New hockey boss has lofty goals

IRELAND’S new senior men’s hockey coach sees no reason why World Cup and Olympic Games qualification cannot be realistic goals during the coming four years.

David Passmore, 37, was appointed to the role yesterday on a three-year contract, to begin next March, and was also given a separate one-year contract by the Irish Hockey Association as acting high performance director.

Passmore says a top 12 world ranking is a realistic target during the next few years.

A full-time high performance coach with English hockey and coach of the successful England B and U-21 women’s team, which won silver at the 2002 European Championships and bronze in 2004, his other international experience includes assistant roles with both England’s senior men’s (2001) and senior women’s squads, including the Sydney Olympics.

He also coaches club hockey at Maidstone in England, who are unbeaten in 52 games, and at Ireland’s Cork Harlequins.

“I am really delighted to be able to accept these two roles and I know that from what I have already seen of the men’s game here in Ireland that there is an excellent pool of players and a very strong work ethic among them.

“On top of that, there is also a huge desire to improve and, on the whole, there is plenty for me to work with.”

Passmore, married with five children, has lived in Kilmallock, Co Limerick, for the past year-and-a-half because he and his Irish wife want to raise their children here.

“When the coaching job with Ireland came up, it was an ideal opportunity for me. There is a lot of potential and a lot of talent here and I saw a lot of that at the European Championships in Barcelona in September last year.

“I remember seeing the men play against Germany and you could tell immediately they were not miles off the German standard, even if you could also see where work needed to be done with things like decision-making on the pitch and so forth.

“But my knowledge is obviously limited to those players I have come across playing against Harlequins, so I’m looking forward to spending time with the players at this weekend’s inter-provincials and working hard with them and coaches like John Clarke and David Scott, who have put so much into Irish hockey over the years.”

The new Irish coach says his year-long deal as acting high performance director will mainly be spent working on all aspects of the game - for both men and women - and he will work hard on the physiological and psychological preparation of all representative teams.

“Next September’s European Cup in Rome is the route to the World Cup, as I see it, and I genuinely see no reason why World Cup and Olympic Games qualifications cannot be realistic ambitions for us. Ireland may have lost a little momentum in recent times and there is a bit to make up on other countries. But that’s not insurmountable and with some of the really exciting players we have, we can do a lot.

“What I want to do is to keep the flair that is there among the elite players, but to give them a discipline on the pitch and a defensive organisation to play at the top level.

“From my experience here, there is a real desire for players to commit to something that, if they know they work hard at it, will pay off. But they have got to want it and, as any player who has worked with me will know, I demand high standards of physical fitness because that is the starting point for creating success.”

Describing his new job as “a really exciting challenge” Passmore said he wanted to find a consistent way of playing across all the junior sides that ultimately lead to the senior team.

This allows for players coming through to slot into a team whose style is continuous from that which they are used to and where the technical demands are similar.

“Some of that work will be done on a regional basis and with three core centres in Cork, Belfast and Dublin, it should be possible to do a lot of work with players and coaches to achieve our aims. I certainly won’t achieve that alone, so I’m looking forward to working with everyone concerned.”

Passmore says his “absolute priority” is achieving qualification for the World Championships in China in 2006 and all his efforts would be aimed at this primary goal, but he said that “keeping a long-term view, another aim is to create a secondary group of development players to create competition for places and ensure a steady stream of talent reaching the top level.”