Sunday, November 8, 2009

Hey ready for second stint at Hobart Olympic, or Olympia







Photos (Top to Bottom): Glenorchy Knights at South Hobart, with coach Chris Hey in the back row, extreme left; Glenorchy Knights at KGV Park, with coach Chris Hey at extreme left in the back row; Chris Hey (back row, second from left) in the Hobart Olympic side at Clare Street; Chris Hey (back row, third from left) in the Hobart Olympic squad at Clare Street; Chris Hey (front row, second from right) in the Hobart Olympic squad at North Chigwell; Chris Hey, captain of teh Tasmania under-21 side for the match against the Australian Institute of Sport at KGV Park


Chris Hey, the 48-year-old newly appointed coach of Premier League club Hobart Olympic, has been there before.


Hey played for Hobart Olympic for 16 years and coached the club in 2000.


He was player-coach at Hobart Zebras for a year and coached Glenorchy Knights from 2001 to 2003.


He has not seen Olympic play in the past five seasons but knows something about the players.


“From what I’ve been told, there’s a mixture of good youth players and experienced players,” Hey said.


“It’s just a matter of trying to bring in some new blood to try and challenge those that are currently there, motivation-wise.


“I’m looking forward to it.”


Hey said he had already spoken to potential recruits and had received a mixed response.


“I’ve simply spoken to those players, letting them know of my appointment, and some of those players are currently with other clubs,” he said.


“I’ve said to them that I’d be interested in seeing them at training.


“I’ve had a couple of knock-backs and I’ve also had a couple of question marks, I suppose.


“We’ll wait and see. I don’t believe in putting undue pressure on people.


“I’ve simply contacted a few that I regard as good quality players and who would fit into the mould I want as coach.


“We’ll wait and see.


“We have a social day [including a barbecue] on the 29th of this month [at Sandown Park at noon] which is just to get everybody from the club involved, and that’s not just seniors, but at all levels, male and female.


“We’ll commence pre-season training as a club the following week.”


Hey said he has a list of names of players at the club and a lot of them are ones he recognises.


“I’ve been making enquiries with people who have been part of the club set-up for the past couple of years, including Farrell Shaw [the outgoing coach] in relation to players that I don’t know.


“I’ve also got from Farrell the players who he understands may be moving on from the club.


“There’s one or two players who I understand intend going overseas on holiday, and there are one or two who are going to study interstate or in the north [Chris Tsimiklis is one of these].”


The FFT Board is soon to discuss Hobart Olympic’s proposed reversion to its original name of Olympia.


8 comments:

Captain said...

Walter, I reckon both Chris and Browny would pay good money to get that photo off the site. Both look better now with less hair!

Anonymous said...

have heard matthew russel,jackson marsh and nick harrison have signed with olympic for season 2010

Sir Mix a Lot said...

Could be true re the 3 Knights players... Westvale Olympic in Melboure are keen on ex Tasmanians!
Fair bit of coaching experience in one of those photos, Hey, Brown, Calvert, Sly, Connell, Berwick just to name a few.All fairly long serving players there.
Will be tough work for Hey, being out of the senior soccer loop for 5years will seriously hurt his chances of recruiting decent players for Premier League.
Big challenge for him, i believe he's had strong squads at both Knights and Olympic before, probably more a rebuilding phase for them now.
Good chance for Olympic to get some decent youth within the club with Hey's connections with junior state teams.

R U Serious Ref said...

Sir Mix a Lot. This is one of the issues I have with coaches coming out of State/Development teams or still connected & then take a senior job. They shouldn't be allowed to use the previous contact with these kids to get them to follow that coach to his new club. I know it happens a lot but I think it's wrong. What about the clubs that have let these kids go after spending the time & money to develop them. I just think ti wrong. Former Sate/Development coaches should not be able to use that to get the kids along to their new club

gamish said...

Youth all have to go somewhere. If they choose to stay with a coach they respect and believe in then so be it. Reality is if a coach serves his players well and the kids develop not only will the youth want to follow but i suspect they would be encouraged to do so by their parents.

Anonymous said...

is the youth hey is going to take not the same age as TIS players who every club states are too young and weak to play in Premier league. Seems funny they dont mind when it benefits their club.

gamish said...

Annon you are right however i did re read my post and you know what ? Premier league was not even mentioned. But i understand your point. The TIS will go where FFT decide. Clubs at the end of the day will have little or no say. As for the youth and Hey lets see if he gets any. Time will tell if Olympic or whatever they are called now are ready for a serious crack at youth development.

Captain said...

bit different having a few good young players in a team than a full team of 14-16 year olds (ala TIS).

Olympicia was just 2 points away from top 4 last year so there is something to build on over a 3 year period.

If Hey can bring just a few good quality young players in 2010 then that would be a good result.

As it is most recent ex-State players are at just 3 clubs so surely we can't deny him that!