RABO HOOFDKLASSE x AMS v LAREN x VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Match of the week has Amsterdam at home to Laren which pits Holland’s best fliker in Takee Takema against Australia’s best Luke Doerner

Dutch Hoofdklasse underway!

Hi guys, with the 2009/2010 dutch season now 2 weeks old, I thought I’d drop in and let you all know hows it going and give you a bit of inside info on the happenings in Holland and at my club Oranje Zwart.

After a pretty hectic summer full of international hockey the preparation for most clubs was a little disjointed. Most of the guys involved in international competition were only able to train with their respective team mates a couple of times before the action got under way on the 13th september. The traditional warm-up event a week before Round 1, the ABN AMRO Cup, also saw many clubs resting players and not competing at full strength. We were lucky in this respect at OZ (Oranje Zwart), being able to play most of the weekend with our full squad. This saw us win the tournament for the second year running however I’m not sure how much of a good indicator this is for the season ahead.

Having said that, we were all eagerly awaiting Round 1 and our first road trip to Rotterdam. Although we didn’t play well, it would have been a great result to steal a point. However after scoring the 2-2 with 4 minutes remaining, Rotterdam had the last laugh with Phil Burrows converting a corner variation with less than a minute on the clock. A bitter pill to swallow!

Round 2 saw us welcome Bloemendaal to Eindhoven in what are in my experience always tough, physical games. A certain rivalry has developed between the two clubs, especially since the season 2004/2005 when OZ won its first Dutch Championship by beating Bloemendaal away in the third and final match of the finals. After conceding another early goal, we fought all the way and created what I think were enough chances to win the game. Unfortunately putting the ball in the back of the net proved too hard and we were once again left empty-handed. Losing 1-2 was disappointing but it was a massive improvement on the week before and hopefully an indication that we are on the right track. Having missed last week through injury it was also great to see Marc Salles, one of our two spanish players make his OZ debut. Hopefully we will have Thomas Briels (Belgium Striker) back again over the next week or two which will give us another attacking option up front.

Tonight we were back on the training field and working towards our very important game this sunday at home to SCHC. A normal training week consists of two hockey sessions a day on Tuesday and Thursday and a single session on Friday. This week the Friday session has been moved to the morning to make way for the business club night and presentation of the mens and womens teams to all the people who sponsor us and make so much possible.

So far, the competition is looking like it will once again be very close and competitive. Having strengthened their selections it also looks as though the teams who finished at the bottom of the table last year will be even more competitive. With Tilburg and Pinoke leading the table at the moment with a maximum 6 points, it should be a season full of suprises.

The plan is to drop in and give you regular updates on how things are going at OZ but also a bit of an idea of what its like living in Holland and playing in the Hoofdklasse. So for now I’m off but hope to check you all soon……. Cheers, Lucas.

Brent Dancer – Olympian Medalist

Gryphon’s own Brent Dancer (above, far right) took out the Hockey Western Australia Olympian’s Medal last week awarded to the best player in the AHG Men’s competition in Perth. Arguably the strongest domestic league in Australia, he shared the award in a three way tie with Nathan Eglington and Craig Boyne. Eglington’s wife, Lisa (pictured above) also won the Charlesworth Medal for best Female player. It was the night of nights for the Association with a turn out of 500+ at the gala dinner in support of our great game.

RABO HOOFDKLASSE x DEN BOSCH v ROTTERDAM x VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Match of the week has a passionate Den Bosch host a tough Rotterdam unit full of international talent. Sharp shooter Paul Mass was on target again to wave the Gryphon flag.

Olympians and Charlesworth Medalists

Last night saw the gathering of the who’s who in Western Australian Hockey at the sports gala dinner held at the Hyatt Regency in Perth. The occasion was to honour the best male and female players from the AHG League, Western Australia’s premier club competition.

The Perth based competition which is arguably one of the strongest club competitions in the world is in the same city as the birth place of the Gryphon label, so its no surprise to see two of our elite sponsored players featured strongly in the count. Gryphon’s Brent Dancer (Wesley and South Perth HC) shared the honours in the Men’s medal count in an unprecedented three-way tie for the Olympians Medal, sharing the “Best Player in League” tag with Nathan Eglington (Westside Wolves HC) and Craig Boyne (YMCC HC). All three men finished on 55 votes to record the first three-way tie for the Olympians Medal. It is only the second time the award has been shared, and the first time between three players, after former Olympians Graham Reid and Lee Bodimeade were honoured in 1996.

Brent Dancer (26) has had a breakthrough season, winning the AHL title with the SmokeFree WA Thundersticks and earning his first internationals, debuting with the Australian Kookaburra’s against Canada in Canberra earlier this year.

The Charlesworth Medal, named after 4 time Olympian Richard Charlesworth AM, for the best female player in the AHG League, was awarded to Lisa Eglington (Westside Wolves HC) who polled 37 points, with teammate and Gryphon’s own Jayde Taylor the runner up on 35 points. In what has been a standout season for the ladies of Wolves HC, it is amazing that two players from the same team can poll so highly and be so close on the leaders board after the 22 round season. Jayde also missed two matches as she was away on assistant coaching / managing duties with the WA U18 girls representative team, which meant she could have easily polled enough votes to equal Lisa. Both girls have been in scintillating form throughout the year and are crucial players leading into this Sunday’s grand final against University of WA HC. Jayde Taylor (24) has been on the fringe of national selection for some time and is one of the most consistent performer’s in the AHL with the SmokeFree WA Diamonds. Lisa Eglington also took home the award for highest goal-scorer after finding the net on 22 occasions.

In the men’s final, strong favourite Westside Wolves HC play YMCC HC in what is expected to be a high scoring display. Wolves HC boast joint Olympian Medallist Nathan Eglington in their forward line, who also scooped the AHG League’s highest goal-scoring award with an amazing 39 goals from 22 games. Nathan and Lisa are the first husband and wife to to win WA’s top player and goal scorer awards.

For those in Perth, be sure to get down to the Commonwealth Stadium, Curtin University, this Sunday for the final’s which begin at 2:30pm.

Installation

Gryphon Germany got creative recently with their shop at the 2009 Men’s German Championships in Mannheim. These images were snapped just prior to opening and show some good use of recycled materials. The latest stick range really stands out against the heavily textured background making for an effective contrast in materials and finishes.

Introducing James Tindall – EC Champion

Hi all, James Tindall here. I thought I’d drop in to shed some light on my recent European Championship’s experience. It was all-time, so please read on…

Preview

The build up to the Euros was a mixed bag for England. We had played the Aussies and found we were still a long way away from the quality and standard we all strived. It was a bit of a wakeup call for me and I imagine the team. But after the tests against the distant rivals we soon started to build up a head of steam by playing the likes of Pakistan, India and France as well as a great confidence boost against the Dutch. The biggest sign that we were slowly getting towards the standard we knew we were capable of was when we beat the Dutch at Bisham Abbey. Suddenly we realised that we were all good enough to potentially do well in the tournament at Wagner Stadium.

Wagner Stadium

My first cap for England was at Wagner Stadium and fond memories will always be there for that reason. However the setup and the whole venue around the stadium were fantastic. The Dutch were never going to organise a tournament without it being a success and they did not disappoint. Everything was taken care of down to the last details. But what made the tournament special were the local volunteers and the Dutch public. Apart from the semi final, they were backing the English and this was a massive surprise and help to the team. Even after we played them they were so generous and kind to us and complimentary about us and our hockey.

Going into the tournament itself we knew that we were striving for the automatic qualification to the World Cup in 2010. We knew this would require us to make the semi finals at least. We started the tournament well with a comfortable victory over the Austrians and this helped to settle our nerves slightly. Our biggest test in the group was against the Olympic Champions and being comfortably in the lead (so the scoreboard showed) we possibly relaxed and suddenly we found that we were drawing 4-4 to them. It must be one of the only times I have come off a pitch annoyed that I had only drawn with the Olympic Champions! Well before the tournament we would have easily taken a point from this game and that then led us to the crunch game in the group.

WC Qualification

The Belgium game had been hyped up and thought of by the team so much as we felt we had a point to prove against the Belgians. Going a goal down in the 5th minute was a total shock. This was not how the game was meant to go. Suddenly the English Lion had been woken and then decided to play hockey. Full time of the game and I looked at the scoreboard, had we honestly just gone from one nil down to winning 8-2. Suddenly team mates were congratulating each other; we had done it and progressed to the semi finals.

43 Seconds

With qualification complete, the pressure was off but expectations weren’t met. The realisation of playing Holland in the semi final dawned on us and as a team we realised we had beaten this Dutch team in the last meeting and confidence started to sweep through the group, could we do it again? The Friday arrived and we started well in what was a superb atmosphere (playing the Dutch in Amsterdam is hard to beat, especially in a semi final). We went one nil up, what a goal! (Have to say that as I scored it! ha), then half time. Can we really hold on for another 35 minutes against them? We were getting bombarded by Taeke Taekema but our GK James Fair was on fire and he matched everything they could throw at him. Taeke Taekema then breached Fair’s goal but a conversion rate for the best pc flicker of 1 in 9 or so shows the magnitude of the task Fair had achieved. Next thing I knew it was golden goal extra time. It felt as if we were pressing really hard searching for that elusive goal but when it all seemed like everyone accepted strokes, Ashley Jackson popped up on the far post with a deflection goal, only 43 seconds left until strokes! Celebration as we had won a medal… but which one?

Trust

WOW we were in the final! England were last in the final of the Euro’s in 1987 and they had lost so already we had achieved our best ever finish! The final seems a bit of a blur to be honest but the goals by Ashley Jackson, Barry Middleton and Richard Mantell are all etched in the memory now! We knew that we could score and provided we learnt from our group games we could beat the Olympic Champions. All the English players played hard and knew what was needed and trusted each other that we could win the final. This trust accompanied by some great hockey meant that we had learnt how to keep the lead against them and some heroic defending from Rich Mantell and Richard Smith meant we had to play out the last few minutes with a two goal lead. The clock was ticking so slowly then suddenly the klaxon sounded. Final score 5-3. We had won the Gold. Jubilation was seen from the players, management and the travelling fans as everyone had put in sacrifices for the result.

The after party!
As you can imagine we were all in bed by 9pm as we are professionals. Only joking really! The team decided to occupy the stadium and the surrounding venue and enjoying the celebrations with friends and family. Such a massive effort from all the boys and it was time to let all the emotions out. Again everyone that was still around the ground was so complimentary about us and congratulated us on winning. Drinks were enjoyed at the ground and then there was a party in a marquee for everyone. After this party the team decided to venture into the city itself and this is where the story ends… for now anyway!

- Cheers, Tinds

Welcome – Scott Goodheart

Welcome to Scott Goodheart, our latest elite coach come contributor. A product of the Australian system, he has packed his life into a backpack and travelled half way round the world to pursue his passion for elite coaching and now finds himself at the helm of the French National Men’s Team. His wife, Trini Powell, is a 3 time Olympian and the Australian National Women’s Junior Coach, so its fair to say that hockey runs deep in their family. Having just come off the back of the European Championships, we thought it time to shed some light on the man known as Scooter and see what drives him. Scooter is very passionate about the game, is an incredible lateral thinker and will do exciting things with the French side and hockey in the near future…

So, Scooter, What are you…

… up to at the moment? I’m coaching the French National Team… passionate about? The Fremantle Dockers, an Aussie Rules Team, although this is dwindling… buying? Anything electronic… thinking leading into half time of a big match with the French team? How to best get the message across… working on as a priority with your team? Defending our circle, soon to be working on the other end… finding are the biggest benefits of coaching? Being inside the positive environment of an elite team… planning for yourself in the future? The World Cup Qualifier in Lille, and then, I hope, preparing for the World Cup… excited about with the future of international hockey? The self pass is a great innovation… concerned about with the future of international hockey? Penalty corners remain too great an influence on the game, and now take too long with the defensive equipment… loving in Europe? The proximity to so many countries, cities and other teams… missing from Australia? My wife, and 2 “sons” (my cat and dog)… hoping for in 2010? World Cup qualification, and further development of the team for 2011… doing to relax in France? Trying to live as a Parisean…

Stay tuned as Scooter keeps us up to date on all things French Hockey through his own posts, right here at gryphon-life.com

Troy Elder on Japan

Here we are in country Japan, in a place called Sabae, where there is a very strong hockey presence. Gryphon great and Gold Medalist for Australia, Troy “Woody” Elder talks in brief (and cliché’s) on the current trip to Japan playing and offering master classes the best upcoming teams in the country.

Joel Carroll – Welcome

A big shout out to Joel Carroll, who is the latest signing to Gryphon. Joel, 22, is a naturally talented defender hailing from Darwin in the Northern Territory who’s strengths are his uncompromising tackles and deft passing ability. He is big in stature and is despised by strikers due to his agility and tenacity, seldom allowing them to get first use of the ball up front. With the increase in the speed of the game thanks to auto-play, mobility is key for international defenders and this is where Joel excels along with his understanding of defensive positioning.

In what has been a progressive past few years, he was a standout at the 2005 JWC, and has since cracked the National Squad of the Australian Senior team, impressing the likes of Head Coach Ric Charlesworth and Assistant Graham Reid. He now spends his time at the AIS High Performance Program in Perth and trains full time along side the best in Australia.

Gryphon is stoked to have such a talented up and comer join the team, and we can only wait in anticipation to see where he takes his game. We will say this though, if you don’t know of JC by the time the World Cup roles around, then you don’t know the future of the sport!

So Joel, welcome, and enjoy the Gryphon-Life!

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