The Martlet

There can be interesting dynamics between the coaching staff and players on any sports team — but many would say the dynamic of the UVic men’s field hockey team is just plain cool.

Here’s an explanation.

Andrew MacKinnon played field hockey at UVic some 15 years ago while pursuing a Bachelor of Commerce. At the time, the field hockey team was a club team and didn’t have status as a varsity sport. MacKinnon eventually went on to coach UVic men’s field hockey when it gained varsity status. He coached Leo Smyth and Patrick Howell in their first few years with the Vikes. When MacKinnon took a break from coaching, Mike Lee became Smyth and Howell’s new coach. Smyth and Howell finished their last year of eligibility in Spring 2011, when Lee asked if they would be assistant coaches for this current season.

Here’s the twist: Not only are the two former players now coaching with their former coach, but MacKinnon, who is pursuing a master’s degree, is in his first year of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) eligibility playing for the team. In other words, MacKinnon’s former players are now coaching him.

“It’s kind of an evolution of sorts,” says MacKinnon. “There’s only one guy on the team right now who I’ve coached before, so it’s not too weird.”

MacKinnon says he was still looking to be competitive in the sport.

“There are only two teams in Victoria who are competitive. The UVic team trains quite rigorously as a varsity sport. I wanted to be competitive at that level as long as I could,” says MacKinnon.

Smyth and Howell are happy to be coaching their former coach.

“We’re one of the youngest teams in the league, by far. We’re in our early-20s and most of the teams are aged in their late-20s or early-30s — that’s sort of the peak of the sport. So to have Andrew on the team is a great asset,” says Smyth.

“He’s a fantastic person so it makes it really easy. He respects us and I respect him,” says Howell. “After a drill he’ll come up and make a suggestion and I can take that and move forward with it, but then there are other times when I can make a suggestion to him and we can both benefit.”

“Someone like Andrew doesn’t necessarily need a lot of feedback. I mean for skill development, that’s mostly for the rookies — they have the most to learn in a short amount of time,” says Smyth.

Lee agrees that MacKinnon’s attitude has made the strange transition a fluid one.

“He’s so keen. He’s always off looking at videos online and trying to find new tactics. He brings a lot of experience to the team,” says Lee. “Andrew is so open to everyone helping him and there’s no battle there.”

MacKinnon hasn’t lost his leadership role on the field and assists less experienced players with positioning and marking. He also sets a standard when playing, which excludes negative attitudes on the field.

“During the game it’s hard for a coach to tell players what to do because you can’t take timeouts and call everyone in — you can only sub them off and talk with them and then sub them back on again,” says MacKinnon. “I talk constantly on the field — not bossing them around, but having that conversation going is very effective in learning as you’re doing something.”

Smyth focuses on assisting Lee with drills and technique, while Howell has taken on the role of fitness trainer. Both say that the transition from player to coach was a fairly easy one.

“I was fortunate to play three seasons with [Lee] as the coach, so I developed an understanding of what he expected from me. I hit the ground running in terms of coaching,” says Smyth.

“It’s been really good. One thing that’s different is that you start to learn how [Lee’s] seeing the field and you take on a different perspective. It also gave me some perspective on how much work he’s done the past few years,” says Howell. “With some of the older guys on the team, you’ve got to find that balance between someone being your teammate and friend last year, to taking on a little more of a leadership role to be their coach.”

Lee is also happy with the transition.

“They were captains of the team for the past three years that I’ve been involved so I definitely valued their opinion throughout that time and talked to them a lot,” says Lee. “I think there might have been a bit of a transition period from playing to having to coach, but I know for me it felt pretty natural.”

Smyth and Howell note one big difference in being coaches.

“We still feel like one of the guys [on the team], we just don’t have to do the runs anymore,” laughs Smyth.

MacKinnon also has something to note about the team runs.

“[Smyth] or [Howell] will say something like, ‘Oh, look at Andrew — he’s 20 years older than you and he’s kicking your butt. You guys got to work harder.’ I’ll be running and think, ‘Well, that’s not really all that motivating for me.’”