News at St. Catherine's
Goochland Gazette: St. Catherine’s coach plays for Team USA
Saints field hockey coach was featured in the Goochland Gazette after playing for Team USA.
Posted: Wednesday, August 21, 2013 1:10 am
By Dave Lawrence
dlawrence@goochlandgazette.com
St. Catherine’s field hockey coach Don Warner was not quite done with his summer travels after the Saints began their two-a-day practices Monday.
Warner, a member of the USA Field Hockey men’s over-50 team, just returned from Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he and his teammates competed in the European Masters Open at Lisnagarvey Hockey Club.
“I’m in the middle of unpacking,” Warner said. “I’ve got two bags in front of me and wet socks from today’s practice.”
The American team played teams from England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Scotland and Wales in the tournament, which began Saturday, Aug. 10 and ended on Sunday, Aug. 18.
While they did not win any of their games, they fought to a 2-2 tie against the Netherlands and stayed close to their other opponents – not bad for a team that, because of its vastly different geographic scale compared with that of its opponents, could not get together for practice until all the members arrived in Ireland.
“We fell short, but it’s tough for us to get together to practice,” Warner said. “We flew over there on Friday and practiced Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We played five games in five days and I flew back Sunday, so it was a quick, great, positive experience.”
Field hockey is a much bigger sport internationally than here in the United States, where it tends to be regarded as a sport for women and girls. It is also a club-based sport internationally – similar to the way youth soccer clubs are organized here – so that the international participants can play on an almost weekly basis.
Despite the diminished opportunities for practice, the American team improved over its performance in England in a tournament that followed the Olympics last year. This year, it earned one tie and no team scored more than four points against Team USA. Last year it lost by larger margins.
Warner began playing competitive field hockey after the 1984 Olympics, in which the United States fielded a team. Some of his teammates are former Olympians or have other international field hockey experience, and he has benefitted for working with international coaches brought in to assist with teams he has played for, all of which has made him a better coach.
“I had coaches from England, Ireland, Australia. They were all phenomenal coaches,” Warner said. “All of their information was passed to me, and from there, I picked up a lot of key insight on how to coach as well.”
It helps to get reacquainted with the players’ perspective, too.
“I think, as a coach, having the opportunity to be coached is something that most of us aren’t used to,” Warner said. “Most of us at this stage in our [lives] are used to coaching, not being coached. We are used to having a game plan, not fitting into a game plan. I think it’s incredibly important, if you are going to coach kids, to understand what it’s like to be coached.”
His players at St. Catherine’s benefit from his experience in other ways.
“They know that we’re not perfect,” Warner said. “They’ve seen me make mistakes. They’ve seen me turn the ball over. They’ve seen me do the same things they do, hopefully a little less often.”
In addition to helping him become a better coach, Warner found other benefits as well – one of the team members was a professional tour guide originally from Ireland.
“Ireland’s gorgeous,” Warner said. “After one game we went up to the Giant’s Causeway. It’s beautiful. We took one trip up and down the coast. … We had a guy that leads professional tours taking us through the backroads of Northern Ireland, out to dinners, hitting all the churches in places that we’d take pictures of, explaining the architecture, explaining the politics of Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is a unique place.”
Northern Ireland’s tortured past erupted into a new round of violence while the team was there, but they learned what areas to avoid to stay out of the Troubles. After the games, many of them were too tired to get into too much trouble anyway.
To cap the trip off, Warner lived every player’s dream.
“I got to play every minute of every game,” Warner said. “I’m not going to complain about that.”
Back
By Dave Lawrence
dlawrence@goochlandgazette.com
St. Catherine’s field hockey coach Don Warner was not quite done with his summer travels after the Saints began their two-a-day practices Monday.
Warner, a member of the USA Field Hockey men’s over-50 team, just returned from Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he and his teammates competed in the European Masters Open at Lisnagarvey Hockey Club.
“I’m in the middle of unpacking,” Warner said. “I’ve got two bags in front of me and wet socks from today’s practice.”
The American team played teams from England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Scotland and Wales in the tournament, which began Saturday, Aug. 10 and ended on Sunday, Aug. 18.
While they did not win any of their games, they fought to a 2-2 tie against the Netherlands and stayed close to their other opponents – not bad for a team that, because of its vastly different geographic scale compared with that of its opponents, could not get together for practice until all the members arrived in Ireland.
“We fell short, but it’s tough for us to get together to practice,” Warner said. “We flew over there on Friday and practiced Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We played five games in five days and I flew back Sunday, so it was a quick, great, positive experience.”
Field hockey is a much bigger sport internationally than here in the United States, where it tends to be regarded as a sport for women and girls. It is also a club-based sport internationally – similar to the way youth soccer clubs are organized here – so that the international participants can play on an almost weekly basis.
Despite the diminished opportunities for practice, the American team improved over its performance in England in a tournament that followed the Olympics last year. This year, it earned one tie and no team scored more than four points against Team USA. Last year it lost by larger margins.
Warner began playing competitive field hockey after the 1984 Olympics, in which the United States fielded a team. Some of his teammates are former Olympians or have other international field hockey experience, and he has benefitted for working with international coaches brought in to assist with teams he has played for, all of which has made him a better coach.
“I had coaches from England, Ireland, Australia. They were all phenomenal coaches,” Warner said. “All of their information was passed to me, and from there, I picked up a lot of key insight on how to coach as well.”
It helps to get reacquainted with the players’ perspective, too.
“I think, as a coach, having the opportunity to be coached is something that most of us aren’t used to,” Warner said. “Most of us at this stage in our [lives] are used to coaching, not being coached. We are used to having a game plan, not fitting into a game plan. I think it’s incredibly important, if you are going to coach kids, to understand what it’s like to be coached.”
His players at St. Catherine’s benefit from his experience in other ways.
“They know that we’re not perfect,” Warner said. “They’ve seen me make mistakes. They’ve seen me turn the ball over. They’ve seen me do the same things they do, hopefully a little less often.”
In addition to helping him become a better coach, Warner found other benefits as well – one of the team members was a professional tour guide originally from Ireland.
“Ireland’s gorgeous,” Warner said. “After one game we went up to the Giant’s Causeway. It’s beautiful. We took one trip up and down the coast. … We had a guy that leads professional tours taking us through the backroads of Northern Ireland, out to dinners, hitting all the churches in places that we’d take pictures of, explaining the architecture, explaining the politics of Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is a unique place.”
Northern Ireland’s tortured past erupted into a new round of violence while the team was there, but they learned what areas to avoid to stay out of the Troubles. After the games, many of them were too tired to get into too much trouble anyway.
To cap the trip off, Warner lived every player’s dream.
“I got to play every minute of every game,” Warner said. “I’m not going to complain about that.”
Located in the heart of Richmond, Virginia, St. Catherine’s School is a private, all-girls pre-K, kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school. We provide a well-rounded educational experience for girls from communities across Richmond, Chesterfield, Henrico and all of central Virginia. St.Catherine’s all-girls educational experience is rooted in more than a century of history and tradition. From our revolutionary past to our dynamic present, St. Catherine’s has always focused on preparing students for a boundless future.
