Hockey: Collectivism fits mould

The Hawke's Bay under-15 Invitational Australian Tour team with co-coaches Jonathan Heaphy (far right) and Dominique Cresswell (next to him) after returning home last Friday night. Photo / Duncan Brown

It was latent reinforcement but a golden one for a group of Hawke's Bay schoolgirls who returned home from a hockey tour in Australia last week.

You can't argue with eight out of eight victories, 68 goals scored and only 15 conceded but it wasn't just about that for the under-15 invitational team of 17 who disembarked at the airport in Napier last Friday night.

It was about lending credence to collectivism in sport, something that doesn't always surface in the euphoria of success.

"Each girl played an even 50 minutes a game," says Jonathan Heaphy who co-coached the team with Dominique Creswell.

"At no one stage did we field our No1 line up so that's building a new base of players," says Heaphy, emphasising they didn't go as a representative team but as an invitational side, having two years ago lost an agonising penalty shootout to Auckland in the national Collier Trophy final in Invercargill. The Aussie tour was the reward.

While "a moment in time" may have been lost, the essence of the group over individualism wasn't.

Even captaincy was rotated in matches against the Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sydney from April 16 to 28.

"What's your opposition like?" was the casual cross examination Heaphy underwent before they left the shores here, to which he pleaded clueless.

The 53-year-old Hastings solicitor had an inkling from Napier stalwart and friend Neil Edmundson that Kiwis tend to be more adroit across the board than their Aussie counterparts, who traditionally bank on speed and grittiness.

Neil Edmundson.

"Some of our girls realised, 'Oh my god, we're very skilful', so that leads to enjoyment and keeps them in the game.

"Maybe when they leave school they'll stay in the game and stay out of trouble," says Heaphy, revealing the girls have a Facebook site where they have chronologically mapped their development in the code from the age of 9.

Bar two narrow victories - 5-3 over the Brisbane Women's Association U15s and 3-2 over the Gold Coast HA U15s - the remaining six games yielded yawning results.

That is not to say their Aussie counterparts are deficient as individuals, not to mention their hospitality in organising after-match functions for the Bay contingent after four 20-minute quarters in, at times, a sweltering 30C.

"We met some pretty good players who will, no doubt, go on to represent their country."

For Heaphy the Bay girls' communal presence is an endorsement of boosting their prowess over the years amid criticism from some quarters of his methodology.

His philosophy stems from the late Cyril Vincent Walter, the former New Zealand men's coach who spearheaded the country to Olympic gold at the 1976 Montreal Games.

Born in Manawatu, Heaphy attended Canterbury University in Christchurch where he and Edmundson received coaching from Walter.

Walter's ideology revolved around the dichotomy of base (pyramid of skills) and the super structure (everything else from fluorescent uniforms to blueprints).

Heaphy focuses on the base skills of trapping, passing and dribbling.

You won't find him doodling set-piece manoeuvres on a whiteboard for the girls to digest and then spit out on the turf.

"I don't go to the super structure because if you do too much the pyramid will tip over."

To use a rugby analogy, he feels it's pointless talking about anything else if you can't catch a ball.

Having represented the Bay senior men's team as midfielder in 150 games, Heaphy didn't just confine his mentoring skills in the mould of parents who purely do it because their children are involved.

He arrived in the Bay in the 1990s and in a quarter of a decade he has persevered with youngsters, including former Black Sticks women's player, Caryn Paewai, in third and fourth form at Napier Girls' High School.

He is at pains to emphasise the current crop of invitational players are not guaranteed a position in the Bay age-group representative team because they will have to prove their worth at the trials early next month.

Tour managers Rob Jones and Conrad Knapp put countless hours into organising the trip, including raising funds from players selling fruit on roadside (thanks to the Moffett family) to approaching generous sponsors.

It culminated with a dinner and auction, "One Night in Bangkok", at the Thai Chef restaurant where the chef and his staff gifted their time and labour.

Simon Tremain presided with his hammer and gavel while Black Sticks utility Kayla Whitelock humoured the guests as speaker.

They hope to have Aussies reciprocating next year.