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Peter Milkovich in Control

Peter Milkovich, former Canadian international midfielder from Vancouver, played for Team Canada from 1988 to 2000. His outstanding hockey career was bookended with Olympic performances in Seoul and Sydney. He was at times brilliant and always displayed determination and desire to win a powerful complement to his natural hockey skills.

Milkovich recently retired from competitive hockey and works as a trader in San Fransisco. He has also moved into the coaching ranks, and recently he was asked by the US Field Hockey Association to assist Shiv Jagday (Milkovich’s ex-coach) for a month with the US men’s national team. PlanetFieldHockey caught up with Peter as he was about to start his stint with the US team.



ANDREW GRIFFITHS (PFH): What will your capacity be with the US squad?
PETER MILKOVICH: I have been asked to provide technical assistance in the area of penalty corners, set plays and attacking skills. I have also been asked to help recruit younger players through a new initiative in the Thousand Oaks area.

AG: What will you try to accomplish during that time?
PM: With a short working period it will be important to share some of my ideas on the game that will be compatible with the overall structure that is now in place under the guidance of Shiv Jagday.

AG: When was the last competitive hockey game you played?
PM: The last competitive game I played would have been in the spring of 2001 with Old Loughtonians in the EHL. Prior to that my last international was the final match of the Sydney Olympics. However, I almost immediately started coaching as I took the role of assistant coach at the University of California Berkeley in the fall of 2001.

AG: How have you found the transition from playing to coaching?
PM: Not that difficult. I really lost interest last year in the day to day training as a player and that was one of my signals to call an end to playing. I enjoy the sharing of knowledge amongst coaches and the opportunity to test ideas in training. It is difficult at times to separate yourself from the players but that will come with experience.

AG: What is your coaching philosophy?
PM: My coaching philosophy revolves around commitment and attitude. I have played on many talented and skilled teams. However the best teams I played ever played on were committed to achieving their goals and applied a very distinct attitude in their training. I feel as a coach that if I can earn the players’ respect by clearly communicating and exemplifying the level of commitment and attitude that I feel is needed to win at the top level then anything is possible.

AG: Do you know players on the team - have you played with them?
PM: I know who the players are, I have never played with them so this will be an interesting opportunity for both myself and the players to gain some insight and understanding into the way each of us approach the game.

AG: Will it help that you have worked with Shiv Jagday in the past? (Jagday worked for a number of years with the Canadian national team)
PM: Yes it always helps when you have some understanding of the current coach’s view of the game. Shiv is a good coach, who loves the game and I am sure I will see that in the players.

AG: How did you find coaching in the NCAA this season?
PM: The NCAA is a unique coaching environment. It is difficult in one sense because the season is so short that you cannot teach that much. On the other side the players and staff are very professional and both Shellie Onstead and Jenn Vinnetti were great to work with.

AG: Do you think field hockey has a strong future in the USA: For women?
PM: For women the future is now – I believe the US has more girls playing the sport than any other country in the world. Unfortunately they do not play as much and there has been no top league within the US until recently with the development of the USAir League. I think with the popularity of the sport on the East Coast that there needs to be a serious league that develops and trains players outside the current university system for both the purpose of exposing good young players to higher levels of coaching and play and to develop the popularity of the sport in the local communities. With respect to the national team, I see no reason why they will not qualify for the World Cup and I believe they will give Argentina a very tough time at the next Pan-Am Games if they develop a strong penalty corner unit.

AG: And the future for the men’s game in the USA?
PM: With the men the development of the game seems bo be quite difficult due to longstanding traditions of boys not playing the sport in the US. Having said that I think hockey could grow as a regional sport on the west coast with its more positive climate conditions. As for the national team I will see shortly how they approach their training and measure how committed and willing they are to sacrifice for the opportunity to play in an Olympics or World Cup.

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