2014 Hockey World Cup
- Thread starter PaarlBok
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My home town (Grafton, NSW) has four A Grade Mens sides with 3 grades and six womens with too many grades to count.
Head north to Lismore there are another five mens for grades and six (maybe seven) womens.
The other comp I've played in is Newcastle which is possibly the second strongest comp in NSW. Illawarra would be the other one that could be stronger. It has 6/7 men's teams and has six grades.
Tomikin
Simon Poidevin (60)
Canberra is big as well with both indoor / outdoor teams and great facilities. I played for years and was pretty good.
I've played since young and across 2 countries Australia / England and to states ACT / QLD / QLD Country.
I also know the coaching and style of game in oz is much better then I seen in England..
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I've played since young and across 2 countries Australia / England and to states ACT / QLD / QLD Country.
I also know the coaching and style of game in oz is much better then I seen in England..
Sent from my HTC_0P6A1 using Tapatalk
Tomikin
Simon Poidevin (60)
They have at the very top level with a quality league. They will get there.
Australia's been mostly ahead of the curve in development of players
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PaarlBok
Rod McCall (65)
My kid has been fortunate to be picked now for two years in a row to represent Boland as u16 at our Inter Provincial Tournament. This year it will be in Durban at Kearsney College and as a bonus I will also walk line to see SA U18 vs Aus at the same venue at the same time.
http://www.schoolsportsnews.co.za/hockey/sa-u18-to-play-aus/
SA Schoolsport
http://www.schoolsportsnews.co.za/hockey/sa-u18-to-play-aus/
SA Schoolsport
PaarlBok
Rod McCall (65)
with only a few days to go I am a bit hockey orientated at the moment. Interesting read.
http://self-pass.com/2014/06/29/where-are-we-heading-australia-2-0/
http://self-pass.com/2014/06/29/where-are-we-heading-australia-2-0/
Australia Men’s 2014 – Hockey 2.0
It is curious that a group of people tend to describe the Australian men’s style of playing by saying they play ‘power hockey’ as if:
1. It is a pure matter of option and not ability, culture or knowledge, therefore if other teams chose it they would also able to play ‘power hockey’ and be successful…
2. Power as they only use strength, an optimal physical condition and a hard style of playing…
3. It is some kind of ‘cheating’ or unfair style of play: ‘Everyone lost big time with the Aussies but they play power hockey you know, is not even fair…’
Well… some people (couch experts) hardly know something about sports and tend to resume their analysis to the most obvious indicator that in this case is the fact that the Australian players are effectively harder, faster and stronger than their opponents but fortunately Australia is much more than that almost negative connotation of ‘Power Hockey’.
This team was represented by a superb group of players, some in their career peak, which mastered every area of the game: physical, technical, strategical and mental leaded by a mastermind of the game mr Ric Charlesworth.
Some days ago, I read an interesting article by the former Dutch international Rob Reckers in which he used a very pertinent quote from ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky to describe Australia supremacy – ‘Don’t skate to where the puck is, skate to where the puck is going to be‘– a brilliant way to describe the primordial difference between Australia and the rest: the excellent use of the space.
Some interesting elements of Australian play:
- Using ‘push’ as preferable passing technique for mid range passing (instead of slapping);
- In the midfield excellent scanning skills (fast adapting body in a diagonal angles allowing quick vertical passing);
- Perfect use of deep areas (‘corners’ of the D), advanced receiving skills in the space;
- The difference between being and arriving to the receiving point was clear in the timing of ‘crowding’ the D when attacking, probably the most important characteristic of the Australian attack – how in ball possession the attackers never overcrowded the ‘D’ too soon while other teams have attackers already inside (giving the defensive team enough time to a good defensive positioning and making the D smaller and harder to penetrate);
- The previous point doesn’t change the fact that Australia always arrived in big numbers when attacking with perfect scoring positioning, shooting skills and remarkable agressivity and bravery (very clear in the rebounds, either in field situations as in penalty corners);
- Effective penalty corner (attacking and defending)
- Besides penalty strokes and few PC’s shooting reached predominantly low areas of the goal
Thank you Australia!
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