John Maylam - Gold Medallist

Date: Thursday 25 September 2008

For the last two weeks or so, John Maylam, a Senior School Hockey coach has been missing from training sessions and the touchline for one simple reason - he has been in Hong Kong as vice-captain of the England Grand Masters Hockey 16-man squad. This England squad has been competing in - and winning! - the World Cup for Over-60s, and John played a major role, along with all his teammates, in that triumph.

John's main responsibility was to maintain the 'welfare' of the squad, faced with the heat and humidity of playing in the Far East. This was particularly important as it was the preparation and level of fitness of the England players that helped them to victory.

Nine nations were involved in the tournament. In Group Stage 1, England beat Australia 5 - 1, and scored equally comfortable wins over the Netherlands and Japan. In Stage 2, a win over Hong Kong, despite losing 1 - 0 to Germany, was enough to see England into the final against Australia - again!

Here the preliminary phase victory was repeated, this time by 4 - 1, and John, a veteran of 16 National League finals, had to pinch himself to realise that he was now a World Cup winner.This was the highlight of his playing career - so far! - with European championships in Amsterdam to come in August 2009, and another World Cup, possibly in India or South Africa, in 2010.

The England victory was a purely 'amateur' victory. There was no sponsorship, no Lottery money, no government funding for this tournament: each of the players footed his own bill. Clearly the authorities are looking to the young, the next generation of hockey players, but these 'Grand Masters' would certainly appreciate some recognition of their past efforts with future support from the E.H.A.

So, many congratulations to John and his England colleagues! Our SES hockey players should now appreciate even more fully the quality of our coaching staff, and work with him and his expertise. May he keep fit enough to take part in the tournaments to come!