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Canada

by Mark Booth

Rob Short spent much of his summer running field hockey camps throughout the Lower Mainland. The national team captain will be the first to tell you, he preferred to be elsewhere.

The Falcon Field Hockey Club graduate played for Canada at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Athens. This time around, Canada failed to qualify. Short was in Athens but only to watch his girlfriend win a silver medal playing for the Dutch national team.

"I really enjoyed supporting her but admit it was very tough to see teams at the Olympics that Canada can, and has beaten in international matches the past few years," he said. "After such an experience in Sydney, it was very painful not being part of it this time."

It's that empty feeling that has Short already looking ahead to the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. He will be 36 then.

"It's going to depend if the coach at the time wants to go with youth or experience. I love hockey and plan to continue as long as my body cooperates."

Short is back in Holland where he should have little trouble maintaining his high level play. He will begin his seventh season in a pro league - playing for HGC Wassenaar - where he has comfortably lived off his salary.

His younger brother Peter, another Falcon alumni in Canada's elite player pool, is also on the team.

"Over the last three years I also worked for the United Nations Environment Program but due to the grueling schedule of our (Olympic) qualification process I was forced to stop working to focus on hockey," he explained.

Short enjoyed his summer of working with kids through Voodoo Canada's camps. It brought him back to Winskill Park where he began a career that now includes 213 international caps - ranked fourth all-time among Canadian players.

"We use current national team players to help coach our camps," added Short. "We feel this is the best way for young field hockey players to learn the most up-to-date skills and techniques used in the international scene."

Notes ...

łTsawwassen's Mark Pearson is off to Europe next month as a member of Canada's national junior team. The tour is slated for Oct. 4-16 in Holland and Germany. The Canadian team staff includes physiotherapist Ann Harada - a Falcon graduate who played in goal for Canada's junior team and also enjoyed a fine career at UBC.

łIt was a busy summer for Grade 12 South Delta secondary student Kira Carre as a member of B.C.'s U18 team. The squad traveled to Virginia Beach last month where it lost in the championship game to the U.S. National Futures U18 team in a high-profile tournament. The B.C. team was coached by local coach Neil McLennan.

Both McLennan and Carre now turn their attention to the upcoming high school season where the South Delta Devils are again expected to be a provincial contender.

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