Aotearoa's Black Sticks Women Were Actually Kinda Good In 2020 FIH Pro League
As you roll through life from the land Aotearoa, every scenario presents two paths where you can either dwell in negativity or bask in positivity and if you've been tuned into Black Sticks Women news of late, it seems many kiwis love cuddling up to that negative vibe. Over the past few years, the bulk of Black Sticks Women coverage has ignored anything related to hockey, instead opting to highlight issues within the camp and then doubling-down on any slither of lingering issues.
It started with the Mark Hager debacle and then, earlier this year there were headlines via the mainstream media about further dramas. I'm merely here to share my observations from the outside and my perception may be wrong as I've got no inside knowledge, yet given the shambles that was the Hager situation and how that played out in the mainstream media, we now have a trend of such niggle being directed towards Aotearoa's Black Sticks Women.
The Hager stuff was draining. Looking back on that period, I still feel comfortable with my belief that a section or different pockets of the Aotearoa hockey community had been scorned by Hager and thus, used media outlets with connections to the hockey community to whip up the frenzy around Hager. If I remember correctly, I think I was a bit anti-Hager to start with as the stuff about Hager's harsh treatment filtered out into the public and knowing how difficult it is for kiwi hockey players to compete in a professional capacity while being semi-pro, I was sympathetic to the players - especially younger players who have to juggle all sorts of life antics while trying to dedicate themselves to an international sport.
Then things got a bit overboard and various things behind the scenes happened that helped me see through the clutter. Creeping through the fog, it became clear that while some in the kiwi hockey community didn't connect with Hager, many did. All very convoluted and I share my own thought-journey here, only as an example of how frantic this was.
However that all played out, it resulted in Graham Shaw coming over from Ireland to replace Hager and Hager took up a gig with Great Britain hockey. That conveniently aligned with the 2019 Pro League, where Aotearoa finished 6th (of 9) with a 6-10 record through their 16 games, while GB finished 8th with 3 wins, 2 shootout wins and 10 losses; same number of losses, Aotearoa didn't have any draws while GB had 3 draws. Again, I'm merely connecting some dots and don't hold this up as rock-solid insights...
Anyone with knowledge of Aotearoa's hockey and sporting landscape, would know that finishing 6th in the Pro League is pretty amazing. Leading into the 2020 campaign, suddenly the best kiwi wahine of the modern era Kayla Whitelock is back in the Black Sticks Women squad after retiring in 2016. Whitelock was joined by Gemma McCaw in coming back from her 2017 retirement, while Julia King also returned to the squad in September last year for the 2019 Oceania Cup after time away; King's got 122 Test caps and played her 100th Test in 2016.
Rachel McCan was also listed as returning to the national squad, but didn't crack a Pro League appearance this year. King and McCaw played all eight games this year prior to the pandemic stepping in, while Whitelock could only lace up for one game.
So, after a rather solid 2019 Pro League campaign, suddenly two players come out of retirement and others lean back into the grind of international hockey. Hold that thought.
The 2020 Pro League (now stretched into 2021) saw the Black Sticks Women make notable improvements in their second year under coach Shaw. The 2020 ladder is all over the place as nine teams have all played a different amount of games, the kiwis were 3rd with 4 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses from their eight games. Pro League stats aren't the easiest to work with, nor are they anywhere near being comprehensive, but I did do some stat-diving to better gauge improvements...
Goals For Per Game
2019: 1.81 2020: 2.37.
Goals Against Per Game
2019: 2. 2020: 1.75.
Field Goals Per Game
2019: 1.06. 2020: 1.37.
Penalty Corner Goals Per Game
2019: 0.56. 2020: 1.
The Black Sticks Women played three two-game series earlier this year in the Pro League and as United States lost all five of their games, I'll focus on series vs Great Britain and Argentina. I compared the Black Sticks Women's stats against GB and Argentina in 2019, to those games in 2020 and there was a clear improvement in passing accuracy from year to year in either series.
vs Great Britain
2019: 47.25%, 52.25%.
2020: 59%, 53%.
vs Argentina
2019: 51.75%, 55.25%.
2020: 64.75%, 63.60%.
None of these stats are here to be used to analyse Black Stick Women hockey, nor are they in-depth breakdowns of improvement. All of the stats above, do show minor signs of improvement year to year under coach Shaw and piled together, tell a yarn of decent improvements. Remember, that four experienced Black Sticks Women were eager to return after the 2019 Pro League and I'd suggest that they may have done so because signs of improvement under Shaw were evident.
Regardless of any of the above, suddenly mainstream media started reporting of dramas in the Black Sticks Women group. Apparently players weren't happy with the style of hockey under coach Shaw or where the squad was heading - none of which makes sense considering that players went out of their way to return to the squad after Shaw's first Pro League season.
Retirements and departures were used as further evidence of dramas.
Think about McCaw's hockey journey over the past 12 months. McCaw was happily enjoying life and decided to return to international hockey, funnily enough for the exact year in which there was an Olympics. McCaw dug in, playing all eight games and took her time to ensure that she wasn't popping up a month prior to the Tokyo Olympics, then the Pro League and Olympics are paused.
Come back from retirement, hunting a Tokyo Olympic spot and doing in the right way, then international hockey is halted. If I were McCaw, I would have retired again as she did.
That, along with Brooke Neal's retirement and Katie Glynn stepping aside as an assistant coach were twisted into being proof of dramas within the group.
Like McCaw, Neal has a vibrant life outside of hockey to work with. Perhaps Neal was already eyeing up retirement after the Olympics so she could move into the next phase of her life. No Olympics, so just retire now and all good.
Glynn's case is a bit weirder considering she was one of the most vocal in favour of Hager and perhaps her appointment was a bridge between the Hager era and Shaw's arrival. I've laid out all the evidence of Black Sticks Women improvement from last year to this year and while one could get into the weeds about Glynn, the fact is that she played her role in a good Black Sticks Women team this year.
Whether men or women, all Black Sticks hockey players require some level of income outside of Black Sticks hockey. For the best, this comes via playing in Europe when possible, for others with such a luxury, families offer financial support and for others they work or study alongside their hockey commitments. In this current climate, no Black Stick player deserves to have their retirement (or falling back from the grind) questioned and definitely not twisted for negative use.
Do I know for certain that there are no issues, or dramas in the Black Sticks Women group? No.
I've laid out how I perceive these matters and we must also consider how the mainstream media acted during the Hager situation; there's a weird trend of anti-Black Sticks Women stuff.
For those who genuinely care about hockey in Aotearoa, they will see a Black Sticks Women team that has low key made moves forward under coach Shaw. Whether it's some of those stats I outlined above, or the fact that those improvements were made with Aotearoa's wahine hockey depth on full display.
Six players with less than 20 Test caps, played in the 2020 Pro League; Hope Ralph, Tayla White, Holly Pearson, Kaitlin Cotter, Alia Jaques and Katie Doar.
Hope Ralph played all eight games, her first eight internationals games.
Doar has 15 Test caps and played all eight games.
Olivia Shannon has 25 Test caps and played all eight games.
Megan Hull has 31 Test caps and played all eight games.
Kiwi hockey fans know that even with the retirements, there is still an extremely talented core group; Rose Keddell, Stacey Michelsen, Sam Charlton, Ella Gunson, Olivia Merry, Liz Thompson, Kelsey Smith, Julia King.
Ponder the fact that McCaw finished with 254 Tests and Whitelock 256 Tests.
Meanwhile we have Keddell on 207 Tests, Charlton on 251, Gunson on 221, Merry on 232 and Michelsen on 287. The younger generation has already surpassed their leaders, now becoming the leaders of this Black Sticks Women's group and like the All Whites, Football Ferns, Kiwis, Kiwi Ferns, Tall Blacks and Tall Ferns; hockey is flush with young talent pushing towards the international arena.
Shout out Olivia Merry also given that she led all goal-scorers with 15 goals in the 2019 Pro League (next best had 10 goals) and is 1st in goals again this year.
We have a choice in life to pick the negative or positive route. It goes without saying that not much good comes from a focus on the negative, highlighting negatives or opting for a negative response. Everything flips when you flip towards a more positive outlook. It's easy to see how negativity has been broadcast with regards to the Black Sticks Women and for whatever reason, the last few years have seen more prickly negative scenarios rolled out.
What I find weird is that there is genuine evidence that Black Sticks Women hockey is in a fantastic position. Diving into actual hockey matters provides a rather different smorgasbord of positivity and I'm eager to see what the next steps are for the Black Sticks Women whenever they are back in action.
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Peace and love.