experience for the group as well as the coaching staff and has given us a platform to launch ourselves in to season 2012! I’m excited.

With Waverley Hockey Club getting a brand new playing field in the exciting new color of blue, it’s great to hear that the pitch is being named after club legend “Hedley Hull.”

Hedley is well known around the club and someone that I certainly have appreciated his support during my playing career. I will always remember receiving a surprising letter at the time just before going to both Olympics wishing me all the best on behalf of himself and the club, an all round great bloke.

Hedley a well deserved recognition of the important role that you have played in helping build the Waverley Hockey Club.

Going to layout my expectations of the group and what I’m expecting as we get stuck into preseason and beyond. I have some big plans for the group over the next two years (and potentially beyond) so looking forward to sharing my thoughts with the group and getting stuck into things after weeks of planning.

Good times!

More info here: http://www.hockey.org.au/index.php?id=90&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=827&tx_ttnews[backPid]=88&cHash=7fb48c91be

Congrats JD, another accolade in your already impressive career.

Originally I was thinking about playing in season 2012 unless an opportunity arose that really grabbed my interest. With Waverley having a shot at a 3rd straight premiership I was seriously thinking about getting myself fit again and pushing for selection. I’d spent this season (2011) coaching Pennant A working with some of the young kids at Waverley to ensure that the club had the depth for sustained success in State League 1 for years to come.  It was such an enjoyable and rewarding experience to see such a young group of players develop as individuals and contribute to the success of the PA team in winning the Premiership.  So if I wasn’t able to play SL1 or even PA in 2012, I would have been happy playing PB or lower so as long as I wasn’t taking the place of a younger kid in the team I played and continue to work with this group of kids.

So after wrapping up season 2012 my initial plan was to get back into playing unless something that really took my interest came along.  I’d been thinking if my body didn’t come up to an acceptable standard (with a lack of cartlidge in various place I was never 100% sure) I would like to continue on coaching.

After thinking that I may pick up the stick again, I also thought about what would make me turn my back on playing and continue coaching.  With season 2012 seeing no side relegated from State League 1 as part of  Hockey Victoria’s expansion program, an offer from a club that was in the lower part of the competition or coming into State League 1 would certainly gain my interest as it gives you a good time frame to not only develop a good game plan, but an extra year to develop some individuals in the team to become better hockey players.

Here’s what I was looking for in a club to take me away from my aspirations of playing in an attempt for a 3rd straight premiership at Waverley:

1. A club that has a good depth of junior teams as this is important for having sustained period in State League 1 as it provides continuous feeding into the senior programs
2. An ambitious club- a club that is clear on where they want to go and what they want to achieve
3. A club that has talented players with an abudance of potential to work with and develop going forward

Thinking about this there was 2 clubs that really had me interested, but I was also very happy at Waverley working with the group I had in season 2012. Footscray was certainly one of those clubs and the other I will not name but they certainly fitted all three categories.

So when I was approached by Footscray to come and coach them I was very interested in the job, to say the least.  From a distance I think they are a sleeping giant in Victorian hockey.  They won the best junior program for season 2011 which certainly fitted with my 1st criteria.

From meeting with members of the club, they certainly were clear on what they wanted to achieve over the next few years, not only on the pitch but also intiatives they wanted to begin around the club.  In season 2011 they wanted to get into State League 1 and they achieved it, yes they were very ambitious and did it in ways that people probably don’t agree with, but history will say they had a plan to get into State League at the end of season 2011 and they did .  So that was the second criteria marked with “check”!

The biggest thing though that excites me about the opportunity at Footscray is the talent.  There’s a group there that has huge potential that I think I can bring along in leaps and bounds over the next 2 years and create a nucleus for a strong future at the club.  Also the quality of the younger kids and the potential to develop them is something that I’m looking forward to as after playing at the international level I feel a sense of responsibility to impart my knowledge and learnings on to the next generation of Vikings/Australian players to ensure that the State and Country continue to have success.  I’m hoping that I can work with this younger crew so that they find themselves part of these teams in the future.

I can’t wait to get into preseason and start on this journey over the 2 years.  I’m sure it is going to be a challenging process but one that

I’m excited sink my teeth into and see where it take me.

Who knows what the future holds?

On the flip side if a defender breaks their team is penalised by reducing the number of defenders of the PC from 5 to 4 (includes GK).

This to me is a serious imbalance of justice in this rule.

I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts.

The first major one is communication.  At Vikings training I can stand there and explain a drill to the group and if need be, draw it on a whiteboard and say to the boys “let’s go” and it just happens. They just get it! The drill is well executed from the first repetition and it continually improves from there as they develop strategies from there.  On the flip side, it is amazing to see the results after explaining it to a group of players at club level (normally Pennant A/Pennant B and few Pennant D players as well).  People are running everywhere, the ball is being passed to the wrong person it was as if they weren’t even listening to the instruction (which I have found may sometimes be the case!). Whilst I appreciate people have different learning styles (e.g. visual learner vs a ‘doing’ learner…apologies for non-technical terms) but I’m sure at the elite level there are players with the same learning styles as those that are at the lower levels but it is just an interesting observation that I have noticed.  I find myself having to repeat the same message different ways at the lower level just to ensure everyone is clear on what needs to be done…..eventually we get there!

But I have to admit, I enjoy the challenge of having to explain the drill in multiple ways so that all people understand what needs to go on. It also allows me to develop a skill that will allow me to try different things with players that I can use at the top level when a player is struggling with concepts that require explanation.

The other is the intensity levels. Take out the actual execution of skills, the level of intensity between the 2 levels are worlds apart.  I think that the players of lower levels have all the opportunity to train at the higher intensity, but there is just something in their makeup that sees them happy with ‘cruising’ through sessions.  For instance I’ll set up a drill with the Vikings and straight away they are in to it, no matter how simple it is like a bull at a gate.  Everyone has 2 legs and 2 arms (at least those playing hockey) and they can all run and move at the same intensity irrespective of their ability to hit and trap but for some reason, even after giving a good ‘spray’ and rev-up, there is a clear gap in level of intensity which I can only put down to the individual’s internal desire to improve and compete.  This to me is one of the most important things that sets good players apart from best.

So that’s the challenge I face each week is to not only set up structured, purposeful drills but also ensure that I can get my players of a lower level competing at the right game intensity to ensure they improve under those conditions. For the elite, it’s about putting a foot up their backsides to make sure they are at a higher intensity than a match so they find normal match tempo a lot more comfortable.

Thanks to those that read and make comments.

Enjoy the break with your family and friends, I know I will

Ho Ho Ho!

Trav.

During the warm up for my final matches, I encountered a couple of games being decided by penalty strokes.  There is nothing more heart breaking than losing a premiership on a penalty stroke shootout, a feeling I’ve witnessed a few too many times in my career! A lot of it comes down to luck, does the goalie guess the right way? Does the striker put the ball in the right spot?  Don’t get me wrong, whatever sport you play from winning an olympic gold medal  down to wining a club premiership you need a little bit of luck, but I sit here and think why do we choose this path to win a game of hockey by such means when there’s a better way.

From speaking to most players they hate the idea of having a game decided on a shootout, I agree. To me whether your playing hockey or football (soccer) you want win or lose the match playing the game.  From all the ‘experimental’ rules I’ve played with the best one invented has never been implemented by the governing body. At the end of full time if both teams were locked in a tie, 2 players from both sides would sit out and the match would be become a 9 v 9 with a golden goal deciding the winner. If at the end of the first period of extra time, both sides were still locked in a draw, another 2 players are ‘removed’ and the game becomes a 7 v 7.

On about 10 occassions when playing this rule I have seen the match go to 7 v 7 once, with the game sorted out in the 9 v 9 scenario.  By removing players, more space is created and that means more scoring opportunities. Whilst it is exciting to watch, the best part about it is that people are playing hockey instead of just standing there pushing the ball at a stationary keeper. This way of determing a winner is exciting and for the crowd as  they are on the edge of their seat and with such an open field, it becomes a battle of fitness and skill execution.

At the end of the day, both sides walk away saying they lost ‘playing’ hockey rather than par-taking in an occassion that provides a quick and easy result.  Let’s hope this scenario is implemented sometime in the future as it will make our sport an even better spectacle than it already is.

Say no to strokes!!