1. If Scott Goodheart’s resume ever landed on your desk, it’s a safe
bet at some point in the conversation, you would raise your head
quizzically and ask him how, exactly, the various pieces of his life
fitted together.
Goodheart grew up south of the river in Applecross, studied
economics at UWA and worked in finance. Eventually, he became
chief executive of a Silicon Valley/Perth-based microelectronics
company. But then his life took an unexpected turn.
In early 2006, he left the CEO role to pursue a childhood dream
— an MA in medieval history. While studying full-time, Goodheart
sought a little extra balance in his life and began consulting for
Hockey WA.
Drawing on his experience as a long-time player and coach of
Perth club the Wolves, Goodheart soon found himself the new high
performance manager. In that role, he met his French equivalent,
and in 2008 — to his utter surprise — earned himself the job of
France’s national men’s hockey coach.
“It’s fair to say I took a left field turn,” he says, chuckling in a Paris
cafe. “Normally coaches started as players and end up coaching after
that. How I got here is quite bizarre.”
Rich French food, medieval buildings and the bustle and thrum
of modern Paris have made it easy for Goodheart to settle in. Soon
after arriving, he bought a scooter and a bicycle to nip in and out
of traffic like a local. But his well-loved Dunlop Volleys and nights
spent watching Dockers matches on the internet indicate his home
is still Perth.
The oddness of being an expat Australian coaching a rival team
really struck home when France played Australia in 2009. Sitting
in a Paris stadium and watching his adopted team valiantly play
against his powerful home country was an experience Goodheart
won’t forget.
“To coach against my own country wasn’t as surreal as I expected
but it’s definitely been a highlight,” he says. “Australia has been one
WORDS Doug Hendrie/Dave Tacon
Picture Dave Tacon
‘There are aspects of Australian culture
that lend themselves to sporting success.
There’s a hardness about the playground.
You get on and you deal with it.’
feature
of the top teams in the world for 20 years now, and so it was a
highlight for the French players too. The two matches were very
close contests.”
The main challenge for Goodheart has been trying to raise the
level of what is still a niche game in France. “In France, hockey is a
very small sport but well funded. If anyone walked down the street
with a hockey stick, people would wonder what they are carrying.
There are 11,000 hockey players in France, which is the equivalent
number of hockey players just in Western Australia.
“The knowledge of hockey is nothinglikeitisinAustraliaorinthe
Netherlands or Germany but that’s not an excuse. I think we’ve got
the numbers here to be doing better than we’re doing.” Goodheart
pauses. “Look, it’s very difficult. There are some mornings where I
wake up and think I’ve had no success but I know that’s not true.
We’re making progress but a lot of that is off the pitch and hasn’t
been able to be measured yet.
“It’s a race against time though. We’ve got a year before some big
tournaments start for the qualification for the London Olympics,
and my job rests on whether we qualify. There’s no question and
that’s why I’m here. I accept that.”
The French team didn’t qualify for the World Cup in 2010 and
came sixth in the European Cup. “We became very popular because
we surprised everybody by playing a more aggressive style of hockey
now. We press when in the past it was more a defensive press. We
attack with numbers now rather than one-on-one stuff, which was
the French style before,” Goodheart says.
But with France sitting at 17th in the world, the challenge
is to reach the top 10, the sought-after list where international
tournaments take place. For France’s national men’s coach, that
means infusing a dose of Australian grit into his team.
“There is no question that we are two very different cultures,
especially in relation to sport and how we see competition in
general,” he says. “There are aspects of Australian culture that
lend themselves to sporting success. There’s a hardness about the
playground in Australia. You get on and you deal with it. You don’t
cry. We don’t like people who ‘dive’.” He ponders the differences
for a minute longer. “When you start talking about the September
finals in July (in Australia), everybody says, ‘Yeah, well we’re taking
it one game at a time’. It’s a cliche but it’s about bringing everybody
back to focus on the process so that the outcome will then take care
of itself. It’s been a struggle here for some of the French hockey
players, because they want the outcome to be the focus, rather than
doing the hard work to get there.”
A formidable challenge is pleasing French audiences while
also winning games, Goodheart says. “Here, you can be flashy
and clever. The athletes say what about French flair. And I say,
there’s no room for it unless you’re actually achieving something.
If they do a blind pass, something incredible clever, and it’s a high
risk and you don’t penetrate with the move, what’s the point? But
the crowd will love it. Philosophically, it’s been quite difficult.
It’s more an appearance-based aspect than an outcome-based
aspect.”
It’s a challenge made easier by Australia’s reputation for
sporting prowess. Goodheart is part of the long-established trend
for Australian sport professionals to take their expertise overseas.
In France, he’s backed by long-established women’s head coach
Steve Colledge and Goodheart’s own assistant male coach, Chris
Rowohlt, both fellow West Australians.
“There’s no question Australian sport is well-respected here.
They assume that if you’re an Australian, then you come from a
sportingnation.TheFrenchconsiderusexceptionallycompetitivein
most of the disciplines we’re in and that we’re difficult opponents.”
But mention the cherished self-image of the Aussie underdog
and Goodheart bristles. “Australians think we punch above our
weight. But that underdog tag — I always hated it. I never saw the
value in being an underdog by definition but if you realise that you
have to be more perfect than the opposition (as an underdog), it’s
a reasonable thing.”
There are growing signs that a determination to win is
taking over from displays of skill in other French sports, aided
by foreign coaches. “There have been significant gains in French
rugby because they’ve hardened up. They’ve become a lot more
process orientated and their results are showing it. It’s no surprise
that they won the Six Nations with a Grand Slam in 2010, because
of this hardening.”
What’s been done for French rugby can be done for French
hockey. And Goodheart plans on being the coach to make that
shift. “I just feel really fortunate to be here,” he says. “I don’t
believe in fate but I believe in serendipity.”
westweekend 11.06.1114 11.06.11 westweekend 15
How does a former Silicon Valley CEO
from Applecross end up coaching the
French national hockey team? And can
he take his charges to the Olympics?