Shea McAleese (middle) showed the gritty resolve required during the Black Sticks' Olympics campaign. Photo / AP
Shea McAleese (middle) showed the gritty resolve required during the Black Sticks' Olympics campaign. Photo / AP
Choked. It's not a word Shea McAleese would use but it's also not a word he's ever going to hide behind in describing the Black Sticks men's calamitous meltdown at the Rio Olympics last month.
"Any time in New Zealand sports teams experience failures, the public uses the term choke," says McAleese from Belgium after a five-day holiday in southern France.
"There's no point in hiding from the word so if that's what they want to use then so be it," says the 32-year-old midfielder from Napier who this week started another professional campaign with the Braxgata Hockey Club based in Boom.
The Colin Batch-coached New Zealand men's team were leading 2-0 for a lion's share of their game against Germany in Rio for a medal-qualifying berth but the Beijing and London Olympics champions bounced back with three goals in four minutes to do the unthinkable to the hapless Kiwis on August 15.
The dramatic collapse prompted some to label the result "beyond belief", while others on social media drew parallels with the stunning demise of Team New Zealand to Oracle in the 34th America's Cup regatta in San Diego in 2015 when the New Zealanders lost an 8-1 lead to succumb 9-8 to the Jimmy Spithill-skippered Americans whose feat was regarded as the "greatest comeback in sporting history".
McAleese, who scored the second goal in the 48th minute after Hugo Inglis drew first blood in the 17th minute, says the Black Sticks simply had to be better prepared in Rio.
Central to their capitulation was their inability to have contingency plans on how to react when the Germans pulled out their goalkeeper in the dying minutes to inject 11 field players in a bid to successfully camp at and raid the Kiwi goal mouth.
"They scored three goals in four minutes so you ask the question, 'How did they do that?'
"We found the details are not quite there," says McAleese, emphasising the Simon Child-captained Black Sticks outfit were relatively inexperienced bar a few veterans like himself and Child.
The former UHC Hamburg player had prophetically said to Hawke's Bay Today before jetting off to Rio: "They say I play like a German and that's fine because they have won four Olympic gold medals, including Beijing [2008] and London [2012]."
But the Black Sticks have been in the throes of exorcising their demons post-Rio.
"If that situation arises, it'll not happen again."
McAleese, who many hockey faithful in New Zealand tend to pigeonhole as a player in the German mould, says with any losing game comes the healing process.
"Of course, it's not sport if you're not scarred from it," he says, drawing analogies with how the All Blacks would handle such situations even before they got out of hand.
The former William Colenso pupil says players went through myriad emotions of disbelief, anger, disappointment, grief and reconciliation among "every negative feeling that is out there".
McAleese grappled with his own share of demons after the 8.30pm game had ended and players had dispersed to the Olympics Village for the night a couple of hours later.
"I slept a maximum of an hour after the game because I played that four minutes and three goals again and again through my head all night."
The body language of Black Sticks goalkeeper Devon Manchester needs no interpretation after the meltdown against Germany. Photo / AP
He says there's a process to go through because it takes time for players "to come down to earth" as everyone handles the situation differently. Some come to terms with it on their own, for instance, while others find solace in family members.
McAleese sees the irony in how the Kiwis would have also lost sleep through sheer excitement had they beaten the Germans to make the semifinals.
Players who had gone their own way eventually re-acquainted themselves with each other via the cafeteria or playing cards in rooms at the village.
Seniors helped those who had a long way yet to go in their careers.
On reflection, McAleese says they believe it was better to have lost to Germany than having Great Britain knock them out.
He isn't intending to make a hasty decision on his career after meeting Batch, who has given him until the end of the Belgian season, early next year, to "see where my head is" to carry on or retire.
McAleese says the Kiwis went to Rio as the "golden goose" 13th qualifiers to do something special, after South Africa withdrew, and they came agonisingly close to accomplishing that.
He echoed the views of Olympic kayaker Aimee Fisher that half the Kiwi contingent to Rio were battling "some kind of flu", when they returned home.
McAleese was confined to the bed in Napier during his four days here and, consequently, missed his speaking engagements.
He thanked the Bay "as one of the best hockey communities" in not just helping internationals like him but also sponsoring the code all the way to pinnacle events such as the Olympics.
