My New Book

For those of my readers who would like a copy of some of my essays in a book form, then check out this link-

http://www.lulu.com/shop/jerome-buck/my-thought-on-hockey-coaching/paperback/product-23103196.html

My Greatest Achievements as a Hockey Coach

I am often asked in my travels and when I am doing workshops and speaking to fellow coaches what are some of or what is my greatest achievement as a Coach? You know what my answer is to that questions, I am still to achieve it.

Now why do I say that, well any good sports coach worth what they do, is always looking for the next mountain to time, the next goal to reach for, you should never be content with everything you have done, because once you become content, that means its time to get of the Coaching stage. Now don't get me wrong so far in my hockey coaching career, I have achieved a great deal, but I am not yet content with this, I am constantly looking for the next challenge, reach for the next goal, chasing that next dream, reaching for that next star.

So I guess that now moves us on to what some of those achievements have been along the way, well I guess the premierships rank right up there and I have three of those-

2001- Old Guildford Under 15's, Premiers, Minor Premiers and Challenge Cup winners, undefeated season.

2010- Newman Nights Provisional 4, Premiers, this was a great achievement as we came from 4th to win the flag.

2015- Manly Hockey Club Women's 1's- Premiers, Minor Premiers, undefeated season, first time in the finals in 8 years for any team at the club.

2015 with Manly was particularly tough, as that mid-season I suffered a massive personal trauma, when my I lost my beautiful partner, who I was set to marry, in tragic circumstances, when she was taken from this world and from me. It was hard to continue, but I new this, that she would not have wanted me to wallow in self pity, and that she would want me to pick myself up, and get on with what I luv doing. An to this day I know and I do believe she was riding all the way with me to our win that year, and during the Grand Final she was there to keep things calm.

Now besides the Premierships what else have been achievement for me, well it would have to be the chance to Coach to state teams so far to National Championships, one with Victoria and one with the Australian Capital Territory, yes interesting isn't it neither with my state I was born in Western Australia. There has also been the many junior representative sides that I have had the chance to coach to-

South East Sharks (Victoria) Under 15's JSC and Zone Challenge finished 3rd and 5th.
Peel Hockey South West Carnival Team which went on to win
Peel Hockey Club Championships Under 15's Team which went on to win.

But despite all that, to me some of the greatest achievements I have had so far are things like taking a novice player at the beginning of the year, and developing them over the course of the season in to a good hockey player. Watching young player develop into strong hockey players is another of the achievements i am proud of.

But at the end of the day my greatest achievements are yet to come, and these are things like-

- Coaching overseas.
- Coaching at International level
- Coaching the Australian Hockeyroo's to the Olympics and winning gold.

So once again I say to all Coaches out there your greatest achievements are often yet to come.

Who I look to as a Coach?

I am often asked this question when I talk to other coaches, or speak to other coaches at the various workshops I have run. Who do I look to as inspiration as Coach who do I look to to learn from?

Well the answer to this one is I look to many different coaches and also many different people from both within the hockey and sports world, and in the world in general. The first Hockey Coach I look to for guidance, and who inspires me is obvious, that is the great Dr Ric Charlesworth-

What can I say about this man, he is to me the greatest ever sports coach coming out of Australia ever, he is just brilliant. He has taught me so much through reading his books, being able to talk to him and watching him close up in how he goes about it. The record speaks for itself, but I want to talk beyond the coaching record, to the man himself, he is generous with his time, and he never ever looks down on people or ignores people, he always freely gives his time. He is and always be the greatest inspiration to me from a Hockey coaching and a sport coaching point of view and have the greatest influence over how I go about it. Thank you Ric you are a true legend of World Sports Coaching.

The next sports coach who inspires me comes from the sport of Ice Hockey and its Herb Brooks-

Herb was the Coach that led the 1980 US Ice Hockey Team to a great victory against the might of the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. The reason he inspires me is because he was an innovator, he was constantly looking for that edge, that something different that would keep the opposition guessing. His view was we dont defend the might of the Soviet Union we attack them, thats how we will stay with them and it paid off. As a Coach the lesson Herb gave me is just that, that you should always be looking to attack, looking to innovate, making sure you stay one step ahead of the opposition at all times. Herb was without doubt a Coach before his time.

The third Coach who really inspires me is I guess a little bit of a surprise its Gerard Neesham-

Now I am sure some out there will say who is Gerard Neesham, Gerard Neesham, Coached the Fremantle Dockers in the AFL, he was there first club Coach, he also coached my Western Australian Football League Club the Claremont Tigers from 1987-1994 and in that time he tooks them to Grand Final every single year bar one in 1992, and won the Premiership in 87,89,91,93. He again was an innovator, in terms of the AFL, he was a man before his time, but what really I look to here is how well he managed his players who he had under his coaching, he found ways to get the best out of what others would consider sub-par players.

Now other notable mentions here are Mick Malthouse, Alistair Clarkson, John Buchannan, Alex Ferguson, Phil Jackson, Tex Winter, Brian Clough, Ryan Tout, Jim Galanos, Rod McQueen, Lisa Alexander, Allyson Annan, Katrina Powell, Kevin Sheedy and Wayne Bennett among others.

From outside of my sport, and perhaps from outside of the sporting area there are two perhaps who inspire me the most. The first is John Bertrand-

John Bertrand is most remembered as the Skipper of Australia II in 1983 when we won the America's Cup and ended the US 132 year dominance, but what it is about John that inspires me, is how he goes about uniting teams and building success. It was his efforts on the water in 1983 in uniting the crew, and getting them working together which made sure we were successful and without that the Cup never would have been won. Also what he has done to re-unite Australian Swimming and sort out the mess after London is truely inspiring and I gain allot from that as a Coach.

Now I know this next choice will be seem a bit odd, its from the world of Business and its Mark Boris, who is the founder of Yellow Brick Road-

Now why does he inspire me, because he is determined, and he is not afraid to take risk, try new things and stand up for what he believes in. I also like the way he is straight talker, there is no bull from him.

Other notable mentions in this area are, Ben Lexcen, John Longley, Warren Jones, Paul Keating, Richard Branson, Ray Mclean, Julia Gillard, Ashley Kate Frazier, Nellie Mary Hoad, Una May Buck, Ruth Brunswick and Georgie Holton.

Now finally two people, who have helped me become the person I am today, and the Hockey Coach I am today, that is-

What can I say about my Mum and Dad, Greg and Margaret Buck, they have grounded me in the values, I hold so dear today, they both showed me the importance of community, of helping your family and friends out, of helping lift your fellow community members up. They have taught me the importance of understanding and compassion, and they have shown me how important it is to stand by each other in good times and bad.

So yes these two truely have inspired me to be the Hockey Coach I am today, they have given me the grounding from which I have now launched my Hockey Coaching Career, and I know this that there is never enough words here that can say how much I thank them for everything they have done and how they have stuck by me through good times and bad, when it would have been so much easier to just give me the flick. Again thank-you Mum and Dad.

Taking Hockey Back to the People

During the 1980s and the early part of the 90s Hockey in Australia had a broad base of support and people playing the sport across the country.

These people came from all walks of life, but now for some reason the game in this country – a country that is considered by many to be leader in the game – is now only played by a very exclusive group.

It has in effect become a sport run by the elite for the elite. This must end and must end now otherwise the game in Australia will disappear into irrelevance.

We have to take the game back into schools, we have to broaden the base and we have to get more people interested in the game and more young people interested in playing the game. In this paper I am going to explore some ways that we can use to achieve that.

During the 1980s and early part of the 1990s when I went to primary school you would regularly play hockey as part of the Physical Education classes. It was part of the school sports programs in both the private and public schools systems and there were always inter-school competitions.

From around the mid to late part of the nineties the sport seem to disappear – at first from the public school sector where it is now non-existent, and later in the private system.

The governing bodies who run the game in Australia have failed to put the effort into producing a game and the resources to go with it that are simple for schools and teachers to implement who in most cases have never played the game.

The governing bodies have failed to come up with a modified format of the game, which is easy, cheap and safe to play in schools while keeping the basic integrity of the full game in place.

So how do we change this? How do we take the game back into schools?

The first step is to develop a modified version of the game that is tailored to school and actually works, a game that doesn’t necessary need a full hockey field or a hockey turf to play it.

Therefore I am proposing a new modified game call X8s Hockey, this game while based on the full game only requires a maximum of eight players per team on the field at any one time, and each team is only allowed a maximum of two interchange players on the side lines. It also removes the feet rule from the game other than in the attacking and defensive circles, and takes away the dangerous penalty corner.

We have reduced the games to a total of two eight-minute halves with a four-minute half-time break, meaning that games can be over and done with in a maximum of 20 minutes. All of this will make it more appealing to schools, and the game much more straightforward hopefully to teach, while still keeping the basic integrity in place.

Action needs to be taken. I urge Hockey Australia, the state bodies and the hockey community to have this debate.

Constantly Learning and Developing as a Sport Coach

All Sports coaches out there should be constantly learning and developing through various avenues-

1. Reading books and articles.
2. Watching vids throughout Youtube etc
3. Attending courses and workshops
4. Listen to talks.
5. Players within the teams I coach

As a Sports Coach, I am constantly learning and developing, I am always looking for that edge in my sport, and I believe its vital to learn from other who have gone before and not just in my own sport. I believe as a Sports Coach, if you believe you know it all and know one else can offer new ideas, or that you cant learn anything from another sport, then its time to get off the stage and walk away.

Just recently I read these two books-

Both of these books provided me with different ideas and concepts that I hadn't thought of before, and both showed me different ways to approach things, and both also reminded me of important aspects of Coaching.

In the case of Leisel Jones book, this reminded me of how important it is that a Sport Coach, remember that they have a duty of care to the players they coach, that they should be doing everything they can to lift there athletes/players up and give them every opportunity to succeed not only in their sport but in their life. Now this is something that many coaches in Australian sport have forgotten in recent years, the un-written duty of care rule, they have put there athletes and players in harms way because their own giant ego has got in the way.

The second book, by the best Sporting Coach in the history of Sport in Australia Ric Charlesworth, has shown me the importance of challenging your athletes/players to be all they can be, to as Ric says hold there feet to the fire and keep raising the bar and helping them to lift.

Therefore I urge all Sports Coaches, take the time, read, learn and constantly develop, because if you are not doing that then its time to get of the stage.

Developing your Sports Coaching Philosophy

Any Sports Coach worth there salt, will have a Sports Coaching Philosophy that underpins everything they do, and every approach they take to the Sport they are coaching. The Sports Coaching Philosophy is what also underpins a Coaches game plan. My first coaching philosophy was two pages in length, and after 18 years of coaching hockey its now down to one very clear paragraph.

A sports coaching philosophy should include-

1. Your values
2. What your expectation are as a coach
3. Your standards.

Now I here some of you saying how do I get this into one paragraph, well at first when you start our as a Sport Coach, you often don't but in time you learn to say things in a more suck-sinked way, and that is how your philosophy gradually reduces in length and firms up as you begin to firm up what it is that you mean and what it is that underpins your coaching.

My advice to all new Sports Coaches, on developing there philosophy is that you need to seek out that inner coaching voice, you need to be able to relax, and quietly listen to that inner coaching voice in developing your philosophy. I also say don't panic if you cant hear it when you first start out, in a very short period of time you will here it.

Once you hear it, then I suggest you right everything down, this doesn't have to be in order either, then gradually piece it together in a way that makes sense to you. Also don't worry if its long winded this will change over time.

How to build a sporting program from scratch

There are two things as a Sporting Coach that present a challenge-

1. Building a sporting program from scratch
2. Re-building a sporting program that has fallen on tough times.

So how does one go about each challenge, well each is different and each has its obstacles along the way and the end rewards can also be different.

Lets look at challenge 1, building a sporting program from scratch, is a hard task, and as a coach you need to look at this as that your the historic doormat for someone else to eventually take the prize, just look at when the West Coast Eagles started, both Ron Alexander and John Todd were the historic doormats, and it was Mick Malthouse who ended up with the ultimate prize.

When you take on challenge 1, you must accept that it often takes a few years before the sporting program you are building will emerge and mature, and this is largely because the player group that you put together is often inexperienced and the players require time to mature at the level you are playing at.

In terms of challenge 2, that is different because you inherit the position and the list you often find yourself in, now there are two ways you can approach this, you can clean house and replace everyone and everything, or you can only discard what is working and make changes around the edges. As a Coach I have had to do both under challenge 2.

As a Sporting Coach both challenges are equally tough but are equally enjoyable and rewarding, and in both cases clubs need to be patient also. Two often clubs in both cases get punchy because there not seeing success, and abandon the plan, sack the Coach and start again. I sight both the Geelong Football Club who had the courage to stick with Mark Thompson for seven years and were rewarded in the end with Premiership success, and Hawthorn who stuck with Alistair Clarkson and were rewarded with becoming the most successfuly AFL club of the modern era.

So Sporting clubs need to remember that whether you are starting the sporting program from scratch or re-building it, that this will take time and that by being patient rewards will come and often sustain rewards will come.