Field Hockey Canada
2000 OLYMPIC GAMES

Millie is an echidna who lives in a stylish little burrow beneath Millennium Park. Named for the new millennium, she personifies Sydney's hope and optimism at the dawning of the year 2000.

A very hip and modern young woman, she's a whiz with new technology — if you want to know what's new and cool, just ask Millie. A natural teacher and the undisputed brains of the mascot trio, Millie is always taking notes and coming up with creative ideas.

While at first you might think that Millie is a very serious young insect-eater, she also likes to have fun and loves sport. With her strong muscular body and sharp mind, she excels at anything that involves strategy and accuracy, particularly archery, gymnastics and fencing.

Olympic Team Update, by Andrew Griffiths It is Wednesday night now and the last 36 hours has been tiring. We have had two practice matches, against Argentina and India - our last practice games before we start the tournament. We tied 2-2 with Argentina and lost 1-2 to India. It has been over a month since our last game, so these matches have been valuable for us in a number of ways. First of all, we have had the chance to get back up to game speed again; although we play games in practice, it is very difficult to simulate the intensity of a real game. The practice games have also given us the chance to try some new things tactically - to see which strategies work and which ones don't. Warm up games are always a little different. In today's game against India, they began the game by giving the ball to us. We did the same at the start of the second half. The atmosphere is intense but players are still wary of getting injured - the score matters in that you're always happy to get goals but, of course, the score doesn't really matter. It feels good to have played two games - it feels like we're just about ready to play now! Around the Athletes' Village, we have started to see and meet some celebrities - I sat by tennis player Gustavo Kuerten yesterday in the dining hall; having coffee yesterday, CBC broadcasters Brian Williams and Alison Smith came over and had a chat. Peter Mansbridge apparently has stayed at home because Pierre Trudeau is ill (this reminds me how out of touch I am with what is going on in the real world). Other guys on the team have bumped into track athletes Marion Jones, Haile Gebresselassie (sorry if I spelt that wrong...), tennis players Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Amanda Coetzer, and more. So there's a lot to see here, as you would expect. Three days until our opening game against Pakistan!

Canada lost it's second exhibition match today to India 1-2

Scott Mosher scored the goal for Canada early in the game from a pass from Bindi Kullar. India equalized from a penalty stroke and went ahead with a field goal late in the first half.

Canada missed 3 good opportunities to score in the second half while India did not register a shot at net or earn any corners in the second half.

Exhibition games are a good opportunity to try various set plays and also try tactics. This game was important as our first match is on Saturday against Pakistan which has similar style.

On September 13, at precisely 8:46, in Doonside, a suburb of Sydney, the Olympic Torch will be carried by an Australian Olympian who is very well known by the Canadian Field Hockey community: John McBryde. John earned the privilege of carrying the Olympic Torch so close to its final destination because he was the Captain of the Australian field hockey team that won a Bronze Medal at the 1964 in Tokyo (winning against Spain 3-2 in overtime, after being down 1-2 with less than 5 minutes to go in regular time!).

John started to play field hockey back in 1948 in the back garden of the family house in Maryborough (Queensland) which was large enough to organize endless 4 on 4 games with the neighborhood kids. He quickly joined the local club and has not stopped playing the game ever since. More than half a century later, he is still playing regularly with the Grey Hawks in the Vancouver League.

John was selected in the Australian National Team from 1960 to 1966 and played in two Olympic Games, finishing 5th in 1960 in Rome and winning a Bronze Medal in 1964 in Tokyo. In between, he played in the 1962 World Tournament (the FIH World Cup was only created in 1971) in Ahmadabad, India.

John became friendly with some Canadian hockey players at the Tokyo Olympics and shortly after moved to Canada, where he played a handful of Invitational Games for the Canadian National team before becoming its Coach in 1968. He coached the Canadian Team from 1968 to 1970, then from 1977 to 1981, including the 1978 World Cup in Buenos Aires and a Silver Medal at the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan (Puerto Rico). He also got involved in the administrative side of the sport and was the Vice President Coaching for Field Hockey Canada from 1975 to 1977 and the Vice President Domestic Tournaments from 1988 to 1993.

He is now an active member of the FIH Equipment Committee: John always had an interest for synthetic pitches and was one of the instigator, back in the 1970', for having the game played on turf (the first major FIH competition on artificial turf was the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal).

When asked about his best hockey memory, John has no hesitation to say that winning a medal at the Olympic Games was a "magic moment" but he is quick to add that, on a broader sense, his fondest recollection are from the atmosphere of the early Varsity competitions back home, with a good mix of competition and friendship, a mix that he now finds in the Golden Oldies competitions.

In closing, John has a few words of wisdom for younger players taking up the sport: "Play to the best you can be but, most important, enjoy hockey and the fellowship around it. Don't' give up, keep playing! Also, don't forget to give back to the sport. It is also great fun!"

Canada tied Argentina 2-2 in an exhibition game in Sydney.

It was a typical exhibition game with both teams trying various combinations. Bindi Kullar scored a field goal setup by Ken Pereira in the first half. Argentina tied the game 1-1 from a penalty corner flick in the second half. Bindi Kullar was fouled by a stick check midway in the second half and Peter Milkovich scored from the penalty stroke. Once again Argentina scored a penalty corner goal to tie the game 2-2.

Kant rides Canadian field hockey high (By Martin Cleary, The Ottawa Citizen)

Ottawa goalkeeper key part of first team to qualify for Olympic competition.

Remember those popular T-shirts that proclaim: Life is (fill in the name of your sport)? Gloucester's Hari Kant deserves one of those specialty shirts in more ways than one. It would read: Life is field hockey.

The sport for right-handed shooters with stubbly-bladed sticks played on water-downed artificial turf has been a big part of his life for 18 years, on and off the field. For the first time since the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Canada will be represented in the Games in men's field hockey. Kant will share goaltending duties with Mike Mahood of West Vancouver during the 2000 Olympics at Sydney, Australia. The team has been on such a high for the past 18 months, including a gold medal in the Pan-Am Games last summer in Winnipeg, and it could pull off a major upset against the European powers and win a medal.

Away from the intense on-field battles of international hockey, Kant, a software engineer, is working with national team players Andrew Griffiths of Toronto and Alan Brahmst of Toronto to spread the world about field hockey through an Internet company. They hope to turn a hobby into a business. The site, offthecrossbar.com, is made by field hockey players for all levels of players and coaches. Besides providing free coaching materials, a national team diary, articles, drills, interviews with world-class players and an "ask the expert" section, the Web site offers six instructional video tapes at a cost of $100 U.S. They have sold about 200 in their first year, covering the cost of the professionally-filmed tapes.

"Over the last few months, business has picked up," said Kant, 31. "It's the big season right now, getting coaches the videos for the fall season. I've spent a fair bit of time fulfilling orders and answering e-mails. We've broke even and covered the cost of the videos, but we haven't broke even on our time. It's enjoyable, but we're looking to pay ourselves. It started as a small marketing vehicle and we've turned it into a fledgling business." The site averages about 5,000 hits a month, but that is well back of the top field hockey sites, who receive between 25,000 and 50,000 hits monthly. "If we can establish our credibility, then they'll buy the product," Kant said.

Winning an Olympic medal or placing in the top six to qualify for the 2002 World Cup would certainly be a good way to boost the profile of the Canadian team and sales for the young business.

Kant, who sits besides head coach Shiaz Virjee of Vancouver and closely watches the action when he's not in goal, believes Canada has a decent chance of winning its first Olympic field hockey medal. The Canadian team has made eight trips, including five for international tournaments, in the past year. Canada also had its most successful European tour in years last month. The results included five wins, two ties and one loss in an eight-game tour against world No. 2 Spain, No. 7 Korea, No. 11 Malaysia and Belgium. The national side finished the tour by beating Spain 4-2 and 3-0 and tying 1-1. The two games against Korea ended in a 1-0 loss and a 4-1 victory.

In 1999, before winning Pan Am Games gold, Canada scored an upset victory in the Australia Cup, beating world No. 4 Australia 4-0, tying Korea 1-1 and downing No. 9 India 2-1. A week later at the Sydney International Challenge, Canadian tied Australia 1-1, but lost by identical 3-2 scores to India and Kora and placed third.

"It puts validation into our preparations and puts fear into the hearts of the other teams," Kant said. "We outplayed the other team. The other teams are scared and our confidence is up."

Still, that confidence has also been rattled along the way. At the start of the year, Canada went to Barcelona, and lost three games to India, Spain and Germany by a combined score of 13-5. A month later, in Malaysia, Canada lost five one-goal games and had a single tie. "We realized we had to put work into goal scoring," Kant said. "We were in all the games. We just have to sharpen up."

Canada started to rally in the summer, winning five consecutive games before being upset by Cuba in the final of the Americas Cup. The loss cost Canada an automatic berth in the 2002 World Cup. Then came the European tour.

"We're not quite as popular as ice hockey," Kant said. "We need a great result in Sydney. If we get a result, people will believe in us."

Kant, who was born in Ottawa but now lives in Toronto, started field hockey by complete accident. He was out one summer day with his father for a drive, when his dad spotted a friend. While they talked, Kant watched a boys' field hockey game. The players asked Kant to play and he picked up a stick. He fit in well and was asked to join the regional team to go to the 1981 Ontario Summer Games in Kitchener-Waterloo. He had a great time, but didn't pick up a stick again for another two years. By age 16, though, he was back in the game and on the Ontario under-18 team for the Canadian championships at Calgary.

Kant made his first national junior team in 1987 and won a bronze medal at the junior Pan Am World Cup qualifier. By 1989, he was on his first national senior team, and he has been a regular since 1992, earning 107 caps (international matches). Early in his career, Kant gravitated to being a goalie, a position he had also played in soccer. "I had natural ability and fast reflexes," he said. "It's a funny position. You can really influence a game." When he played for the junior Indo-Canada Field Hockey club in an Ottawa-area men's league, he was accustomed to facing up to 40 shots a game. He loved the action and turned down opportunities to play for better teams.

Kant stands an even six feet tall, but another three inches would have been ideal. "I make up for it (being only six feet) with better positioning and faster reflexes," he said. "Agility is the key. Rarely do you stand and get hit with the ball. You must move quickly." Even with nine years national team experience and played more than 100 international matches of experience, he's still learning. During a national team camp in August, a goalie coach from The Netherlands broadened his knowledge of the position. "He taught us techniques I didn't know," Kant said. "I'm home grown and a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants goalie. He gave us technique to be more consistent. I've got all this knowledge to coach in the future."

Virjee is a believer of the two-goalie system, which keeps Kant and Mike Mahood happy and sharp. "He'll never say one is No. 1 and one is No. 2," said Kant, who keeps stats and scouts both teams for Virjee when he's not on the field. "We split the games. The last tour, I had three wins and one tie, and Mike struggled a bit. It comes down to who (Virjee) thinks will do well. We fight it out every day for the start.

"It's a pressure-filled game, and when you play great, you win it for the team. There's a lot of glory in goal. There's a big satisfaction in dominating another team."

Canada has taken the first Gold Medal at the Olympic Games by being the most conscientious team in recycling its food scraps following their meals in the Main Dining Hall. Cuba took a close second place while Spain and Yugoslavia tied for the Bronze position in this much coveted " recycling champions" award.

Volunteers at the Dining Services are keeping a sharp eye out for daily winners of the awards to ensure that the thousands of pieces of rubbish which go through the Dining Hall each day are environmentally disposed of.

Judges are looking for precision in putting the cutlery in the correct tray, followed by concerted efforts to put food scraps, paper and recyclable milk cartons and aluminium cans in their allocated bins. Those who have been putting the whole tray, cutlery and all, in the same bin are instantly disqualified from the running.

So far, the winning teams have had exemplary records in disposing of their waste, with Canada making a 100% effort! Those in need of a little more training to improve their performance include the Australian and United States teams who may need to lift their game.

Today, I am writing from the "Business Centre" of the Holiday Inn Resort in Terigal. We came here yesterday afternoon for a weekend retreat on the coast. Terigal is a golden coastal village latched onto a long sandy beach. The shops and restaurants (quite good and BYO!) and hotels are afterthoughts; you come to Terigal to be on the beach.

This morning the team met for a run on the beach. Patrick Burrows, our manager, had been out earlier for a jog and suggested a run "around the corner" to where a rugby side was preparing for an afternoon match. Most of us found our way past the rocks at the beachend to find a smaller bay in the foreground and a rising crest to the end of the peninsula. The crest was the obvious place to run, past the ruggers' who were into the session by now and on and up to the lookout point. A remarkable view forever and on to the east and then back to the south-west and north-west into the Terigal townships. For a place that is only 1.5 hour of Sydney, the beachside hills are relatively untouched. Australia must have coast line to spare. The return jog along the beach ended with a cool, no! cold! swim, before heading to breakfast.

The retreat has come after 3 days of hard training back at the Olympic site. 2 a day practices with significant sprint work and some body-weight resistance training to boot makes for tired bodies. This weekend will return us to Sydney fresh for a pair of exhibition matches with Argentina and India before a final day of rest and then the show starts!

I received a couple of notes that mentioned how refreshing it was to hear about the Olympics from a source other than the media. This morning I read my first paper of the week and I think I can see where you are coming from. Drugs, corruption, customs offences, traffic nightmares, hotel costs, IOC politics, etc... etc... Even when the athletes are mentioned, it is often a media event, "Perkins call Hall a Drug Cheat" vs. "Hall plans to smash Aussies like guitars". It is a shame that our society thirsts for conflict when all around there are better stories to tell. Without being here, it is difficult to get an appreciation for how much the Olympics is NOT about medal winners and doping offences. It is mostly about athletes trying desperately to win and not quite doing so! Win or lose, it is in the athletes' attempt that the best stories would be found and ought to be looked for!

Anyways, that's my op-ed piece for the weekend!

The Team travels in style in their A.Wear suits.

After all the scary stories heard in the past weeks, the arrival at Sydney Airport was a pleasant surprise: everything ran as smoothly as could be and in hardly more than half an hour the whole team was on its way to the Olympic Village with the precious Olympic Accreditation around their neck.

Upon arrival at the Olympic Village, the players moved in their Olympic accommodation, a comfortable town house with spacious living quarters. Of course, they don't look that spacious any more when all the individual and team gear have been moved on, not mentioning the TV and video equipment used by Shiaz Virjee.

After a briefing by the COA Athletes Services, the first day was dedicated to getting used to the new environment and going through the staging where the athletes receive the official Roots Canadian Olympic Team package, with instruction NOT to wear some of the items before the Opening Ceremony.

The Canadian Field Hockey Team accommodation in the Olympic Village: Unit 568, Blue Star Fish zone.
Briefing by COA Athletes Services
Bindi Kullar and Mike Mahood looking a bit jet-lagged...
	Return from staging with the official Olympic Team package

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Olympic Team Update, by Ian Bird Greetings from DownUnder! We are settled in to the village now after our long flight south. All in all, not a bad trip. After landing in Sydney in the morning, we spent the rest of the day at the accreditation offices, Canadian Olympic Association outfitting sessions and finding our way around the village. A long day but full of interesting moments. At the accreditation area, I ran into a friend from last years' Pan American Games. Luce is on the Canadian Judo team and is at her first Olympics. She was pretty excited and nervous - like me! - and it was good to relax and trade stories about the past year. She is hoping to reach the quarterfinals (top 8 in the world) and see what happens from there. Her draw is announced on the 15th which will determine how far she is likely to go. Cheer her on via CBC on the 17th when she competes! Over at the Roots Outfitting the team spent a few hours mixing and matching sizes and styles of all of the gear. An amazing amount of stuff. Looks good and is a little bit unique when compared to the rest of the teams in the village who are largely stuck in the adidas/nike tracksuit and rain jacket look. The women's softball team was in the other changing area going through the same routine. Jackie Lance, their second baseman, and I are friends from athlete representative gigs for Athletes Can. A challenge has been made between the two teams for a game of road hockey. We are trying to find some sticks as I write. I think we can take them if we can keep track of Hayley Wickenheiser - known as the best hockey player in the women's game and apparently a pretty good hitter as well. We will go to the trap if necessary! Win at all costs! Back at the Village, we are housed in a creatively appointed 9 bedroom house. The garage has been converted to two rooms. There is a portable in the back yard making another room available for the coach. The unfinished kitchen and den area is open for all but every other room is full of beds. It will be tight but nothing at all to complain about and good for that team bonding thing.

Eric Donegani - Olympic Tournament Director

In Sydney, the Tournament Director of the Men's Field Hockey competition will be Canadian Eric Donegani . As for the athlete, there is a fierce competition for these technical positions and an Olympic selection is the recognition of excellence in your field.

Eric Donegani started playing hockey at the tender age of ten in the junior program established by Dr. Harry Warren. The juniors in this program would go on and create in 1965 the Vancouver Hawks Club, now one of the largest field hockey clubs in North America. Eric represented British Columbia at National Championships in Under-19 and Senior level. He was a member of the National Squad in 1969 and, more than 30 years later, still plays regularly for the Grey Hawks in third division of the Vancouver League.

From 1971 to 1978, Eric was the first Executive Director of the Canadian Field Hockey Council in the newly created Administrative Centre for Sport and Recreation, in Ottawa. He also held a number of volunteer positions on the Executive of Field Hockey Canada and is since 1994 a Member of the FIH Hockey Rules Board.

After various technical positions at Senior and Junior Canadian National Championships, Eric got his first international appointment as a Judge at the 1976 Pre-Olympic Tournament in Montreal. His first Technical Official appointment came in 1985 (Junior Pan American Championship in Orlando) and the first Tournament Director appointment in 1988 (Intercontinental Cup, America's Qualifier, in Santiago).

International appointments as a Judge:

• 1997 - World Cup Qualifier, Kuala Lumpur
• 1989 - Intercontinental Cup, Madison
• 1987 - Pan American Games, Indianapolis
• 1985 - Junior World Cup, Vancouver
• 1983 - Pan American Games, Caracas
• 1978 - Junior Pan Am Tournament, Mexico
• 1976 - Olympics, Montreal
• 1976 - Pre-Olympic Tournament, Montreal

International appointments as a Technical Official:

• 1996 - Olympic Games, Atlanta
• 1994 - World Cup, Sydney
• 1993 - Intercontinental Cup, Poznan
• 1991 - Pan American Games, Havana
• 1988 - Junior Pan Am Tournament, Port of Spain
• 1985 - Junior Pan American Tournament, Orlando

International appointments as a Tournament Director:

• 1999 - Pre-Olympic Tournament, Sydney
• 1998 - Champions Trophy, Lahore
• 1997 - Junior World Cup, Milton Keynes
• 1996 - Six Nation Pre-Olympic Tournament, Atlanta
• 1993 - Central American & Caribbean Games, San Juan
• 1992 - Intercontinental Cup America's Qualifier, Madison
• 1988 - Intercontinental Cup America's Qualifier, Santiago

OLYMPIC TEAM SEND-OFF DAY

The exhibition game was a really friendly affair at the Pinetree Community Centre in Coquitlam, mixing the current Olympians and some of the former ones on hand. Canada participated in the 1964, 1976, 1984 and 1988 Olympics and the former Olympians were brilliantly represented by Peter Vander Pyl (1964), Lee Wright (1964 and 1976), Paul Bubli Chohan (1976, 1984 and 1988), Alan Hobkirk (1976), Anthony Schouten (1976), Kelvin Woods (1976), Rai Senior (1984) and Junior (1988), Pat Burrows (1984 and 1988). And, of course, Ian Bird, Chris Gifford and Peter Milkovich, the three players at the same time former and current Olympians.

The spirit of the day was exemplified by Peter Vanderpyl and Kelvin Woods who flew from Calgary for the day to spend a few hours with their former Olympic team mates and to wish good luck to the 2000 Olympic Team. The former players who were not able to play could be represented by somebody younger, so the affair was called "Field Hockey Olympians, Past, Present and Future".

The Grey Team

The White Team

The game was umpired by Alan Waterman (left), who umpire in the 1992 Olympic Games, and Sumesh Putra (right), on his way to the 2000 Games in Sydney!

	There was plenty of goal to goal action and the two keepers Hari Kant and Mike Mahood were kept more busy than in a regular game!
Mike Mahood and Alan Hobkirk (1976 Olympian)	Kelvin Woods (1976 Olympian) and Alan Brahmst
Ian Bird and Wendy Long (Vancouver Sun)	Coach Shiaz Virjee interviewed by CBC Radio

There were some emotional moments (Alan Brahmst was even spotted smiling!) but the strongest was when Chris Gifford asked his wife Sandy to present his ring and she came forward with their tiny first baby, only a few weeks old. Young Carson will be in Sydney to cheer on Dad and could very possibly earned the medal for the youngest Olympic fan!
Vice-Captain Ian Bird took the time to thank the numerous persons who helped the Team on its Road to Sydney. He clearly expressed the gratitude of the Team for the overwhelming support that allowed the players to be in a position to fulfill their potential and their dream.

The 2000 Olympic Field Hockey Team would like to extend a large Thank You to Andrew Shirkoff, President, and the British Columbia Field Hockey Association Executive, who have contributed $2,500 to the Olympic preparation. This contribution has allowed to have a team building weekend on Saltspring and will allow the Team to get away from the Olympic Village for 2-3 days just prior to the start of the competition - both key parts of the Olympic build-up.

Alan Brahmst presented Peter Milkovich with a superb drawing commissioned by the Team to celebrate Peter's 250th International Cup (during the Americas Cup in June) and Captain Milkovich expressed in closing the clear belief that the 2000 Canadian Olympic Field Hockey Team is stronger that it has ever been and is deeply convinced that it can go and grab a Medal in Sydney.

Olympic gold could help (Australian) dollar become a winner (By Matt Wade, Sydney Morning Herald)

The Sydney Olympics might inspire athletes to go higher, faster, stronger but will any gold rub off on the Aussie dollar?

If history is any indication, it should. Currencies of most Olympic host countries rose after their games including the Spanish peseta and US dollar after Barcelona in 1992, Los Angeles in 1984 and Atlanta in 1996. The Canadian dollar - which, like the Australian one, is traditionally seen as commodities-driven - was lacklustre through most of 1976, but jumped 2 per cent during the Montreal Olympics and finished the year much higher.

According to research by Salomon Smith Barney/Citibank, comparing Olympic host currencies since 1976, only the Korean won has bucked the trend. But it had a fixed exchange rate when Seoul held the Games in 1988 and so cannot really be compared with a floating currency like the Aussie. The research does not show how the Moscow Games affected the Russian rouble in 1980, because of a lack of data.

But the "Olympics are good for the exchange rate" theory will be put to a stern test this time around. So far this year the fickle Aussie has put in anything but a gold medal performance, hitting a near-record low of US56.50c against the greenback in May. A survey of 127 currencies in April found that since the beginning of 2000 the Aussie had recorded the seventh largest decline in the world against the US dollar. It was being beaten in the depreciation stakes by currency lightweights such as the Libyan dinar and the Romanian leu...

So will the Games mean gold, gold gold for the Aussie?

According to the "Olympics are good for the exchange rate" theory, there are three reasons the dollar will rise. First, demand for the dollar will be boosted by the arrival of overseas spectators, media, athletes and officials all laden with foreign currency that must be converted to local dollars. It is estimated that the Games will boost tourist receipts by around $1.5 billion. Second, the Olympics will improve a number of economic indicators which influence market judgments of the dollar, including the current account deficit and GDP growth. And third, there will be an Olympics recognition factor. The Australian dollar is a peripheral player on the world currency stage, but with the eyes of the world focused on Sydney for those two weeks in September, the Aussie could attract buyers simply because we are in the spotlight.

Extract from the Editorial of President Juan Angel Calzado

The FIH has spent a great deal of time during the last months lobbying for the South African Men's Team's right to participate in the Games of the XXVII Olympiad in Sydney, that their National Olympic Committee intended to deny them. Sadly, the NOSCA insisted on their decision and the FIH had no option but to invite the Argentinian men's team to participate in the Sydney Olympics.

I wish to express that the thoughts of the hockey family go out to South Africa, who have put so much effort into the preparation for this most important event in a hockey player's life. It is not only that their dreams have been shattered but it is also a major blow to the development of our sport in Africa.

A quote for the road

"This the first game of hockey that I can remember where we allowed players to play cards at halftime" - Terry Walsh, Australian men's Coach, after the game against Spain at the 2000 Champion's Trophy, which was played on two different days.

For the first time in the history of the Trophy, a complete day's play was abandoned when the Dutch Weather Bureau issued a gale warning on Sunday May 28. The games were canceled after the first half of Australia vs. Spain because their was concern for the safety of spectators and players.