Episodes
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In June’s EuroHockey Institute Podcast, we are thrilled to talk to Paul Bower, a distinguished professional in sports science and physical performance.
Paul has an extensive career spanning over a decade, highlighted by his role as Head of Physical Performance at Huddersfield Town Football Club, helping establish the DNA of the club amid big changes, including promotion to England’s Premier League.
With experience at Barnsley FC, The Football Association, and Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Paul brings a wealth of knowledge in athlete development, performance optimisation, and sports science innovation.
Tune in to hear his insights on driving success in competitive sports environments! -
In this month's EuroHockey Institute Podcast, our EuroHockey President Marcos Hofmann is in the hot seat, speaking to Jack Rolfe.
10 questions and fascinating insights into the business mind of Marcos as he sets out to deliver, with the Board, a legacy for hockey in Europe.
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Stunning victories and raised a lot of silverware! He now heads up the coaching team of the Spanish men’s team.
Listen here to discover more about his passion for instilling a love of the game in others and how his experience has enabled him to apply the lessons he has learnt during his career and his aspirations for this young ambitious Spanish team
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To begin the 2024 series of EuroHockey Institute podcasts, Jack Rolfe speaks to Tom Kirby about his journey since his first taste of Hockey ID eight years ago to travelling around the continent, embracing a number of EuroHockey ID championships and all the laughs in between.
They talk about what are key parts of an inclusive coaching session and how does an organisation create opportunities for Hockey ID players.
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Olympic, World and European champion Thomas Briels talks to Jack Rolfe about the elements that made him the player he is, from learning to do the "ugly metres" that became intrinsic to his hockey DNA to coming around to what he saw as an unlikely captaincy role during the Belgian Red Lions' golden era.
Tune in for this fascinating chat with one of the latest entrants into the EuroHockey Hall of Fame in our October EuroHockey Institute Podcast!
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To start the fifth series of the EuroHockey Podcast, Mike Hughes speaks to Stephen Findlater this month about the incredible rise of Old Georgians, creating the culture and environment to get from relative obscurity to the very top of the English hockey tree and how he looks to try and bring that magic to new club Indian Gymkhana. Recorded earlier this summer, he reflects on how this journey was inspired by his time on the EuroHockey Top Coaches Programme (TCP) and the challenging environment which helped develop his approach.
Applications are currently open for the TCP via your Member National Association. It is an international coaching programme which is designed to support coaches who want to work at an elite level within the game. Exploring the principles of coaching, devising and developing strategic nous, evolving a coaching philosophy and understanding the management of teams and individual athletes are all part of this comprehensive, world class programme.
For more information, click here: https://eurohockey.org/programme-session/top-coaches-programme-tcp
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Later this month, Marijke Fleuren's tenure as EuroHockey President comes to a close following a remarkable 12-year spell in the role. As such, who better to be our EuroHockey Institute Podcast guest as we look back on an incredible leader and game-changer for our organisation and our sport.
She speaks to host Jack Rolfe who says of this edition: "I reflect on this podcast with Marjike about how she embodies so effortlessly two words I always associate with our wonderful game of hockey: people and passion.
"You will listen to this episode and hear the lessons of a leader that puts people first and brings ideas from reality to the real world; lessons that could have a profound effect on bringing people together with the game of hockey in your club, association or organisation."
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Marieke Dijkstra is this month’s EuroHockey Institute Podcast guest, speaking to Jack Rolfe about her diverse and fascinating career in coaching.
Following an international indoor and outdoor career, captaining the Dutch side to a first World Cup title on the boards in 2007. She then repeated the trick in 2015 as coach.
Around that, she has been something of a game-changer. She made her way into the Hoofdklasse as a rare female coach of men's side, breaking past initial resistance to make her mark with promotion with Voordaan. Since then, she has numerous key roles, salvaging a rough season for SV Kampong's women at short notice, working with Pinoké's rising stars to working with the Dutch senior men’s setup for the past two years.
She tells Jack about those experiences and how it has shaped her thinking, particularly when taking on the top job with Den Bosch dames side in transition after a decade under Raoul Ehren, landing a Dutch championship in 2022 and then, leading them to the Euro Hockey League at Easter this year.
A fascinating chat, have a listen here!
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For Pride month’s EuroHockey Institute Podcast, we have the incredible Nikki Symmons.
A groundbreaker in numerous realms; a Yahoo & Involve Outstanding LGBTQ Role Model 2021 & 2022, a dual Irish international across hockey and cricket, an ambassador with Athlete Ally, an inclusion and diversity advisor and, of course, a EuroHockey Hall of Famer.
Nikki speaks to Jack Rolfe about her career, the devastation of missing out on Olympic qualification, her subsequent attempts to escape those memories only to end up in Lausanne, face to face with the five rings at each turn.
She gives a fascinating insight into life first playing the sport and her subsequent role as a thought-leader in hockey’s adaptation to the digital world for five years and how the sport battles to make its mark in that realm.
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This month, we turn the tables with regular EuroHockey Institute Podcast host Jack Rolfe receiving the questions from the EHF's Stephen Findlater. The Englishman talks about his coaching journey and expanding his horizons through the Coaches 4 Europe program. It is an adventure which has also seen him found the Coaching Lab and the innovative Match Play Cards which are now used in over 50 countries and by many elite clubs outside of hockey such as Arsenal, Liverpool and West Ham. Now based in Perth, he also reflects on the differences in hockey cultures between Europe and Australia and what it was like to share a bench with Jamie Dwyer, Blake Govers, Eddie Ockenden and Tyler Lovell!
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Series 4 Episode 6 - This month on the EuroHockey Institute Podcast, we have an extra special guest with FIH World Cup winner Christopher Rühr talking to Jack Rolfe. They discuss coaching creativity, motivation and how this marries with the high-level tactical awareness that is synonymous with German hockey. Have a listen to this fascinating chat with one of the sport's current superstars!
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To celebrate International Women’s Day, we have a special EuroHockey Institute Podcast this month with Shirley McCay, Ireland’s most capped sportsperson who is now making a major impact on the next generation.
Her story is symbolic of the “Green Army” and their rise from nowhere to the top table in the world, reaching the 2018 World Cup final.
She speaks to Jack Rolfe about growing up far from the hockey hubs of Ireland but how her background helped shape her, how her ‘stubbornness and steeliness’ drove her to never wonder ‘what if’.
Beyond her playing days, she has had a direct influence in guiding and inspiring the next generation. She has been involved for almost a decade as a talent coach with Ulster Hockey, the northern province in Ireland, overseeing programmes from primary school level up to Under-21 level.
Her approach is very much a player-centred one, making sure to listen to athletes and observe the new evolutions in the sport rather than hark back to the elements which influenced her early career.
Enjoy episode five of this fourth series of the EuroHockey Institute Podcast.
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Series 4, Episode 4: Norman Hughes talks to Jack Rolfe about his remarkable life in hockey, from a reticent 16-year-old who took up the game when he "wasn't big enough" for football.
From the sulphur-fumed pitches of northern England, he would soon travel the world, winning Olympic and World Cup medals as a player and then coaching the Great Britain senior men on the highest stage.
Hughes went on to use those experiences in his role as the EHF's Education and Development Manager and playing a pioneering role in the growth of Hockey ID in Europe.
With candour and humour, he speaks to Jack about his love affair with the sport.
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Series 4 Episode 3: In our first EuroHockey Institute podcast for 2023, Jack Rolfe speaks to the wonderful Cecilia Rognoni.
She reflects on an outstanding playing career, highlighted by Argentina’s breakthrough Olympic silver medal and the “best tournament of my life”: World Cup gold in 2002 in Perth when she was named player of the tournament.
The journey took her to the Netherlands to initially play and then coach. Cecilia talks about those experiences - and playing with Luciana Aymar - and how they have informed her coaching, specifically on the importance of giving freedom to players and the tools to solve problems on the field as well as the separation between the role of a coach and trainer.
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Series 4 Episode 2 - “I don’t find it my work! I can do this 24 hours a day with zero remorse. I love it. It’s a full time hobby!”
Tin Matkovic speaks to Jack Rolfe about his journey in hockey, from its beginnings in Croatia to playing, coaching and umpiring across Europe. It has been a hugely varied set of experiences, feeding his “addiction” to the sport and has taken him to the EHL Men’s KO8 with SV Arminen, the Junior World Cup with Austria and, most recently, to Berliner Hockey Club where he is currently the women’s first team coach.
He reflects on the challenges of coming from a smaller nation on the hockey scene and how the EHF’s education programmes - Coaches 4 Europe and the Top Coaches Programme - had an influential role in his personal evolution.
Despite his many adventures, though, he reckons he still has some catching up to do to his star umpire girlfriend Ivona Makar when it comes to major tournaments!
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Helen started her international career in 1999 at the age of 17 and became the youngest ever woman to represent GB hockey at an Olympics in Sydney the following year. She went on to compete at four Olympic Games and as part of the senior leadership group played a central role in propelling the women’s game to victory on the world stage at Rio 2016. As she stepped on to the podium alongside her team mate and wife, GB captain Kate Richardson-Walsh, they also entered Olympic history as the first same sex married couple to win an Olympic medal playing for the same team.
Tune-in to Helen in conversation with Jack Rolfe, as they discuss the exciting journey and where and what Helen is doing now in sport pyschology and team leadership.
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Robin Rösch is a coach with extensive, successful, and international experience in top-class hockey. Whether as a sports director, as a coach, or even as a coach educator for the EHF and FIH.
Robin is currently the sports director at SC Frankfurt 1880 and the Head Coach of the Austrian Men and U21 teams.
Tune-in to Robin in conversation with Jack Rolfe, founder of The Coaching Lab, as they discuss indoor hockey, Robin’s journey and more.
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With more than 300 international caps for Trinidad and Tobago, Kwan Browne has had an illustrious 17-year international career. A career that has seen him represent his country at the Commonwealth games, Pan American Games and Pan American Cup. Add to this his domestic career for Canterbury, East Grinstead and Hampstead & Westminster and you begin to see why Kwan is such a stalwart of the global hockey community.
Alongside playing, Kwan has become a distinguished coach, having been heavily involved in the GB junior system and Elite Development Programme. Kwan now acts as player/coach for Hampstead & Westminster, Head of Hockey for Mill Hill school and as an assistant coach for England and GB senior men’s squad.
Listen to Kwan in conversation with Jack Rolfe, founder of The Coaching Lab, as they discuss the dynamic of player/coach, his coaching principles and youth development.
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Adam David Commens is a former field hockey midfielder from Australia, who was a member of the team that won the bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
Commens was nicknamed Billy by his teammates, and earned a total number of 143 caps (20 goals) for Australia.
Commens was named head coach of the Belgium national field hockey team on 4 July 2007. Commens was coach and a key player of the Royal Antwerp Hockey Club (RAHC). His new assistant will be Murray Richards.
Commens became coach of the Australia women's national field hockey team at the start of 2011, but was stood down by Hockey Australia in 2016 after their investigation into allegations that Commens "had engaged in behaviour amounting to serious misconduct", which is reported to have involved Commens exposing himself and making lewd remarks to some squad members during the Rio Olympics. When he took over as coach, he dropped five experienced players from the national squad:Kate Hollywood, Fiona Johnson, Alison Bruce, Shelly Liddelow and Amy Korner.
Since the Rio Olympic Games, Commens has been appointed as the High Performance Director of the Belgian Hockey Federation and won Belgium's first ever World Cup in 2018.
In conversation with Jack Rolfe, Founder of The Coaching Lab.
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Today we are celebrating International Women’s Day and Siobhán Madeley took over the EHF Podcast from Jack for a special edition with Marijke Fleuren, EHF President, Executive Board Member FIH, Member IOC Commission "Women in Sport", Member of the EHL Board and we are joined by Marco Moers and Mandy Beck who are part of the ABN Amro Diversity & Inclusion policy team. The theme for IWD 2021 is “choose to challenge” so it seems fitting to discuss this topic with Marijke, Marco and Mandy as they are leading the charge to structurally change the pattern of inequality between sportsmen and women.
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