“The opposite of courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow.”
My Dad sent me this Jim Hightower quotation via text some time ago, and it caught me at an opportune moment.
Seeds of doubt had begun to sprout in my mind about the environment being created by the Australian high-performance hockey program.(Click to Tweet)
And not necessarily about the hockey specific aspects of being a Kookaburra, but more so about the distinct lack of ‘extra curricular’ opportunities our group had steadily and almost unknowingly been denied.
However, the beat of the Brazilian drums had begun to grow louder, as Rio poked its head over the horizon. So I pressed pause on these thoughts and desires, and shifted my focus back to the hockey field.
Until now that is.
That Hightower quote brought an issue to the surface that had been niggling away at me for some time, but really only came to the surface recently.
It was 2015, and the inevitable mental hangover that came with being World and Commonwealth Champions a year earlier was setting in. It felt like the confetti that rained down on us after those victories had barely been swept away before we were embarking on a new year of hockey challenges.
The grind of another Olympic cycle was beginning to wear. I was wondering what else was out there. Starting to begrudge the program for not allowing me to chase my dreams away from the pitch, while still committing on it. I wanted a life outside of hockey, and it wasn’t forthcoming.
Perhaps more worrying was the fact that about half a dozen bright and bubbly faces arrived in Perth in 2015, and after only a few short months, our program had already made it clear that hockey came first.
This made me ponder the question: are the in-between years – those sandwiched between World Cups and Olympic games – for the high-performance hockey programs in this country wasted ones?
Australian hockey players don’t roll back into a nationally televised and widely received domestic competition the year after an Olympics or World Cup, and we have few flagship events coming up on the international calendar. Yet we continue to train and exist in an environment that is essentially full-time.
Some players are given allowances to go and play for clubs in foreign leagues, clubs who offer decent money and a unique hockey experience for six months. Even though this is a fantastic experience, it is a sabbatical of sorts – a chance to escape the daily grind and monotony of the Perth training environment.
How very Wallaby-esque of us. Except we do it for a pittance of what those guys earn.
But this isn’t a ‘woe is me’ tale of financial hardship. That’s not why we play the game. Rather, it is an honest plea to break the shackles of conformity and trail blaze our way into a new era of semi-professionalism.
The Australian men’s hockey program has almost become a full-time job, even though we are still widely considered a semi-professional sport.
I hazard a guess to say we lodge similar hours to Gary Ablett or Greg Inglis, but without the long-term security and compensation that comes with being among the best in our field.
Gone are the days where our squad was ‘working class’, as ex-Kookaburra Rob Hammond used to say. Guys like Hammond and Bevan George seemed to wear that tag as a badge of honour, and have even been heard to credit their outstanding success to this type of training environment.
This era, under then-coach Barry Dancer, is arguably Australian hockey’s greatest. They’d be up before even the earliest birds warbled. They’d have done their dash before the day’s fresh newspaper slapped onto your front steps. They’d watch the sun come up each morning, and knew as their session finished, that today presented opportunities well outside the sometimes-mundane boundaries of elite sport.
It was from this blue-collar training environment these two fellows grew to become as, Dancer put it so eloquently earlier, great athletes and great men.
May I remind you, they are also Olympic champions.
I picked up the phone last year and called Barry Dancer. He was the Kookaburras coach between 2001-08, and during his regime, Barry implemented a program where athletes were forced to seek out opportunities away from the field. Opportunities that would benefit them later in life, or if hockey didn’t work out.
He even said there was a time when athlete payments were withheld if someone failed to adhere to the protocol. That’s how serious he was about developing the ‘complete athlete’.
When asked why, Barry said that the players needed balance in their lives. They needed things away from hockey to invest in. He said he also felt some fatherly responsibility to each athlete he had under his care in Perth.
Most of the guys had moved from the east coast and he felt it was his duty as national coach to not only develop good hockey players, but good men with good life skills as well. I really admire this attitude and outlook.
Toward the end of Barry’s tenure however, some of his players had started playing overseas and earning enough money to comfortably support themselves. This ruined the ‘working class’ system.
Why train at 6am when money earned overseas topped up the heavily government-reliant funding we received in Perth, meaning work or university was merely something we used to know?
Barry retired after the Beijing Olympics and Ric Charlesworth took over. This was when the ‘hockey first’ mentality really took over.
Now, we spend our days training in timeslots like 9-11am or 3-5pm. In the last eight years, we have trained almost religiously every day of the week bar Sunday. Thankfully we have recently been given Saturdays off.
Couple this with club hockey commitments we have on the weekend (which is a serious highlight of my hockey week) and I don’t have to tell you how many days that means we have off.
This type of schedule does have a few positive outcomes though: it could make us the best hockey team in the world; it’s family friendly for guys who have young kids to look after, or for partners who are in workforce; the conditions are obviously nicer; and the car park is completely empty at that time of the morning.
But in my opinion, the negatives make a much more comprehensive case: this type of training burns athletes out, shortening their careers; it severely limits the ability for guys to work, study or pursue other interests outside of the sport; it doesn’t acclimatise athletes to the rigors of the ‘real world’; and it significantly hinders the high-performance program athletes’ ability to stay involved in local competitions and grassroots hockey.
So that’s my piece. I guess at the end of the day, hockey will define many in our group. Either because they want it to, or they will allow it to. But I guess I am trying to ensure we at least get that choice.
There are some that harbor desires to stay invested in hockey forever and the sport desperately needs these people. The really good ones can earn a living off it for many years to come. But they are the exception, not the rule.
Over the last ten years our program has made tweaks and added pieces that encourage growth away from the pitch, but so much more could and should be done.
Either way, I won’t conform to a future of ‘retired’ athletes with limited support. Take note Hockey Australia. Put a system in place that not only creates great hockey players, but great opportunity as well.
Long after we are all gone, the young men that pull on the Kookaburras shirt deserve to be given the gift of opportunity. Not a cap of conformity.
Because even a dead fish can go with the flow.
Simon Orchard is an Australian hockey player who has played over 200 games for the Kookaburras. Simon won Australia’s player of the year award in 2010, and has been to two Olympic Games.
Warren Birmingham
Guest
Yeh , sorry Jenny , of course Blake as well, of course.
Jenny Govers
Guest
Not to mention Warren that Blake Govers is also an Olympian and Kookaburra
Jenny Govers
Guest
Warren, you have missed to mention Blake Govers as one of NSWIS athletes and AHL player
The Pink Chick's Wife
Guest
Thank you for your illuminating historical perspective and your contribution to the sport. I agree that hockey should also be unafraid of change. However there is either change for the sake of or too little change in the sport. The issue is that of positive change and it should encompass a wide range of issues including declining numbers, declining standards in the sport, failure of administration to promote the sport more widely and lack of sponsorship. Change to bring about the end of nepotism, favouritism, "jobs for mates," flawed selection processes and really genuine independent selectors would be a good start. Whilst Simon makes good arguments for a more wholistic approach, many of the very talented athletes are lost not at the national level but rather at the State and local levels often because of these very issues. By the way Blake Govers seems to be missing from your Kookaburras list. If his brother is from NSW surely he is too ?
warren birmingham
Roar Rookie
G'day Simon , The pros and cons of the centralised system have been well discussed over the years but I personally believe it won’t change. There are significant benefits of having all the top athletes living and training in the one location from a coaching point of view but does this impact our chances of coming up every 4 years to try and win a gold medal at the pinnacle of our sport, the Olympic games? I think it does. Let’s face it , and I wish this wasn't the case, but hockey's marketing strategy to the community is based around Olympic success every 4 years. Whilst I certainly value the numerous Champions Trophy and World Cup gold medal I was part of as a player, I would swap them all for another Australian Olympic Gold medal. The AWE funding model puts enormous pressure on the way our athletes are selected for tours in-between Olympics as the teams need to maintain their world ranking to guarantee the funding. Without the funding there are no tours, no development opportunities and significantly reduced national program of opportunities. This effectively means a smaller development pool and less athletes to choose from come Olympic selection time. When the centralised program was born in 1984, Perth was an excellent choice because of various factors. Real estate and rent was half the cost of Sydney or Melbourne, the Perth club competition was very strong and boasted many international players, the WA state team had 13 of the top 16 Australian players and would have national players sitting on the bench throughout Australian Championships , the cost of living was inexpensive and it was a hell of lot easier getting out of bed in July at 5-30am than what it would of been in Canberra . In addition to this, the eastern states didn't have the facilities we have today . Sydney didn't even have a synthetic surface let alone the 65 we have around NSW now. Back in ‘84 the Australian team played around 15 - 20 matches in a calendar year and by the time I finished in 95 I think were playing about 35 per year. I presume it would be more like 50 nowadays, but I’ll have to ask Orchy to be sure. What that meant was there were significantly different reasons for the program being based in Perth than there is today. We needed the centralised program to develop the underpinning national playing group but now the states facilities , coaching structures and DTE programs are sophisticated and very well administered throughout all the eastern states. Unfortunately, the group that misses out the most are the athletes that we expect to be the stars in four years’ time. These young athletes are training in their home states without role models. At the age of 19 or 20 they are at the top of the tree. They don't get the chance to get beaten by and learn from Simon Orchard and our other Kookaburras at training every day. Imagine the growth of this talented group if they trained with and against Kieran Govers, Flynn Ogilvy , Matthew Dawson, Tom Craig , Tristan White and Mathew Willis rather than meeting them for the first time when they get off the plane at the AHL tournament every October. I have literally had HNSW athletes meet our Hockeyroo and kookaburra stars when they arrive at the AHL tournament and book into the NSW team accommodation. So yes, it’s very complex. There is no easy solution. Geography in Australia presents challenges in sport as well as the business world. My good mate and ex roommate Graham Reid who is the current national coach would, and does disagree with me, and I can certainly understand his point of view. But I keep on thinking ... if you do the same tomorrow as you did yesterday can you really expect a different result. Change is often uncomfortable and challenging , but should that deter us from searching. I know in the business world it wouldn’t.
Johnno
Guest
Hi Warren Thanks for replying. Your business that you did was almost ahead of it's time it seems. It's clearly a massive issue your business is/or was attempting to deal with or provide solutions with. And clearly became popular with many executives it provided programs and strategic advice to, and now sports governing bodies are doing what your business was doing. Your schedule was tortuous,how the hell you could work part-time or full-time/ and maintain this playing schedule you must have a lot of endurance. Did you find time to cook and go to the supermarket or were you living off-take away(totally unstable take-away food for an elite athlete)? But this schedule clearly had a negative impact on your performance. More needs to be done with better off-field support about promoting life balance, other career planning for life after hockey, and ideally playing players to be full-time hockey players would be ideal to. If I was an Aussie hockey player, I'd say to "Hockey Australia" I'm only available for the "Commonwealth game and the Olympics", and the rest of the time I will be unavailable due to me playing professionally club hockey in "Europe and India" where I will be paid$ properly. So that means no champions trophy/Olympic qualifier's/other torunaments, and if you don't like my terms then I will take the money and no olympics or com games(gotta put food on the table and have financial security). Maybe Hockey Australia banned the players from the national team who had the "Terms" that I laid out, and would only re-elect them if they committed to all matches the Kookaburra's played. More off-field support clearly needs to be done by Hockey Australia, to help develop players and prepare them for life after hockey. You know all this but from an outside looking in, I ask myself a few questions about other hockey issues in OZ. 1)How the Kookaburras like rugby union(with wallabies) have done so well with such a limited playing pool I have no idea 2)Why is hockey so successful in getting the game into the sydney private schools at all the girls schools, but not the boys schools,when basketball came into boys private schools in the 90's. And the Kookaburras then and now, have a much better record than the Boomers(and I'm a basketball fan to by the way). I went to a private school and we only did it in PE. I would have played the sport in summer if it was offered. So people like me who had a potential interest in the sport and the right skill set for such a sport, were lost to hockey. And now in my mid 30's only interest I have in the sport is at Olympics or Com games if we make the gold medal match. So only once or twice every 4-years will Hockey enter my radar, when it had the potential to be more than that, like the footy codes or basketball with me or tennis. If basketball was put onto the school summer sports program in boys private schools, where was Hockey? Was hockey australia like rugby union in Australia, asleep at the wheel taking all it's success for granted thinking we'd be good at men's hockey forever without bothering to invest to wider audiences in OZ. Simon has had a good career, and the lack of promotion last 25-30 years means aussie sports fans like me haven't heard of him. I've only heard of about 3 men's hockey players over a 25-30 year timespan(yourself/rick charlesworth/Jay stacey) and I'm a sports fan. And a side that has had so much success as the kookaburra's, sports fans in OZ should have been exposed to the sport and players more. Hopefully Rio results for men have burst that bubble. Thank you for replying Warren, I appreciated hearing your playing schedule and your business you been doing, and problems facing hockey in Australia, cheers.
Simon Massey
Roar Rookie
G'day Simon, Thanks for your insights and nice to see Buster, amongst others, getting involved in the conversation. It's a really interesting discussion. A couple of thoughts: - The controversial Australian Government Winning Edge strategy essentially provides financial support for winners. No matter how you look at it, the Kookaburras / Hockeyroos were disappointing in Rio, and there would be reasonable expectations that funding will drop in real terms over the coming years. So now provides a great opportunity to embrace a new semi-professional program to ensure future success, both on and off the field. - Could state institutes of sport be provided with increased levels of support to enable Australia players to live in state capitals for the majority of the year? As someone who plays in the Sydney Competition, any involvement from Kookaburras on a regular basis would be brilliant. - And finally, the message of this article serves to highlight the value of the American college sport system (across all sports - including Olympic sports). All players study and train at the same time. While the context is different in Australia, tertiary institutions need to continue to explore ways to partner with the Australian Sports Commission and state-based sports institutions. I can still remember sitting in our first-year stats course when Thorpey walked into the room... All the best Simon.
warren birmingham
Roar Rookie
Good Morning Johnno ..yes I’m still around. Firstly , I completely understand where Simon is coming from in his article and fully support him. I was so concerned in this area when I was playing that I started a company at the age of 25( 4 years into my international career) that I operated and managed for the next 26 years which took Work Life Balance Programs into business. Unlimited Potential was the first to do this in Australia and we put 15600 senior executives in Australia and New Zealand through the 6 months program over that period to assist business personal achieve balance, and modify their personal performance to complement their business career. The reason I started working with business was because I went to the governing bodies of the sport at that time about providing this service for elite athletes. They had no idea what I was talking about and had no inclination to invest in this area. Interesting now that the major codes spend an incredible amount of funds in this area. At Perth we used to train the following time slots so we could work , study or develop our interests outside the game. This was encouraged by our National Coach Richard Aggiss and our training program was set around this philosophy. Our schedule was – Monday AM 6-8am Training Monday 4-30 to 6-30 pm training Tuesday AM 6-8am Training Tuesday PM – Fremantle Club Training Wednesday AM 6-8am Training Wednesday PM – free Thursday AM 6-8am Training Thursday Pm – Fremantle Club training Friday AM 6-8am Training Friday PM – Club Comp or rest Saturday AM – 6-8am Training Sunday – Club comp or rest Perth Hockey League was played on Friday night and Sunday afternoons , so if you played Friday you got the weekend off after training Saturday morning or if you played Sunday you got Friday night off. Richard Aggiss was excellent , he knew that I trained excessively hard and after a 6 week block I was mentally shot and my game, attitude and general wellbeing would suffer if I didn’t recharge. He used to ban from training for 4 days and encourage me to spend time windsurfing( favorite pastime) or with my partner throughout this period . He made this mandatory and once he caught me training… and let’s just say , I didn’t disobey again! Interesting , and it may be a coincidence, but many of the group have become successful financially and career wise after hockey due to their study and career opportunity this program provided. They also stayed in the game for long periods . I finished with the national team at 34 and 6 months. I started my organisation at 25 years of age and the company was well established when I moved out of hockey at 34 . I moved from back from Perth to Sydney at 30 after living there in the system for 10 years with my coaches full support. Personally and professionally , I’m not a fan of the mandatory centralised model but we can debate that at another time. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Perth and Fremantle Hockey Club was my home, but I had team mates that chose not to be based in Perth fulltime and it certainly didn’t impact on their international performance. Records will verify that our international success was arguably better than today. Simon , isn’t suggesting the sport is broken , he is suggesting we need to be brave enough to examine what we can do better in order to move forward and maximise the youth potential that flows through our system. He isn’t talking about not doing the work, he knows to be successful you have to train and train bloody hard. After 26 years with Unlimited Potential I moved into Hockey as professional as Coaching Director of HNSW, coached the HNSW Arrows to AHL success and currently coach the Waratahs . Throughout this time my passion for “looking after” the future of athletes has only deepened. After all , they may be World Champions and Olympic icons but they are still young people…… and somebody’s children. Let’s look after them.
Warren Birmingham
Guest
Good Morning Jonno ..yes I’m still around. Firstly , I completely understand where Simon is coming from in his article and fully support him. I was so concerned in this area when I was playing that I started a company at the age of 25( 4 years into my international career) that I operated and managed for the next 26 years which took Work Life Balance Programs into business. Unlimited Potential was the first to do this in Australia and we put 15600 senior executives in Australia and New Zealand through the 6 months program over that period to assist business personal achieve balance, and modify their personal performance to complement their business career. The reason I started working with business was because I went to the governing bodies of the sport at that time about providing this service for elite athletes. They had no idea what I was talking about and had no inclination to invest in this area. Interesting now that the major codes spend an incredible amount of funds in this area. At Perth we used to train the following time slots so we could work , study or develop our interests outside the game. This was encouraged by our National Coach Richard Aggiss and our training program was set around this philosophy. Our schedule was – Monday AM 6-8am Training Monday 4-30 to 6-30 pm training Tuesday AM 6-8am Training Tuesday PM – Fremantle Club Training Wednesday AM 6-8am Training Wednesday PM – free Thursday AM 6-8am Training Thursday Pm – Fremantle Club training Friday AM 6-8am Training Friday PM – Club Comp or rest Saturday AM – 6-8am Training Sunday – Club comp or rest Perth Hockey league was played on Friday night and Sunday afternoons , so if you played Friday you got the weekend off after training Saturday morning or if you played Sunday you got Friday night off. Richard Aggiss was excellent , he knew that I trained excessively hard and after a 6 week block I was mentally shot and my game, attitude and general wellbeing would suffer if I didn’t recharge. He used to ban from training for 4 days and encourage me to spend time windsurfing( favorite pastime) or with my partner throughout this period . He made this mandatory and once he caught me training… and let’s just say , I didn’t disobey again! Interesting , and it may be a coincidence, but many of the group have become successful financially and career wise after hockey due to their study and career opportunity this program provided. They also stayed in the game for long periods . I finished with the national team at 34 and 6 months. I started my organisation at 25 years of age and the company was well established when I moved out of hockey at 34 . I moved from back from Perth to Sydney at 30 after living there in the system for 10 years with my coaches full support. Personally and professionally , I’m not a fan of the mandatory centralised model but we can debate that at another time. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Perth and Fremantle Hockey Club was my home, but I had team mates that chose not to be based in Perth fulltime and it certainly didn’t impact on their international performance. Simon , isn’t suggesting the sport is broken , he is suggesting we need to be brave enough to examine what we can do better in order to move forward and maximise the youth potential that flows through our system. He isn’t talking about not doing the work, he knows to be successful you have to train and train bloody hard. After 26 years with Unlimited Potential I moved into Hockey as professional as Coaching Director of HNSW, coached the HNSW Arrows to AHL success and currently coach the Waratahs . Throughout this time my passion for “looking after” the future of athletes has only deepened. After all , they may be World Champions and Olympic icons but they are still young people…… and somebody’s children. Let’s look after them.
Johnno
Guest
Warren Birmingham like rick charlesworth was well known in to wider aussie sports fans, is he still involved with hockey in Australia.
Johnno
Guest
you say that, but then we produce so many good Kookaburaa teams, so I don't believe that. Hockey has just lacked the promotion in the boys private schools.
Emma
Guest
Hi Simon, This is an amazing piece. When I was in year 12 I ran for the Pierre De Coubertin award and won it on both what I was achieving in sport and with a drawing of you as a player. Over the years I have always found you to be a steadfast role model in both player and person. So thankyou. Yet, two or three years ago I began to give on my hockey dreams, they became consumptive and like you speak of there is no balance in the current mentality in Australia. It is refreshing and vital to hear you voice it. I feel so sorry for you that this is also the way you feel and I hope that you find the balance Thankyou for sharing some pretty hard stuff that I imagine you find hard to talk about, Emma
JD
Guest
"Flair is an over-rated commodity"? Not if it is essential to your culture ... watch the Pele life story film, and how getting the right culture was essential to Brazil's world cups. And try telling the Cowboys that the difference JT makes is because he sticks to the pattern. Besides that, I should congratulate you on a great article. I suspect our Club coach (Matt Smith) sees it a very similar light- as he now leads that role of 'life outside football' for the Reds; and dates from that earlier hockey era. Although not directly involved, I do know of players from our Club who have been turned off national team participation because it is, in essence, a 'career-killer' through the lack of opportunity to pursue both hockey and study/career. Your article presses home this point!
Jean-Marie Rudd
Guest
It's a very brave piece and I believe it sends a message to the AIS and other sporting bodies that a champion player and team is more than just about physical ability. Mental wellbeing is the forgotten "high performance drug" so many ignore. I think this translates into the workplace as well. I've worked with many "clones" who never had an original idea nor could think outside the box. Makes for stale personal and corporate growth.
JudyH
Guest
I picked up on the comment by Ann Smith about young hockey players access to Australian Rep players. Over here on the East Coast we pretty much have to wait for an Olympian to retire to get top level hockey players involved with our developing juniors at club level. A visit and / or training session with a top hockey player does so much to encourage the young ones. I am not talking of just the state rep players e.g. National U13s and AHL at the same venue.. I am talking about club kids who are striving to improve their own game. A Kookaburra and Hockeyroo's presence with these kids would raise the profile of the sport too when they talk to school mates and family about their experience with a top player.
Don
Roar Rookie
Thanks Simon. I was thinking the Gold Coast sports super centre facility for the 2018 Comm Games may be an option as a permanent Aus Hockey HPU base.
donde es Fuss
Guest
boys generally prefer other sports
Lord Dudley
Guest
Good article. Looks like Hockey Admin are stuffing up - the results speak for themselves. I am no hockey expert - I only watch at the olympics - but both the womens and mens teams looked distinctly unskillful compared to previous years to my novice eye. Did not pay much attention to a guy called Orch, James Chapman would know a certain rowing coach we both know, he likes his athletes to be studying or chipping away at a career.
Johnno
Guest
It amazes me in sydney, all the private schools (girls) have hockey teams, but the boys private schools barely any do, they only play it in PE, yet field-hockey in OZ has such a rich history. They need to get hockey into private boys schools and public schools more. It's a good game. The people running hockey in OZ can't expect to keep players at senior level in the game in OZ, with such draconian demands. A good article, a wonderful sport.
ES
Guest
Thanks for a great article Orch. Congratulations on standing up for your beliefs, it's fascinating to see a counter-argument to the continuous movement to full time professionalism as the optimal model for sporting success. As some other comments have alluded too, we see too many examples in professional sport what life in a bubble can lead too as well as the impact as coming out the other side with no real skills for the next stage of life. If you could change three things today with the program what would they be? As a long term member of Freo Hockey, I've been really impressed and grateful with the passion and involvement you've bought to the club (and especially the juniors), given the other demands placed on you as a professional athlete. Best of luck going forward, hopefully you can rattle some cages in Hockey Australia and Hockey WA! It'd be great to see more of your work on the Roar.