Hockey is a team sport, and all great teams are made from great people. We’re in the ‘Reset’ phase of our Reset-Build-Excel vision, and resetting how we view ourselves, and work together, as a team is part of that.
What is a team? Using hockey as an example you might think it’s the players on the pitch, but the coaches are also part of the team, and so is the physio, and the sports scientist; and the video analyst.
Then there are the people who deliver logistics; media support; finance; paperwork; and of course, governance. There’s so much more that could be mentioned, but the key concept of a team being a group of people coming together with a shared goal truly widens the notion of what a hockey team is.
One of the most important aspects of team work is partnership. It’s not just about skills or talent, but about how people work together and how they can complement each other. Successful teams are made up of people who are able to work together and collaborate in order to achieve shared, and individual, goals.
At Scottish Hockey, we now talk about being part of ‘one team’, and the team isn’t just comprised of our players, coaches, and staff. It’s everyone across the hockey landscape – clubs; umpires; officials; volunteers; parents; districts; groups and committees; and of course, partners.
We are fortunate to have tremendous partnerships in place and are grateful to have such great partners in our team.
Our partners help us develop athletes on and off the pitch, playing a key role in the team. Partners can literally be the difference between helping an athlete become a great player, or helping an athlete become the greatest player they can possibly be.
Right now there are future medallists coming through our programme and it’s the support of partners like Bell Ingram, who support our women’s performance programme at every stage of an athlete’s development, which is propelling those future medallists towards their ultimate success. The team’s ultimate success.
We also have success in the here and now as Sarah Robertson won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics as part of the GB squad. By the time this is published the EuroHockey qualifiers may have taken place where our senior Scotland teams are competing to qualify for the EuroHockey Championships next year – qualification would be a fantastic success to celebrate.
These successes are celebrated as a team because we’ve all had a role to play, and the success that will come in the future is being built, right now, as a team.
We’re all part of one team at Scottish Hockey, and what a pleasure it is to be on this incredible team. So, here’s to team work in partnership, and the shared success it brings.
