USA Field Hockey News
USA Field Hockey Names Lee Bodimeade
Women’s National Team Head Coach
COLORADO SPRINGS,
Colo. – USA Field Hockey has named former Australian men’s team player
and Olympic silver medalist Lee Bodimeade as head coach of the U.S.
Women’s National Team.
“Lee is an excellent
addition to our staff as head coach of our Women's National Team and I
am very pleased that he is joining us,” said USA Field Hockey President
Sharon Taylor. “He is an individual with excellent credentials as an
international player in addition to having a deep love for the game and
an enthusiasm which is infectious. Together with
(USA Field Hockey
Technical Director of High Performance)
Terry Walsh, we now
have the beginnings of a strong foundation for building our women's
program at all levels.”
Considered one of
Australia’s top young coaches, Bodimeade, 35, served as an assistant
coach for the Australian Hockey League Champion Queensland Blades men’s
team in 2003 and 2004 and also served as head coach of the Brisbane
Premier League state champions in 2004. He was a highly-sought after
specific skills coach for Australia’s
pre-eminent elite
sports training organization, the Australian Institute of Sport.
He also served as head coach of the Bulimba Men’s 1st
Division Team in 2004.
“I am extremely
excited about accepting the position and look forward to the journey
ahead in our endeavors as a team to climb the world rankings,” said
Bodimeade” “I believe we have the desire and are well positioned to
make an attack on the top ten in the world. The commitment and support I
have received from the USA Field Hockey hierarchy and the addition of
the Terry Walsh to manage the system and coaches, has shown me that the
organization as a whole is committed to achieving the goals that we set
out.”
The hiring of
Bodimeade
continues USA Field Hockey’s commitment to returning to the Olympic
Games after narrowly missing qualifying for the Games in 2000 and 2004.
USA Field Hockey added Walsh to the staff in January 2005 as Technical
Director of High Performance and appointed Bodimeade after a
comprehensive, nine-month search for a world-caliber coach. The search
for a women’s head coach began in May, 2004 following the resignation of
former women’s coach Beth Anders.
“We are really
delighted Lee has accepted this challenge,” said Walsh. “He has a
history as a national player and as an Olympic athlete and is very
highly thought of in the Australian hockey scene. He currently coaches a
Queensland Blades team that has eight or nine of the (2004) Olympic gold
medal team members playing, so he is very accustomed to dealing with
elite athletes. He has a lot of knowledge and a fantastic hockey
personality. We are sure he will make a huge impression in American
hockey over the next few years.”
A member of
Australia’s national team from 1991-98, Bodimeade won an Olympic silver
medal in Barcelona in 1992. He played on Australia’s bronze medal World
Cup team in 1994 and earned a pair of medals in Champions Trophy
competitions including a silver medal in 1992 and a gold medal in 1993.
Bodimeade is expected
to join the USA team on its New Zealand Tour, May 10-22, and then return
to Virginia
Beach for
continued training for the Rabobank Champions Challenge. The Rabobank
Champions Challenge is scheduled for July 8-17 in
Virginia Beach
and features six of the world’s top-ranked teams including England,
Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain and the USA. Bodimeade and the
team will then begin their quest to qualify for the Women’s World Cup in
2006.
“One
of the first of our goals is to qualify for next year’s World Cup and
finish in the top eight,” said Bodimeade. “I see this as very achievable
and the start of big things for the USA Women’s Field Hockey Team.”
Currently a resident
of Coorparoo, Queensland, Bodimeade and his wife Samantha are the
parents of one-year-old Mitchell.
USA Field Hockey is
the National Governing Body for the sport of Field Hockey in the United
States as recognized by the United States Olympic Committee, the
International Hockey Federation and the International Olympic Committee.
As such, USA Field Hockey is responsible for the training and selection
of athletes for international competition as well as the promotion and
development of the game of field hockey in the United States.
www.usfieldhockey.com
|
