Stacy: Coaching Burras carries huge responsibility

He represented Australia on the pitch with distinction and now Jay Stacy has the task of bringing through the next swag of Kookaburras stars.

Stacy has been appointed the Australian Men’s Junior (Burras) Head Coach up to and for the next FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup in December 2023.

Having come through the national pathways himself in the late 1980’s, Stacy knows how crucial this stage is in a player’s development and the flow on affects it has for the ongoing success of the Kookaburras and their continual objective to be the world’s best hockey team and stay there.

Stacy has been the Men’s Head Coach of the Victorian Institute of Sport’s Hockey Program since 2010. He coached Australia A in matches against Belgium’s national team in January 2020 in Sydney as part of the lead up to the FIH Pro League.

He was also in the coaching group of the Australia A team that played a series of matches against the Kookaburras in Darwin prior to last year’s Tokyo Olympics.

Excited by the task in front of him and fully aware of the responsibility that comes with it, Stacy took some time to discuss his new role and what lies behind his passion for coaching.

Congratulations on your appointment. Considering the importance of the role in Australian hockey, what does it mean to you to be given this opportunity and responsibility?

JS: “It’s a huge thrill. It’s a prestigious position within Australian hockey. I have been coaching at the Victorian Institute of Sport for some time and have had some success along the way. Now this opportunity has come up and I’m looking forward to getting stuck into it. It’s a highly sought after position so I don’t underestimate the importance of it and look forward to the challenge and the journey ahead.

Importantly, I want to acknowledge Ben Bishop, the standards he has set and level he has left the program in. His hard work and efforts have left the junior pathway program in a really strong position and hopefully I can carry that on towards the Junior World Cup in 2023.”

You had a remarkable career as a player for Australia. To go on and be able to contribute in a coaching capacity must be a privilege and honour for you?

JS: “There’s no doubt about that. First and foremost I love hockey and have played it and coached it for a long period of time, so there is a deep passion for the sport in Australia.

With that comes responsibility and I’m fully aware of that. I represented Australia a long time ago at a Junior World Cup. We had a pretty successful preparation for that tournament and I’d like to be as successful with this group. Back in that tournament in 1989 we finished second to Germany in a double extra time shootout, so I look forward to guiding and leading the current crop to the next Junior World Cup.”

Are there aspects of that campaign that you could replicate with the current group?

JS: “Not really because the landscape has evolved and changed so much. Back in those days the AIS athletes, which were the younger ones, were in a centralised program. The AIS athletes were predominantly the junior squad and we trained together full time in preparation for the Junior World Cup. It’s not like that anymore.

Currently it’s a decentralised program for the juniors so getting together and building connections and relationships with both staff and athletes is far more difficult than back then. That’s the way hockey has evolved.

We want to align with the Kookaburras whenever possible. Certainly from a technical and tactical perspective, and in terms of values and culture, we want to align with the Kookaburras so we are producing the athletes ready for the next part of their journey.”

Where did your desire to coach come from?

JS: “I finished with the Kookaburras after the 2000 Olympics and prior to that in 1998 I played a season in Holland. It’s commonplace now but I was one of the first athletes to go and play club hockey in Europe.

While I was there, part of my responsibility was to be head coach of their academy. They were one of the first clubs to have that and that’s where it started. You build a knowledge base from your playing career and just because you are a successful player doesn’t mean you can coach. In Australia we have been fortunate to have a lot of good and different coaches over the journey so you get a very sound knowledge base of hockey.

I did coach a year in the Belgian league before I came home after I had finished my playing career. But when I came home I went and found another career to see if I was really passionate about coaching or whether it was just the easy thing to do and go down the coaching pathway like several athletes seem to do.

I went away and coached at the grassroots level and in the Melbourne Premier League for three years at the same time as working as an Account Manager. But after three years I reflected on where I wanted to be with my hockey coaching and I knew I wanted to be a professional coach and that’s what I have been doing since 2010.”

What do you love most about coaching?

JS: “I love building relationships with athletes, getting the best out of them and assisting and guiding them through the journey of becoming the best athlete they can be.

In the development stage it’s not always about solely being an athlete. It’s about being a good person, being able to interact within a team and looking after your professional career away from hockey. They are all important ingredients to becoming a well rounded athlete.

A lot of young guys dream about playing for the Kookaburras. Not all of them can do that but I want to guide and equip them with the skills both on and of the pitch to try and achieve it. That is what really makes me hungry to be a coach.”

From what you have observed, how is the current potential of players at the junior level?

JS: “It’s an interesting stage at the moment because I am coming in after there have been little if any national championships for a couple of years because of COVID.

The first part of what I will do in the role will be a lot of identification of what talent is actually out there and which athletes have grown and progressed. There was an Under 18 National Championships last May but due to COVID some of those athletes will be aging out and we won’t see them again. That’s the unfortunate bit but the fortunate part is that we have very good pathway programs in the states and territories and also through the Hockey Australia Futures (U18) Program.

I’m really looking forward to seeing who is available at the Under 18 nationals in April this year given some of those guys will be at an age to qualify for the Junior World Cup.

There is also the Domestic Series coming up next month where we recategorize the Under 21 national squad and also the National Development squad. It will be interesting to see which way athletes have gone in what has been a difficult time for everybody.”

Is there a likelihood that some athletes have fallen through the cracks over the past two years because of COVID and the lack of national competition?

JS: “I’m not sure they have slipped through the cracks. What I have found in Victoria and other parts of the country through the period where we haven’t had a lot of hockey or competition – of course we’ve been able to train all the way through – is that without the competition and national championships and having international teams coming here to play in a series of matches, the athletes themselves have found other things in their lives.

Things that they possibly didn’t know before. Because they haven’t had hockey or haven’t travelled, some of them have found they want to focus on an apprenticeship or starting their career at this point of my life.

They are still going to play hockey but they are focusing on different areas because they were led down that path because they couldn’t compete. Maybe some athletes have decided that high performance sport isn’t for them after all and that’s ok because they will choose something else to go on with.

In a positive way it is nice that they found that but it’s unfortunate that the reason they found it is because of the lack of hockey and they have subsequently moved away from the sport. I just hope we don’t lose them to the sport all together. Hopefully they continue playing for their club or at Hockey One level or whatever it may be.”

You have made a successful transition from a player into a coach. What do you see as some of the important traits of being a successful coach through the experience and learnings you have had?

JS: “I think it’s your communication skills, the way that you are able to explain and deliver messages, and how you encourage people to explore and develop in their own way. As we know, not everyone is the same.

The first thing I had to realise when I first started coaching…and this is not to float my own boat but not everyone picks things up or sees things as I do or executes skills the way I did. I have pretty high expectations of myself but I had to learn how to relate those expectations to the athletes that I was coaching at the time. That was a pretty important early reflection and learning that I had to have.

You make a lot of mistakes along the way. I have had some success and had failures as well but I think as an athlete when you are setting objectives, I think that is same for a coach. You set your objectives, you set game plans and it doesn’t always go the way you want it to but you have to find a way to make it work. I have been in this role at the VIS for over ten years and have been successful along the way so I think I do some things pretty well.”

You played 321 games for the Kookaburras over a 13 year international career. What is your take on the current Kookaburras squad and how they are positioned?

JS: “It’s exciting. In Tokyo they performed really well with a very limited preparation…not limited in the workload and output but certainly limited in international competition leading up to it.

I see them continuing to perform well and be successful. The three new young additions (Craig Marais, James Collins and Ky Willott) were up the top of the list from the national junior camp last year. Adding that exciting young talent and enthusiasm to the seasoned campaigners, I think the Kookaburras are in very good shape.

It’s a very difficult team to break into if you are looking from the outside so these young guys are going to give it their best shot. The coaching staff are one of the best coaching groups that I have seen in my time in hockey. The way they collaborate and work together…they are significantly different people but their skillsets all complement each other and they are onwards and upwards towards the World Cup and Paris 2024.”