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Joined September 2016
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Former Olympian and kookaburra Hockey Captain
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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.
SIMON ORCHARD: Conformity can be cowardly - The change hockey in Australia needs
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.
SIMON ORCHARD: Conformity can be cowardly - The change hockey in Australia needs