Spotlight on Australia's next golden generation

It seems there is no stopping the green and gold domination of world hockey. FIH talks to the coach of the triumphant Youth Olympic Games male hockey team.

Australia won the male Hockey 5s competition at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing in August this year, beating Canada in a thrilling final. Although the Australian team were taken to the wire and the match was only won after shoot-out, it is yet another sign that Australian hockey player production is going well and that another generation of winners is about to hit the senior stage.

We spoke to David Guest, head coach of the team that travelled to China, about his thoughts on the tournament and the future of the players who returned triumphant.

"The standard of this event was at a very high level," said Guest. "At times I had to remind myself this was an U18 competition. Every team was capable of scoring, which made each match a real contest. 5s is a real leveller, every nation's best few players going head to head made for some outstanding hockey."

In Nanjing there were a number of teams who were relatively new to the international scene, Zambia and Mexico in particular. Bangladesh, who were also in Nanjing, are also working their way up the rankings as a hockey-playing nation, as the senior team's victory in the recent Hockey World League One demonstrated.

Guest says that seeing new teams on the global stage can only be good for the game. "To see some of these relatively unknown nations playing well on the world stage was fantastic and great for our sport."

When it comes to a national programme, no-one it seems can do it better than Australia at the moment. With the men's senior team retaining the World Cup and winning Commonwealth Gold and the women taking gold in the Commonwealth's and silver at the World Cup, these young players have a lot to live up to. But Guest is hopeful that the stars of Nanjing will go on to even greater glory in the senior teams. "I don't want to pick any young players out, I think all our players have the ability to go on and represent Australia at U21 and senior levels if, they work hard and keep improving their game. We teach the kids from an early age what it takes to be a Kookaburra or Hockeyroo and that helps breed our next generation of athletes.”

"It is nice to see that we have some excellent talent coming through our ranks. We lack quality international competition for our junior teams due to the geographical positioning of our country. Unlike European countries who play against each other from the U16 level we don’t usually get any exposure until the U21 level so it is good to see this group is on par with their age group."