Flynn Ogilvie is one of the newest recruits to the Kookaburra team, having made his international debut at the Champions Trophy in Bhubaneswar last year. But for the next few weeks, Flynn will be displaying his skills on a smaller pitch as he hopes to help Australia win a first Indoor Hockey World Cup medal.
Flynn is the only Australian player to be currently playing both indoor and outdoor hockey and this crossover stems from indoor hockey being a family tradition in the Ogilvie family. Flynn will be competing in Leipzig alongside two of his brothers, Heath and Kurt Ogilvie who have both played in previous Indoor Hockey World Cups.
"Flynn hasn't played too much indoor lately so he has been in training since he got back from the Champions Trophy trying to prepare for it," Heath said. "He is pretty keen for it, we were all pretty keen to play a World Cup together.”
Australia men’s and women’s teams travel to the Indoor Hockey World Cup with high hopes of making it to the podium. The women face a tough challenge in the pool games as they face indoor specialists Ukraine and the current world indoor hockey champions Germany. Also in their group are newcomers Belgium and the aspirational Canadian team. The men also face Germany, alongside Austria, the Czech Republic, Iran and newcomers, Sweden.
While Australia does not have a history of indoor success – finishing out of the top six at all previous Indoor Hockey World Cups – the current indoor squads have been preparing for their assault on the titles for a number of months. In January 2014, the squads toured Europe, where they played a series of matches against two of the top sides in the world – Germany and Holland. Speaking about the tour, head coach to the women’s side, Stewart Fenton said: “After the FIH decision to reduce the number of players on the indoor field to five from six, the tour gave our coaching staff and players the opportunity to work on structure and strategy against many of the top European nations.
“It was also a great opportunity for many of the younger players selected in the squad to experience international competition against many of the world’s best indoor players.”
“With indoor being a smaller sided game, the players need speed, agility, strength and good technique,” added Fenton. “And indoor assists with skill development, particularly close skills. It helps with identifying space in confined areas and it helps players to understand about being patient and not pushing passes.”
And Anthony Potter, a former indoor international himself and now head coach to the men’s team, enjoys the challenge indoor hockey poses for the men and women on the side of the pitch. He says: “It great for coaches as it’s now a tactical game of chess.”
