Fact File - Nick Conway

HOMETOWN: Chapel Hill, NC, USA/London, England
HOCKEY CLUBS: Doncaster whilst in high school, Bourneville whist at University, Old Loughtonians, a season in Italy with Cernusco Milan and mainly the mighty Teddington.
STARTED PLAYING: 11 years old at school
STARTED COACHING: At University
INTERNATIONAL CAREER: England U14, 16, 18, 21 and Seniors (only 9 caps, mainly a bench warmer)
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Winning National Championship with Birmingham University in 1992; Winning Indoor National Championship with Old Loughtonians in 1995; Playing in the Junior World Cup 1992; Getting my first cap in 1992 and scoring against Poland; Scoring winning goal in 1997 HA Cup final for Teddington; Top scorer in European Cup Winners Cup 1998.
COACHING CAREER: 1995-present with North Carolina, 2000-present with US National Team
COACHING HIGHLIGHTS: UNC - 1995, 1996 and 1997 National Champions; Runners up in
Americas Cup 2001 with National Team.

Nick Conway, assistant coach of the USA Women’s Team and the University of North Carolina has brought a different perspective to US field hockey. His experience playing internationally has given him some interesting insights into the game – and he is now applying his knowledge to one of the most successful programs in University field hockey.

Conway's unique style comes through in this interview with Andrew Griffiths from planetfieldhockey:

Andrew Griffiths: What makes a good hockey player?
Nick Conway: Somebody who can think for themselves on the field. Also first touch and distributing skills.

AG: What is your Coaching Philosophy?
NC: Fluid, attacking overlapping play. Trapping and aggressive defence. Don't worry about how many you let in just score more than the opposition.

AG: What brought you over to the USA?
NC: I was playing for Great Britain against the United States in a test series in 1993 on a training and acclimatising tour for the 1996 Olympics. I got to meet Karen Shelton and the girls at North Carolina. When I got dropped from the Olympic squad and Karen offered me the job it seemed like a better thing to do then work for an Insurance Company in London. It was.

AG: What do you think of the NCAA Hockey Leagues?
NC: Certain conferences are much stronger than others and play in different styles.  I think that everybody should play by International rules and not NCAA rules.  Thankfully the short corner rules have been adapted at last. I think we should ban time outs - they abolish player development and coaches need to be carded so that they will shut up on the sidelines.

AG: What is the most important thing you learnt from your international experience to teach US players?
NC: To receive the ball facing the right direction and in a position to eliminate your defender with your first touch - to keep the flow of the game with your first touch and body position. And don't eat the sheep’s brain curry if you’re on tour in Pakistan, very dodgy.

AG: How do you think the standard of hockey will improve in the US?
NC: We need to get more players playing on astros (artificial turfs), especially water-based turfs, at an early age. We need to change the emphasis from the coach being the dominant person to the player. Get the youngsters to make their own decisions and use their own knowledge to problem solve.  Simplify the game, concentrate on the basics and very simple strategies such as just trapping and shooting in the circle.

AG: Are foreign players good for the NCAA?
NC: Yes because like it or not they raise the standard of play. They educate other players whilst forcing other players to play better to compete with them.  The number of foreign players on each team needs to be limited so that we do not end up with International teams thereby ruining the opportunities for home grown talent to improve.

AG: Who is going to be in the NCAA Final Four next year?
NC: Definitely North Carolina and Maryland. You can never rule out Old Dominion but the other two places could be up for grabs depending on the draw.

AG: Who is the best player you have played with?
NC: Russell Garcia (GB and England).

AG: And against?
NC: The best player I have shared a field with was Stephan Veen (Netherlands). The best player I had to mark was Warren Birmingham (Australia) back in the day - I never got within 5 yards of him. Or Shabhaz - the only way I could get near him was to get Matt Sutton (GB, England) to whack him.  Best defender (and the dirtiest) I had to go against was Kenny Wark (Australia) he ate me up and then would hit me afterwards, lovely bloke.