Coach Adam Commens confident the Hockeyroos can earn back Olympic glory – Hockey News
Looking over the past Hockeyroos Olympic performances, the Women’s hockey team of Australia earned their last victory in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Disappointingly, the team lost in the two successive Olympics of 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing.
However, the new coach Adam Commens is confident that this time the Hockeyroos squad has the spark to win a gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics.
This confidence was developed in the performance that the team show-cased while playing against the World Champion team, Argentina in Canberra Series. Even though they loss the two matches played in the Canberra series with a score of 3-2 in both, they showed
quite some potential to put pressure over the top-ranked team.
Commens and Madonna Blyth, the team captain, were convinced with the team’s improvement that indicates that they are moving in the right direction.
Hockeyroos are internationally ranked at sixth place, holding the Olympic victories of 2000, 1996 and 1988 with players that are unforgettable. Later, the last two Olympic experiences were extremely heart-breaking for the team, reminding them of their past
glory.
However, Commens took over the Hockeyroos squad last November and already has managed to introduce 12 new players to the team.
He said, "The 18 months we have together (before the Olympics) is a relatively short period of time in international hockey but for the first time last weekend we have begun to show the athletic and aggressive playing style we want to produce."
The team captain had brilliantly led the Hockeyroos squad in acquiring gold in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games and is confident about the future Olympic victory. Their performance during the Games was tremendous as they fought hard in all their matches
and managed to get the gold.
Blyth commented that all of the team members have dreamt of playing for Hockeyroos in the Olympics and are not tensed but inspired. With 12 debutants in the squad, it is a whole new group of players with the potential to make anything happen as the highest
stage in the World.
In the meantime, Hockeyroos is ready to play the next two matches against Argentina in the Sydney Series, starting April 8 at the Sydney Olympic Park Hockey Centre. Both teams will be looking to put in a good performance and dominate early to stamp their
authority over the Series.
Then, they will head their way to the Netherlands for the June Champions Trophy. Later, they will have a New Zealand tour for the Oceania Cup in October, being their last stop before the 2012 London Olympics. It will be interesting to see how the team performs
before the Olympics as they have the potential to take on any challenge.
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