Kate Richardson-Walsh & Darren Chessman: Road from player to coach

The EuroHockey Institute Podcast

Darren Cheesman is an ex-England and Great Britain Hockey hockey International who is now a High-Performance Coach for England Hockey and the FIH, as well as a Coach Educator for FIH. ​

In addition to previously being a member of England and Great Britain Hockey Teams, he was also a member of the Great Britain U21 team that won Silver Medal at the 2007 Junior Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. ​

The Midfielder / Forward plays club hockey at Southgate, after spells at Reading, East Grinstead, and Old Loughtonians. After playing in the 2005 Junior World Cup, Cheesman was signed by Oranje Zwart, a Hoof classy club in the Netherlands. He spent a year there playing with and against the best players in the world. During his first spell at East Grinstead, Cheesman was voted 'Premier League Player of the Year.' Cheesman played an instrumental role in East Grinstead's successes both domestically and in the Euro Hockey League. ​

Cheesman came into hockey through Arsenal FC's 'Sport in the Community' program. It is a program that sees the football club send coaches into local schools and communities to teach them various sports. Cheesman attended Arsenal's 'in the community' scheme and gained opportunities and life skills to help him reach his position today. ​

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Kate Richardson-Walsh is an Olympic Gold and Bronze Medal winning English field hockey player. She was capped a record 375 times for her country and was the England and Great Britain Captain for 13 years. ​

Richardson-Walsh made both her England and Great Britain debuts in 1999 and has since gone on to play at the full range of international tournaments, including four Summer Olympics, four Hockey World Cups, and four Commonwealth Games. Between 2013 and 2016, she was elected to the British Olympic Association Athletes' Commission and European Olympic Athlete’s Commissions. ​

In 2003 aged 23 years old, Richardson-Walsh was made captain of the senior GB hockey team, a role she held for a further 13 years until her retirement in 2016. ​

Richardson-Walsh became the most capped female in Great Britain on 20 February 2016 during test matches in Australia when she overtook Karen Brown, who had 355 caps. ​

In 2016 Richardson-Walsh captained the women’s hockey team to their first gold medal at an Olympics. The team was undefeated throughout the tournament, beating the Netherlands in the final in a shoot-out. Kate was selected to be the Team GB flag bearer at the closing ceremony for the Rio Olympics. ​

Since 1999 Kate has played in 7 EuroHockey Championships, taking bronze in 2011, silver in 2013, and gold in front of a home crowd in London in 2015. ​

After 375 appearances for her country, 19 medals, 49 goals, and 13 years as GB and England Captain, she confirmed her retirement from international hockey after the Rio Olympic Games. ​

Kate is an athlete ambassador for sports website platform Pitchero and endorses Osaka hockey sticks. She currently serves as an ambassador for the Women’s Sport Trust and supports disability hockey as an ambassador for Access Sport. Kate is in the EHF Hall of Fame. ​