Hockey: OE builds Sticks strength

Emily Naylor. Photo / Photosport.

They are the forgotten New Zealand sports professionals. Few know about their overseas stints; they don't earn a fortune; but they are increasing the national teams' strength in pursuing the sport in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Malaysia.

Black Sticks co-captain Emily Naylor is one of 13 current Kiwi internationals playing at overseas clubs. Most players only pop into the public consciousness at Olympic and Commonwealth Games - but this is a strong time for the sport after two medals (men - bronze, women - silver) at Delhi and a $3.55 million investment from Sparc over the next two years to get both teams to the London Games.

Naylor is home nursing damaged ankle ligaments but is hoping to play the first series of the year against Korea next month. She was injured while training with her Dutch club HGC, based in The Hague last month.

The 25-year-old says experience in Europe provides a special type of OE, even if the starting rate is not much more than €2000 per season.

"Clubs sort you out with an apartment, your meals are covered after training, you share a car but can bike everywhere anyway on the cycle lanes in the Netherlands - you don't [by law] even have to wear a helmet.

"The travel's great too. Krystal [fellow Black Stick Forgesson] is in the same team and we've got a trip planned to the Canary Islands when we get back after the upcoming international series. We've been to Barcelona. Last year over Easter weekend I went to Paris, it was Hamburg the year before. This year I'm looking at Prague or somewhere in Portugal.

"The season runs from the end of September to the end of May with a three month break during the worst of the winter so it is pretty flexible and Mark [Hager, Black Sticks coach] is reasonable about us being involved because he knows it is a high standard of competition."

Hockey players don't court the same degree of fame and fortune that the country's best cricketers and rugby players do. They are rarely fenced off in five-star hotels, smothered by sycophantic groupies or swamped by media overload.

Darren Smith is an example. At 37, he has 212 international caps; a former vice-captain, now Black Sticks assistant coach. He was seconded to coach the UniKL team in Malaysia from early November; all part of embracing the lifestyle more than the money.

Smith's team finished bottom of the table last year, their first season in the premier league. Since his arrival they have beaten both last year's finalists and topped the table at times. They now sit second with five wins, two draws and a loss so far in a 16 game season.

"It's basically a roadshow. Businesses [such as banks, electronics and technology companies] own the teams rather than it being regionally based," Smith says, speaking from Penang. "When I arrived I watched them lose 6-0 to last year's champions Sapura, and it was a poor standard. Later in the season we beat the same team for the first time. The joy on my players' faces was a thrill."

Smith's team mixes the youth of 10 national junior squad members with the likes of Black Sticks defender Richard Petherick and goalkeeper Steven Graham. They have been described by local media as "far from convincing" in their victories but have installed themselves as potential title winners.

Hockey New Zealand see the move as a chance to develop Smith's coaching and the move is endorsed by incumbent Black Sticks men's coach Shane McLeod - especially with two men's teams to be accepted from Oceania for the London Olympics.

Living overseas is familiar to Smith. He had stints in Belgium (under McLeod at the Herakles club) and Italy during his playing days. Coaching in Malaysia has its benefits when the Black Sticks play the annual Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, a tournament named after the ninth King of Malaysia, a big hockey fan.