ROAD SO FAR WC10 x FORGESSON

With 3 games done and dusted in our pool, the World Cup campaign is well underway.  We haven’t had the ideal start with losing to Germany 2-0, Netherland 7-3 and then having a draw against Japan 2-2.  Apart from obviously not winning; the game against Germany felt reasonable good.  We were dangerous with the ball and created plenty of circle penetrations which we felt we lacked building up to the tournament.  At the other end of the pitch, our defensive penalty corners were solid.  Unfortunately, not enough shots were at the goal and at the end of the day, the Germans were far more clinical where it mattered and made the most of their chances in the end.

The game against the Dutch was full of mixed emotions as it was my 100^th cap but also not at all the result we were after.  We started well and I managed to score in the first few minutes which surprised me as much as the Dutch.  This turned into a bit of a nightmare with them getting 2 goals back immediately and then continuing to run us Kiwis rampant.  We had long patches during the game where we constantly turned over ball and defensively our lines were way out of whack which they punished us for.  The first 5 minutes of the second half resulted in the Dutch scoring 3 goals and against one of the top teams in the world a comeback after that was realistically out of reach.  The team continued to work hard and fight and as a result we saw 2 more goals go our way to make the score line look slightly nicer!

On a brighter note, the most recent game we have played was against Japan and as mentioned we finished with a draw.  This game felt much improved on the first two, defensively tighter as a unit and in attack we managed to use our speed to our advantage and punished them down the right hand side when we did target them down there.  Like the previous two games we didn’t make the most of our chances and it wasn’t until late in the game when we were down 2 nil that we finally managed to get the ball in the back of the net.  One point out of the game which is better than none and tonight we play the Aussies which we all know will be another tough battle as it always is.  By the sound of all the banter going on in the crowds it could also be quite feisty between the two side’s supporters who are both managing to put in huge efforts each game.  The NZ crew continue to remind us how draining and exhausting it is which is hilarious but completely understandable coping with the wind and rain, chants and beers that they ‘need’ to get through….

I have been lucky enough to have friends and family here watching and yesterday with an improved change in the weather I got the opportunity to spend some time with them.  I saw parts of the river, the memorial and some markets which was beautiful in the sun.  The locals are really friendly and with basically no knowledge of Spanish they continue to be patient with my attempt at stringing sentences together which is a sigh of relief at times.  With the restrictions in language it’s incredible to see the amount of interest and support that people still show.  We are often stopped in the street for photos etc and at the turf, get swamped for any gear including clothing and hockey gear.  It’s pretty amazing and probably the only time we would get treated like some sort of star so it’s been quite weird but also refreshing to see how much people appreciate the hockey.

Hope everyone watching is continuing to enjoy everything going on in Rosario.  The atmosphere and history that is being created is insane, such an amazing place to experience this World Cup and I have never been surrounded by anything like it before.

Krys

WWC10 x GAME 2

Game 2 v India – 6-3 Win..

The weather was not nice… windy, freezing and wet would best describe it. On the pitch it was fine once you got going, but for the Aussie support crew they had to resort to dance moves and cheering to help keep them warm.

The game wasn’t played as planned, but in the end we came through with the goods and got the 3 points we were after. India gave us a good run for our money and didn’t lay down easy. The first half saw a pretty even contest and we struggled to break their defence. However the second half saw us come out much stronger and we started to get a run on which created some good goal scoring opportunities that we were able to put away.

Today was our rest day… recovery, debrief and homework has been done. Tomorrow sees us playing a powerful Dutch team that has had a couple of convincing wins in their first two matches of the tournament. They are in pretty good form and we will need to be on the top of our game to match them. It is always a good challenge playing a quality team like the Dutch, so I am looking forward to it. There is some doubt that we might not play due to the weather, but we are still preparing as we normally would. Game on!

xo T

WC2010 x HERE IT IS x ATTARD

World Cup 2010… here it is.

The Hockeyroos tour started with a rather long trip, from Perth Australia, across the country to Sydney, over the ditch to NZ, around the world to Santiago, over the Andes to Buenos Aires and then a 4 hour bumpy bus ride to Rosario, but we made it and we are stoked to be here.

We have spent the last week in Rosario getting used to the time difference, settling in at the hotel, practicing and playing on the turf and adjusting to the typical Argentine late nights and long sleep ins!

We have played a couple of practice matches in this time, one v South Africa and one v Argentina. The match v Argentina was a lot of fun, hockey wise and in general. We were able to experience the crowd and amazing atmosphere that the Argie locals can produce but also get up to the fast pace and skilful hockey we expect to meet with most of the teams during the World Cup. As a whole we are well prepared for the tournament and are looking forward to facing some strong competition.

The vibe in Rosario is pretty special and it was kicked off with the opening ceremony a few nights ago. We arrived, fashionably late to the ceremony with all of the other teams there and a crowd of around 4000. We were given a warm welcome by the city and the hockey world with some traditional Argentine dances followed by an awesome fireworks display.

The games then began. We were the last game of the first round and faced a frenetic Japan side. We started off a little slow with a fair few debutants, but as the game went on we found our straps and came together well. It was a tough game where we missed a few of our opportunities but came away with a 2-1 win and 3 points on the board.

It is a rest day today and we have enjoyed a sleep in and a little bit of down time. We will do some research on India this evening and prepare for the match tomorrow. Game on!

xo T.

Photos: Daniel Carson | DCIMAGES.ORG

SEVEN ONE x VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Seven One. Never in my career would I have thought that one day I’d be writing a post here on G-Life telling you about the day my team, the OAMPS Queensland Blades, won the Australian Hockey league final seven goals to one over the NSW Waratahs.

Personally, this now makes it 5 AHL Championships from 8 Finals in the last 9 years.

I guess we were in good shape as a team heading into the final. Over the 5 games we played during the week before Saturdays final we’d scored 29 goals and conceded only 5. In total this season, we have scored 50 goals, conceded 18 in only 11 games. This has to be a record for the AHL, or close to.

When coming up against the NSW Waratahs in the final, we spoke about how they are the best “team” in the competition. Sure we’ve got a list that any coach in the world would like to have at his disposal but they were what we believed at the time to be a true team – efficient – tough – relentless and clever.

Speaking of our players list, let me quickly make mention of our line-up:

Nathan Burgers (Aus GK), David Reid (Aus Jnr GK), Mark Knowles (Aus), Kris Glass (Aus Jnr), Nick Budd, Matt Swan (Aus), Liam DeYoung (Aus), Scott Richards, Rob Hammond (Aus), Peter Dillon, Jamie Dwyer (Aus), Tim Bates (Aus), Jake Burns, Jason Wilson (Aus), Troy Elder (Ex-Aus), Matt Ghodes (Aus), Jacob Whetton (Aus Jnr), Mick Bates Aus Jnr).

If you know Australian Hockey then you know this is a talented list, if you do not, then that is 9 current Australian Senior Players, 1 ex-Australian Senior Player, 4 Australian Junior Players, some future guns, 5 Olympic Gold Medalists, 5 World Cup Gold Medalists and some very proud Queenslander’s that have been involved with this team for more than a decade. 6 of they guys use Gryphon. That’s a third of this exceptional list.Our Coach is the former Australian Fullback, Gryphon legend, Olympic Gold Medalist Matt Wells. He’s is actually a former teammate with over 30% of this Blades team. Matt retired from international hockey after the Beijing Olympics and started coaching at the Queensland Academy of Sport in 2009. He’s found his own style and is a major reason as to why the Blades were so dominant in the Finals week. He is the 2nd youngest coach in the league.

However with all this talent it doesn’t count for anything unless we are all on the same page. This was shown in our last game of the Classification Stage where we had to beat the WA Smokefree Thundersticks to make the final. We did. 6-0. WA are recently our biggest opponents as we had lost to them in the previous two AHL Finals in ’08 and ’09. So there was some unfinished business that day.

As for the final, we came out with one thing on our collective minds. To do our individual job very, very well. We knew if 70% of us did this then we’d play well. After 6 minutes, we were up 2-0. Half time had us 3-1 up and with a corner to play after full time we were 6-1 up. To finish clinically was important to us and nothing summed this up better than our last play of the final when we strung 4 sharp passes together to convert the PC and finish 7-1 winners. The Blades showed the rest of Australia how to play fast, positive, attacking hockey throughout the week and are unquestionably the deserving champions.

Victory is sweet.

FINAL HIGHLIGHTS – 1st HALF

FINAL HIGHLIGHTS – 2nd HALF

Cheers Rob

AHL x FINALS WEEK x PT2

My last post was at the begining of the classification stage, well, I can now update you with the results of this 2nd round and the make up of the final day of the AHL, who’s in the final, who missed out, and the battle for pride on day 8 of this finals week here in Brisabane.

The 2 Pool Classification Stage results were:

Tuesday 24th August

Pool A: Victorian Vikings 3 drew OAMPS Southern Hotshots 3

Pool A: NSW Waratahs 5 def Tassie Tigers 1

Pool B: OAMPS Queensland Blades 4 def Darwin Airport Resort Territory Stingers 1

Pool B: WA Smokefree Thundersticks 3 def Canberra Lakers 1

Wednesday 25th August

Pool A: Victorian Vikings 3 def  Tassie Tigers 1

Pool A: NSW Waratahs 6 def  OAMPS Southern Hotshots 3

Pool B: OAMPS Queensland Blades 3 drew Canberra Lakers 3

Pool B: WA Smokefree Thundersticks 5 def Darwin Airport Resort Territory Stingers 1

Friday 27th August

Pool A: NSW Waratahs 7 def Victorian Vikings 1

Pool A:  def  Tassie Tigers 3 def  OAMPS Southern Hotshots 1

Pool B: OAMPS Queensland Blades 6 def WA Smokefree Thundersticks 0

Pool B:  Canberra Lakers 2 drew Darwin Airport Resort Territory Stingers 2

So at the end of this stage here is the make up of the two pools:

Pool A

POS		TEAM	P	W	L	D	B	FF	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		NSW Waratahs	6	5	1	0	0	0	31	14	17	47
2		Victorian Vikings	6	4	1	1	0	0	23	19	4	44
3		Tassie Tigers	6	2	4	0	0	0	16	23	-7	26
4		OAMPS Southern Hotsh	6	0	5	1	0	0	13	27	-14	16

Pool B

POS		TEAM	P	W	L	D	B	FF	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		OAMPS Queensland Blades	6	3	1	2	0	0	21	10	11	40
2		Smokefree WA Thundersticks	6	3	2	1	0	0	14	12	2	32
3		Canberra Lakers	6	3	1	2	0	0	15	12	3	26
4		Darwin Airport Resort Territory Stingers	6	0	5	1	0	0	6	22	-16	9

The match ups for the final day are:

Grand Final: NSW Waratahs v OAMPS Queensland Blades

3rd/4th: Victorian Vikings v WA Smokefree Thundersticks

5th/6th: Tassie Tigers v Canberra Lakers

7th/8th: OAMPS Southern Hotshots v Darwin Airport Resort Territory Stingers

Ok, So for my team, the Queensland Blades, this is the 9th AHL grand final appearance in nine years, but we haven’t won it for the last two years, so that is in the back of my mind. In our match today, we played WA, whom we have a massive rivalry with. To meet them in the last game of the classification stage was always going to be a challenge as they are a great team. The scenario today was that we had to win, yet they could either win or draw to advance to the final. It was a tough, tight game up to the half time break. In the first 30 seconds after half time, we scored after a costly defensive turnover by WA to make it 4-0. From there, we focused on clinical simple hockey and finished 6-0 up.

NSW are up and about. I think they are the best team in this competition and they will be a tough opponent tomorrow. Hopefully we can play well, time will tell, but the big stage awaits…

Cheers Rob

AHL x FINALS WEEK x CUT THROAT

Hi All

The AHL roadshow has moved to Brisbane for the finals week and its raining goals for every team! I don’t have the records on me but in my time playing in the AHL over the past 13 years I cannot remember so many goals being scored in general! The game is alive and well!

Last Saturday and Sunday had each team finish the round robin phase of the tournament with rounds 6 & 7. This season see’s the introduction of the new format which I previously explained in detail here. Well, to bring you up to speed, here’s what’s happened so far this season:

Round 1

Smokefree WA Thundersticks 4 def Darwin Airport Resort Territory Stingers 1

Victoria Vikings 5 def Canberra Lakers 0

OAMPS Southern Hotshots 3 def OAMPS Queensland Blades 2

NSW Waratahs 6 def Tassie Tigers 3

Round 2

Tassie Tigers 4 def by Victorian Vikings 5

NSW Waratahs 4 def Canberra Lakers 2

Smokefree WA Thundersticks 1 drew OAMPS Queensland Blades 1

OAMPS Southern Hotshots 0 def by Darwin Airport Resort Territory Stingers 2

Round 3

OAMPS Queensland Blades 4 def Darwin Airport Resort Territory Stingers 1

Canberra Lakers 1 def by Tassie Tigers 2

Smokefree WA Thundersticks 7 def OAMPS Southern Hotshots 0

NSW Waratahs 2 def by Victorian Vikings 4

Round 4

Tassie Tigers 3 def by Smokefree WA Thundersticks 4

OAMPS Queensland Blades 4 def NSW Waratahs 3

Victorian Vikings 6 def OAMPS Southern Hotshots 2

Darwin Airport Resort Territory Stingers 0 def by Canberra Lakers 3

Round 5

Victoria Vikings 2 def Smokefree WA Thundersticks 1

NSW Waratahs 6 def Darwin Airport Resort Territory Stingers 1

Tassie Tigers 4 def OAMPS Southern Hotshots 3

OAMPS Queensland Blades 4 def by Canberra Lakers 4

Round 6

Smokefree WA Thundersticks 1 def by Canberra Lakers 2

OAMPS Southern Hotshots 3 def by NSW Waratahs 5

Victorian Vikings 4 def Darwin Airport Resort Territory Stingers 3

Tassie Tigers 0 def by OAMPS Queensland Blades 11

Round 7

OAMPS Southern Hotshots 0 def by Canberra Lakers 6

Darwin Airport Resort Territory Stingers 4 def Tassie Tigers 2

OAMPS Queensland Blades 5 def Victorian Vikings 0

Smokefree WA Thundersticks 4 def NSW Waratahs 1

Rankings as at round 7

POS		TEAM	P	W	L	D	B	FF	For	Ag	GD	Pts
1		Victorian Vikings	7	6	1	0	0	0	26	17	9	53
2		OAMPS Queensland Blades	7	4	2	1	0	0	30	12	18	45
3		Smokefree WA Thundersticks	7	4	2	1	0	0	22	10	12	42
4		NSW Waratahs	7	4	3	0	0	0	27	21	6	42
5		Canberra Lakers	7	4	3	0	0	0	18	15	3	38
6		Tassie Tigers	7	2	5	0	0	0	18	34	-16	28
7		Darwin Airport Resort Territory Stingers	7	2	5	0	0	0	12	23	-11	23
8		OAMPS Southern Hotsh	7	1	6	0	0	0	11	32	-21	17

Pools for 2-Pool Classification Stage

Pool A

1. Victorian Vikings – 27 points

4. NSW Waratahs – 20 points

6. Tassie Tigers – 15 points

8. OAMPS Southern Hotshots – 17 points

Pool B

2. OAMPS Queensland Blades – 16 points

3. Smokefree WA Thundersticks – 14 points

5. Canberra Lakers – 14 points

7. Darwin Airport Resort Territory Stingers – 2 points

Ok, so if you’ve just absorbed all that then the interesting part is the points that carry over to the 2-Pool Classification stage. A team only carries over their points earned against the other teams in their pool, and no team can carry through to the classification stage more points then a team ranked above them after the completion of round 7 in the round robin stage.

So what are we left with, well, both pools are still alive and the results over the coming three match days (Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday) are vital to any team that hopes to top its pool and therefore qualify for Saturdays Grand Final.

All I know is that with my team, the Queensland Blades, we are finally playing the brand of hockey that we want but are far from perfect and further from happy. Legend Troy Elder is back in the Maroon after having retired from the International arena in 2007 and has brought some experience and freshness to our group and our team is playing a simple, faced passed passing style game that has seen us hit 16 goals in our last 2 games whilst conceding none. I spoke about this efficiency in another post of mine and believe this will be the key to our success this week.

I’ll jump back on here after our next match to update you on what’s what and the results, so check back eh! Hopefully it is with good news..

Cheers Rob.

WELCOME x LAURA UNSWORTH

Hello,

My name is Laura Unsworth and i am currently a member of England and Great Britain Womens hockey team. This year has been very different to past and i have seen a lot of changes in my life.

From October 2009, the Great Britain womens team re-located to Bisham Abbey, Marlow which allows us to train together as a team everyday. As a result i moved down to Marlow from Loughborough where i am currently studying at University to join the rest of the girls.  As a team, we have just come back off a 2 week break after our bronze medal success in the Champions Trophy in Nottingham and we are getting ready for our final training phase before the team heads out to Argentina for the World Cup in just over a weeks time!

Everyone is geting really excited about heading out to Rosario as it is going to be an unbelivable experience and the crowds are going to be absolutely amazing!

Unsy xXx

WELCOME x RICHIE DAWSON-SMITH

Hi All,

I am Richie Dawson-Smith, I have recently returned from Poland after competing for England in the Under 21s European Championships.

Before the Europeans we competed as a team in a number of test matches with Belgium, Germany and Holland as well as playing at the tournament ground in a four nation’s tournament. We also had numerous training camps, so as a team we travelled to Poland feeling well prepared and confident that we could place well.

As a team we went into the tournament looking for a medal and to do so would mean we would have to beat some of the ‘big names’ to start with in Spain and Belgium who were both in our group. We had a dream start beating the Spanish 5-1. Our second game was against France, we didn’t start nearly as well as against the Spanish going 2-0 down. We pulled one back before half time and carried that momentum through to the second half bringing the scores level and finally winning 3-2.

So we were into the semi-finals regardless of the result of our final pool match against Belgium, however we still wanted to win the group so a win or a draw was essential for us. Waking up on the day of the Belgium game and it was raining, the rain didn’t stop or even slow all day. We turned up at the pitch and watch the last few minutes of the Spain – France game with everyone saying the same thing, was the pitch going to be playable. It turned out to be just about alright for the 1^st half which we went in at 1-1. The 2^nd half however was a different story with passing getting very difficult, due to the ball getting stuck in standing water.  We got stuck in our own half and went 4-1 down, eventually getting up the other end and scoring but as soon as we scored the game was called off due to the flooded pitch, and we finished off the half throwing aerials to each other. Needless to say we weren’t very happy as we essentially had to give up 1^st place in the pool without being able to properly fight for it.

So we had Holland in our semi-final. We went into the match with a strong belief that we could win the game. We played as we had been all tournament and controlled large periods of the match, but missing corners and other chances and with Holland taking theirs the game finished 3-1. Now we had to beat the old enemy Germany to win a medal.

We didn’t start well in the 3^rd- 4^th play-off and by 5 minutes into the 2^nd half we found ourselves 4-1 down, with a big mountain to climb to win the bronze. We dominated the remainder of the match pulling the score back to 4-3 with 15 minutes to go, but a number chances went begging and the game finished 4-3. We were obviously unhappy to come so close in two games to get into the medals but in the end we just didn’t convert our chances when it was really needed, but we did take some consolation in how well we had played, especially against the big names in European Hockey and having achieved the best result in the Junior Europeans since 2004.

Cheers, Richie

WELCOME x KRYSTAL FORGESSON

Hi Everyone

My name is Krystal Forgesson and I am a member of the Blacksticks Women’s team.  Since I am introducing myself I will give you a bit of info on what I have been up to and then fill you in on what the NZ girls are up to. Enjoy

Home for me is in Auckland, NZ but for the last two seasons I have played the majority of my hockey for HGC which is based in Den Haag, Netherlands.  I love playing hockey in Holland because of the high speed, intensity and skill level that you experience every week.  The club is so welcoming and my teammates are all great fun to hang out with.  The hockey is really social which makes it that much more enjoyable; whether it is eating meals together after training, meeting early before games for tea/coffee or jetting off to Barcelona for a team trip, it’s just nice to be able to really get to know your teammates and make some lifelong friends along the way.  I feel very privileged to have experienced playing overseas and meeting so many amazing people – I can’t wait for the next season which kicks off early October. Enough on me for now…..

As a team, we are currently in preparation for the World Cup in Rosario and with a little over a week before we leave NZ, it’s not long at all before the reality of being at the World Cup sets in.  The NZ team missed out on qualifying for the last WC so we are determined to make up for missing that and have a lot to prove this time around.  Since arriving home from Champions Trophy a few weeks ago, training has increased and we have focused on three main areas of our game.  CT was a good judgement of where we are compared to the top teams in the world and in that respect I think it was an extremely important tournament for us.  The team is reasonably young but I think that makes it so exciting.  Some of the younger girls are extremely talented and at times I still find it hard to believe how they manage to pull off such crazy things!  We head straight into Rosario rather than opting to train for a bit elsewhere first.  I have never been to Argentina but I have heard enough on how fanatical it can be and can’t wait to experience that side of it.

Be in touch from Rosario!

Krys

Photos: Daniel Carson | dcimages.org

HOLIDAY x THAILAND x SMITS

Hello everybody,

First of all I want to congratulate Australia with their victory of the CT10! I’m on holiday in what is perhaps one of the most beautiful countries in the world, Thailand. The people are so friendly and the landscape is fabulous!  We have seen temples, Buddha’s and rice fields and I rode an elephant. After the ride I had the opportunity to go into the river with the elephant, to wash it and play with it. What an experience! This is something I will never forget! A small deficit of Thailand? They don’t play hockey! The only thing I could find to play with was an umbrella and a pine apple as you can see on the picture below.

We met an Australian on the market in Loei and talking about things we came to the subject of sports. He loved hockey, was convinced the Aussies are better than the Dutch and of course his favourite player was… Rob Hammond!  At the moment that I’m writing this, we are in Chiang Mai, in the north, and we will travel by train back to Bangkok later this week. From there on we will visit the seashore and the beach. It’s a pity that our journey will be over in a week. But than again, hockey training will start a few days later and the new season is something to look forward to.

Enjoy!

Lennart Smits

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