WCC: Women's field hockey coach likes to mix it up 
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| United States |
July 8, 2005
Virginian Pilot, VA
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By MATT MIDDLETON, The Virginian-Pilot
VIRGINIA BEACH — He doesn’t carry a whistle. He doesn’t watch from the sidelines, barking commands to his players. A clipboard is replaced with his own stick.
Lee Bodimeade , new head coach of the U.S. women’s field hockey national team, likes to get right in the middle of things. That’s exactly where he was at a recent practice preparing for the Rabobank Champions Challenge, which begins this afternoon and runs through next Saturday at the U.S. Field Hockey National Training Center.
“I miss it,” Bodimeade said of his international playing days that ended seven years ago. “But I love to get in here and run around and teach these players the right way to do things.”
A silver medalist in the 1992 Olympics with Australia, Bodimeade, 35, is two months into his new gig after working almost exclusively with men’s teams in his native country. His hands-on style has been enjoyable so far, players say.
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“Getting out there and playing with us, it can bring about a lot of fun,” forward Tiffany Snow said.
The six-team Champions Challenge, billed as the return of major international field hockey to the United States for the first time since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, features teams ranked sixth-11th in the world. In its third edition, the Champions Challenge is held every two years and serves as a qualifier for the more prestigious Champions Trophy tournament. The winner gets an automatic berth into next summer’s event alongside the world’s top five teams.
Bodimeade, in a rare moment of relaxation, says that’s not his team’s focus. Instead, he said the ultimate goal of the summer is to gain continuity in preparation for next year’s World Cup Qualifier in Rome. The U.S. finished ninth in the 2002 World Cup and hasn’t qualified for the Olympics since garnering an automatic berth in 1996.
Not that anyone around here might be aware.
“We still get the questions, like 'You’re part of what? We have an Olympic field hockey team?’” Snow said. “Not many people know about us.”
Opponents know Snow. A former national Player of the Year at Old Dominion, she led the team by scoring five goals in recent matches with Australia and New Zealand, a team Bodimeade sees as the favorite.
In preparation for the Challenge, the U.S. played matches at New Zealand and at home against Australia, combining to go 1-6-2 against two of the top six teams in the world. Despite what that record might indicate, Bodimeade is optimistic.
“The girls are starting to enjoy my style of coaching,” Bodimeade said. “Hopefully, the (Champions Challenge) is just the beginning of bigger things for us. It’s a real good chance to see where we’re at.”
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