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Barry Dancer - men's
hockey New AIS Head Coach of men's hockey and National Men's Coach Barry Dancer is proof that pre-Olympic fears of a post-Olympic 'brain drain' in Australian coaching circles were off the mark. The former Australian Olympic player was busy during the Sydney Olympics, guiding the Great Britain team to a sixth placing, and could observe the Kookaburras' Olympic form as an educated outsider. Once his British commitments were over, Dancer was keen to come back to Australia and build on the strengths and weaknesses he saw in the Australian team. Dancer, a former senior coach with the AIS (men's) team says his term at the helm of the British team gave him the ability and credibility to take on the Australian National Coach and AIS Head Coach positions. He took over the role from Olympic team mate and former AIS senior coaching colleague, Terry Walsh. Dancer generated headlines before he even made it back into the country by dropping Australia's most capped men's player, Jay Stacy. He says the decision was the right one for both Stacy and for the team. 'It needed to be done. We needed to be fair to Jay, to let him know what was going on and not have him uncertain about his future.' This came hard after the retirements of skipper Michael York and forward Stephen Davies, but Dancer says the team structure was very clear in his mind. 'We have a healthy core of experienced players who now will have the challenge of taking over the reigns of leadership. There are also four or five players with world class potential,' he says, naming Daniel Sproule, Brent Livermore, Matthew Wells and Michael Brennan among them. 'An important part of my role is not only to make world class players of them, but make them feel that they leave the field having achieved their potential.' Dancer says his focus is on the World Cup in March next year and thinking about 'where we want to be and how we want to get there'. He has nurtured a competitive culture within the team itself, serving notice on team members that each needs to make a commitment to the National program. 'So many of these players who have a profile internationally have gained that profile playing for Australia at international events,' he says. 'With competing demands on overseas club contracts, they need to be very aware of their personal development and their commitment to Australia.'
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