The Hockey Show has been fortunate enough to literally grab coach Toni Cumpston straight off the plane from Perth to get her thoughts on the Victorian Vipers’ performance at the recent National Championships. In fact, we masqueraded as a Taxi driver with one of those signs at the airport before throwing her into the back of The Hockey Show mobile and speeding off home…(within the legal limit of course)….now how’s that for service!
THS: Thanks for your time Toni, especially so soon after getting home.
TC: No worries again guys….just let me put my seat-belt on first.
THS: The Vipers this year appear to have struggled finishing a disappointing seventh, what didn’t go as planned at this year’s AHL?
TC: We were very disappointed with the result of Vipers this year, to finish 7th was a real let down after a solid preparation and a real belief that we were capable of contesting the finals. The area we struggled in most was our ability to handle the pressure applied in the games against the top 4 sides. In both the ACT and NSW matches we allowed them to score in the last 4 minutes of the match which cost us valuable points. An extra point in either of these matches could have meant we finished in the four. I think this can be attributed in part to the squad’s inexperience. As mentioned in my discussion on this website prior to the tournament we had quite a few new players in the squad and only one of our defenders had played as a defender at this level prior to the first game this year. The result was also disappointing in terms of it being the last game for Victoria for Rachel Imison who announced her retirement from AHL at the conclusion of the tournament after many years of quality hockey for Victoria.
THS: When we last spoke you talked of expecting a lot from your group, were there any standout players throughout the tournament?
TC: All the girls played well at various stages throughout the competition without anyone in particular standing out overall. Rachel Imison was one of our best each game and Claire Messent and Renee Trost also had an impact in most games.
THS: How did the younger girls fare this year?
TC: The younger girls played pretty well. It is quite a big step up from under 21’s and club hockey but they all showed enough over the course of the tournament to suggest that they are capable of playing at this level in the future.
THS: What do you think needs to change for next years AHL and what lessons have been learnt?
TC: I think our biggest/toughest lesson is our inability to be composed under pressure. We don’t value possession enough and allow opposition teams opportunities through our mistakes. At this stage it is hard to identify how we change this but exposing the girls to higher level competition and more pressure situations is one of the areas I think would assist in the future.
THS: Obviously focus now shifts to Beijing, what are your thoughts on the squad and the movements going forward?
TC: The Olympic squad was announced on the Wednesday following the conclusion of the AHL. Three Victorians were named in the squad Rachel Imison, Rachael Lynch and Renee Trost. Rachael Lynch played for Tasmania in this years AHL. The squad remained much the same as it was prior to the AHL with Queensland’s Wendy Beattie being the only addition. Wendy came out of retirement for this years AHL – reports on this are available on the Hockey Australia website. All of the national squad members, who have been training in Perth at the AIS since January, had an impact at this years AHL which was to be expected and hopefully will stand us in good stead for the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games.
Four Victorians were named in the National Development Squad Kary Chau, Stacia Joseph, Claire Messent and Sarah O’Connor and hopefully with continued improvement these ladies will push for inclusion in the Hockeyroos squad post Olympics.
THS: So, in wrapping up…any final thoughts?
TC: Whilst finishing 7th is very disappointing for all involved there is certainly a commitment from within the group to continue striving to improve and to do better next year. Four of the girls from the AHL squad Kary Chau, Hannah Cohen, Hana Peake and Dannielle Schubach are trialling for the Victorian under 21 team whose selection is underway at the moment at the SHC. Hopefully they will make this team and can take their AHL experience with them into that group and have a positive impact on the team’s performance. The focus for the remaining 14 squad members now turns to our State League competition here in Melbourne. Hopefully through this competition they can continue to develop their skills and generate the intensity and pressure they experience at AHL to assist with an improvement in next years performance.
THS: Cheers again Toni, now you can get out of the car.
TC: Thank god, it really smells in here.
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April 11th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Toni,
I make the point that Hockey, including Women’s Hockey, is a POWER sport. It does not matter how good your stick skills are, if you cannot run and I mean run and you are not physically strong, then you are going to find it tough going.
So I ask the question, why do the Vipers continually select young players that are physically out of their depth?
What is the reasoning behind selecting these kids?
Is it a PR stunt, or are some clubs having an undue influence in the selection process?
Marketing
April 11th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Physical strength alone is not the Vipers weakness. Young players = less experience. Not having experience impacts on the teams ability to play as a team and to adjust to the way the opposition is playing. It can mean players are still learning their skills but it has little to do with power as suggested by SM
April 11th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Yet another great read THS. Keep up the terrific work!
April 16th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
It’s too easy to blame the players or the coach for the teams performance.
The malaise of Victorian womens’ hockey goes much deeper than that. There were fewer than 28 players who nominated for Vipers..less than 20% of the SL1 cohort ..Why?..
OK in 2008, there were some experienced players who retired, some unavailable.
With study, career, family and personal committments of the players, there is precious little reward for the hard yards, the countless extra hours of training, lost income and personal sacrifices these players make.
We should be proud of these players – especially the “kids”. Where else are we going to grow experience?
Hockey Victoria has to find innovative ways to support these players (.. and the Vikings and 21′s too) or the pool of nominees continue to be too small to for Victoria to put an effective challenge at National level in women’s hockey.
There is talent there (21 Women won the Indoor Nationals this year).They need support and encouragement from the Victorian hockey fraternity.
Maybe the next CEO can find some real sponsorship?
Those 30 or so players who nominated for Vipers were prepared to give the AHL their best shot. Good on them for giving it a go and good on you Toni for all of your efforts.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Only one Viper – Rachel Imison – in the national team for the Champs Trophy! Other states as follows:
QLD x7
NSW x5
WA x4
ACT x2
I guess we should be lucky we’re not as worse off as Tassie or NT!
July 12th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
I read similar article also named S STRIKE NOT SO POTENT. : The Hockey Show, and it was completely different. Personally, I agree with you more, because this article makes a little bit more sense for me