When I chatted to Niamh Small, the new head coach of Dublin University Ladies Hockey Club (DULHC), I tried as best I could not to bring up the pandemic-shaped elephant in the room. But, as with everything else these days, it’s impossible to have a conversation about the future without mentioning how the coronavirus will change things.
Incoming first years not receiving their CAO offers until September 7th – just a few weeks before Trinity students returned to lectures – meant that Small’s plan for pre-season training had to be revised.
“We have maybe four or five prospective players that don’t know if they’re going to be in College until mid-September”, she explains. “They are coming to do pre-season with us but then there’s conversations that have to be had then if they don’t get their CAO choices.”
Small took over from Brian Scully as head coach in June, but due to lockdown measures, her first proper session with the team only took place in August – and even then, training sessions have to adhere to social distancing rules.
But Small’s excitement to finally get going is clear: “There are kind of a few differences but it was great to be back on the pitch – I really, really enjoyed being back and I think all the girls did as well. They were so eager to actually start playing.”
Small’s coaching CV is extensive – a former member of the Irish squad, she started coaching in Loreto Hockey Club “to kind of fill that void” as her playing days came to an end. She has coached the Loreto fourths and thirds, as well as underage teams, and the Irish masters, an over-40s team, and the Leinster masters. She was also the assistant coach to the Leinster Men’s under-21 team last season.
Coaching in Trinity seemed like the natural next step, she says. “It was just kind of a progression all the way through to now. I’ve stopped playing … so I want to challenge myself with a greater challenge so that’s where Trinity came [in] – I saw the Trinity job and absolutely dived at the chance.”
Comparing the Trinity team with the teams she has previously coached, Small boasts that they are as close to being a professional outfit as a team can get: “Usually if it’s just a fun team then they would just finish as they leave the gate but this is not the case for them … I think they have a great chance. I really do.”
There has to be some sort of continuity, but in saying that I want to put my own stamp on it
“I think there’s some superb players in the group – and the group are quite close”, she continues. “Obviously there’s new people coming in but they are quite a close group and they have great craic together. You can see that even from the first week – I can see that they have a great bond and I think that’s huge, you can’t actually force that – you either have it or you don’t.”
“I think they have a great chance as much as they want it – that’s the thing with any team.”
Before last season was cut short due to the pandemic, DULHC were sitting in third place in the Leinster Division One, 13 points behind leaders Corinthians with a game in hand. The team won the division in 2018/19 having not lost a game the entire season. DULHC were also hoping for promotion to the EY Hockey League, after losing by one goal in the IHL playoff final the previous year. DULHC looked set to make a return to the playoffs before the season was postponed after collecting 14 points from six games, which would have been good enough for second place in pool A.
With this in mind, is Small hoping to bring continuity or change?
“Obviously you don’t want to come in and totally throw the baby out with the bathwater”, she says frankly. “There has to be some sort of continuity, but in saying that I want to put my own stamp on it.”
“I’ll definitely be bringing my point of view and my experience from playing with the Irish team and being in those kinds of high-performance environments and from playing with Loreto for so long.”
Small intends to use the young nature of the squad to its advantage – when describing the kind of play she wants to bring to DULHC, she uses the word “relentless” several times: “Because we’ve such a young squad, because they’re college age, it should stand out that they literally do not stop – they’re relentless. That would be something that I’d like to bring, that you come to play Trinity and you know that they play good hockey and they’re relentless in trying to bring the ball back.”
“In terms of [the] speed that they play with the ball and then in terms of trying to win the ball back that they’re a nightmare to play, you know that someone’s always going to be hassling you to try and get the ball back from you, that they’re relentless in that way.”
But on the flip side to this, having a college squad means that lockdown restrictions hurt them more than other teams: when travel was limited to within one’s own county, local teams could resume training, while DULHC’s players were scattered across the country.
“There’s not been as much contact time because if it would have been before lockdown we would have had a big meeting indoors with everyone there … We did have a Zoom meeting but people aren’t always forthcoming with getting involved in Zoom so it is a bit more difficult.”
Because we’ve such a young squad, because they’re college age, it should stand out that they literally do not stop – they’re relentless
Despite all this, Small doesn’t seem too fazed: “Sure that’s the challenge. We’ll just meet it.”
Small’s time with the Ireland squad taught her the “tactical and technical awareness” that is so important for a coach, but it’s clear that playing at such a high level gave her an ability to be acutely aware of a team’s competition. This insight could prove invaluable in giving the club an edge this season.
She name drops Sarah Scott, an assistant coach at DULHC’s old foes Monkstown, with whom Small used to play. She also remarks that Monkstown have “had a few recruits that I know of that will strengthen their team … so they’d be very strong”.
Last year’s league leaders Corinthians are on Small’s radar too: “Obviously Corinthians were by miles ahead last season, so you can’t write them off. But we’ll be there or thereabouts, I reckon, and we’ll definitely be pushing for the top.”
It seems that Small is quietly confident about DULHC’s chances to go the distance this year: “With the way that the squad is looking at the moment, I don’t see why not.”
