This week’s report
is filled with a bunch of short hitters. Here we go:
A big thanks is extended to Allan
Woods. Allan has been
around field hockey for many, many years, and has great passion for the
sport and everyone involved. He is moving to smaller digs, and is
sending to us, on a regular basis, some very significant archive
materials dealing with hockey through
the years. We received several boxes last week and are anticipating
several more in the near future. Allan is quite careful on recording
what he is sending. Each box is routinely indexed with the material
found inside. And, it is indeed rare. Every sport should maintain
archive material from the past for library and museum use, and Allan is
contributing heartily to ours. Thank you, Allan!
I am a little disappointed. After receiving well over
300 responses to the article pertaining to membership cards several
weeks ago, and then developing a contest with pretty good prize packages
for the winning entry in designing a potential membership card (a full
kit from USA Field Hockey sponsor ASICS and a DITA stick from another
major USA Field Hockey sponsor), we have received limited entries to
date. There is good-deal
stuff to be won. You have until May 1, 2010, to submit your entry to USA
Field Hockey’s David Miller (dmiller@usafieldhockey.com),
and we will announce the winner in the May 17th USA Field Hockey Weekly
Report.
Last week I traveled to San Diego’s Chula Vista Olympic Training
Center to spend quality time with USA Field Hockey’s Technical Director
of High Performance Terry Walsh, Lee Bodimeade, Women’s National Team
Coach and Nick Conway, Coach of the Men’s National Team. The
time was well spent. During our recent FIH Women’s World Cup Qualifier,
we had a stumble and fell to a good Korean team. We fell even though our
team was fitter, maneuvered better throughout the contest, but just
couldn’t score after many opportunities. Lee, Terry and Nick (as well as
the team) have identified the flaw and have developed a creative new
approach that we think will render success if the team is resilient and
willing to work hard (they always have in the past; no reason to think
this will be different). The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has
also been brought into play and the USOC is endorsing the new approach.
There are several paths to qualify for the London Olympic Games, and the
guys (and, team) have identified the various options and contingencies
for along the way. Over the span of the next couple of years, it will be
fun to watch as the plan unfolds.
Likewise with the men, Nick has developed a forward thinking plan to
build the pool of men participating in the sport. One of the impediments
USA Field Hockey has experienced is what seems to be a small pool of
men participating. Nick certainly has recognized that as an issue, and
even within his locale has taken steps to help remedy the problem. Last
week in La Jolla, CA, Nick initiated a high school program involving
forty students. He will develop that program and stick with it to
endeavor building a corps of boys in the sport in the Southern
California region. His program will be a great prototype for development
and will somewhat mirror the programs Ben Maruquin has
been carrying on in the Los Angeles area for the last few years. Ben’s
program has been running with some financial assistance from the field
hockey Men’s Foundation, USA Field Hockey and the LA84 Foundation.
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: “More
details are coming out about Larry King’s divorce. I’m friendly with
Larry King and making fun of him would be wrong. So I’m going to do the
right thing — and stop being friends with him.”
Finally, “I’d rather be a football coach. That way you only lose 11 games a year.” –Basketball coach Abe Lemon
Have a great week!
Steve