Ric Charlesworth

I met Ric Charlesworth in
1996 at the Australian Coaches Conference in Brisbane. He did a presentation on
the preparation of the Australian Women’s Field Hockey team for the Atlanta
games. It
was a great presentation. Frankly I had never seen or heard anything
like that in a team sport. The meticulous attention to detail, the empowerment
of the athlete, it was inspirational and
educational. It certainly opened my
eyes as to what could be done in team sports to prepare for the highest levels.
I realized that just like many people my thoughts had been held back by
tradition and what was convenient rather than going with possibility and
innovation. I was honored to meet Ric and engage him in a brief conversation
after his talk. He is the type of person that radiated energy and knowledge. I wish
I would have been able to spent more speaking with him. Before his talk I
really did not know too much about him or the accomplishments of his team. His field
hockey teams were Olympic gold medalists in 96 & 2000 and
world champions
in 94 and 98. Charlesworth himself was a four time Olympian in Field hockey, a medical school graduate and a member of parliament. Over the years I have tried
to read everything he has written and learn everything about his ideas and
methods. He has written three books, all of which I recommend. http://www.riccharlesworth.com/