USFHA: USA Field Hockey's Nick Conway will take on a new role for the sport's National Governing Body as Men's High Performance Coach.
In his new position, Conway will serve as coach at both the junior and senior levels in the men's program while helping prepare the U.S. teams for international competition including the 2007 Pan American Games.
ÔÇ£I am delighted to be given this opportunity with the USA Men's High Performance Program,ÔÇØ said Conway on his new appointment.
ÔÇ£This is an exciting change to work with a group of very talented athletes. We will have a very clear and determined vision of where we want to go, what we want to achieve and how we are going to achieve it.ÔÇØ
The move comes as part of a restructuring of the U.S. men's program under USA Field Hockey Technical Director of High Performance Terry Walsh. In addition to Conway's move to men's high performance, former U.S. national coach Shiv Jagday will continue his work with younger athletes as a development coach in the field hockey-rich San Francisco Bay area.
ÔÇ£The USA Men's program has had significant difficulties in achieving success on the international scene,ÔÇØ said Walsh. ÔÇ£We have to reset a structure which will enable us to have a much better contribution from different parts of the country. We must have players from regions all around the USA contributing. There is no reason why we can't be much more successful within the Pan American region at the very least. However we must have a performance program towards which our top performers can aspire. Nick Conway is the integral link in this whole program.ÔÇØ
A member of the USA Field Hockey staff since 2003, Conway previously served as the women's national team assistant coach and served as acting women's head coach from May 2004 to March 2005. He served as head coach of the U.S. men's junior team at the Junior Pan American Championships in February and continued to work with the women's centralised training program in Virginia Beach in addition to growing responsibilities with the U.S. men's program.
Among Conway's first responsibilities will be overseeing training weekends and the preparation of a team for a tournament in Chile in December and an Under 16 series in Canada in September. Conway will also be instrumental in preparing the U.S. team in its bid to qualify for the Pan American Games in 2007. The USA men will need to qualify for the Pan Am tournament by winning a best-of-three series against a South or Central American/Caribbean team in 2006 or early 2007.
ÔÇ£We have been given a chance to qualify for the Pan American Games in 2007 and must be prepared to take the opportunity,ÔÇØ said Conway. ÔÇ£Equally as important is the restructure that Terry wants to bring as we move forward. We are planning to bring together representatives from seven regions around the USA and put together a model to allow us to grow as a sport in the USA. For us to develop and have a chance of bringing together a successful program, we must develop our numbers.ÔÇØ
ÔÇ£Nick has impressed me with his coaching knowledge and willingness to learn,ÔÇØ said Walsh who has seen and coached considerable talent in the men's game as an Olympic medal-winning coach of Australia (2000) and The Netherlands (2004). ÔÇ£He has displayed amazing resilience and ability to retain consistency, confidence and direction within the overall structure of elite performance coaching in the USA.ÔÇØ
