If you have a passion for the historical influences that have shaped the modern game of hockey and have not read Gavin Featherstone’s first book Hockey Dynamic then make a note in your diary to treat yourself to reading this book or getting it as a present for a fellow hockey lover. Gavin who is a former International player and captain for England, an International coach, Oxford University trained teacher, and true scholar of the game of hockey is more than qualified to give an account of the highs and lows of hockey development from a position of undertaking detailed research and sharing his coherent deductions, values, attitudes and suggestions for hockey development.
Following the release of Hockey Dynamic Gavin has followed up his new book THAT AIN’T HOCKEY – More a Way of Life. The title in itself paints a portrait of the context of the book. It details the author’s decision to play hockey as a sport over a potential soccer career, then follows his journey in playing and coaching hockey. Along this serious yet humorous path the readers are presented with interesting and provoking real questions regarding the development of the game and in particular coaching over the past 30-40 years. The political, institutional and cultural development of hockey is presented from his personal case study perspectives.
These sport based issues presented are as much reality today as they were in Gavin’s playing and early coaching era. This hockey lover can identify with Gavin’s plights as they apply to a similar time but in a different part of the world. I have for one stated previously hockey as a sport is at the ‘cross roads’. There is a need move in a united manner from its amateur status to a semi-professional /professional sport institutionally and politically first then culturally second.
The book is full of fabulous stories and anecdotes that will have you laughing along: from meeting Sean Connery’s wife to some amazingly creative dentists along the way!! Go hockey News recommends this entertaining and provocative book all readers: the sports enthusiast, the hockey player and the coach.
ABOUT Gavin’s first book HOCKEY DYNAMIC – click on photo
About the Author
A coach with a wide-range of experiences, Featherstone has 324 international matches to his credit as a former Olympic coach for both the United States (1984) and South Africa (1996). At the 1984 games, he was the youngest coach to ever take a field hockey team to the Olympics. He also led the USA in the Pan-American games, while heading up South Africa in the World Cup and All-African games. Featherstone has also served as the head coach for England’s men’s and women’s U21 World Cup teams. An outstanding tactician, Featherstone has produced 20 DVDs endorsed by the International Hockey Federation (FIH), which have been distributed worldwide to more than 25 countries to teach strategies and principles of field hockey. He has also been selected in the past to lead several world seminars by the FIH in the use of video breakdown and film study by athletes to improve performance on the pitch. As a player, Featherstone competed for Durham University, where he captained the first field hockey club in school history, eventually becoming President of the Durham University Athletic Union, and played hockey for the British Universities Team. Featherstone then went on to play in England’s national program, where he was team captain at all levels and played in both the World and European Cups. He received a Bachelors of Arts degree from Durham in 1975 before earning a Postgraduate Certificate of Education from Oxford University in 1976.
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