Current Role: AIS Coach Development Consultant

AIS Athlete from: 1990-1991, Volleyball

AIS Coach from: 2002–2010, AIS Volleyball Coach

What attracted you to sport?

We were always a sporty family, four kids all playing sport at school and every afternoon at the local oval. I mainly played cricket, rugby league, and Aussie rules during my school years. I made a state schoolboys team in AFL, but had to choose a sport as it clashed with the national volleyball championships. I chose volleyball as they were selecting a junior national team.

My older brother Phil (also an AIS coach for six years, and later an Acting Deputy Director at the AIS), started playing volleyball at school. I saw him play for Queensland in the national junior championships and I was sold. I annoyed him to teach me the skills. By 18, I had made the national junior team for the PacRim tournament in Hawaii, after that volleyball was all I wanted to do.

What are you first memories of the AIS?

I played my first senior international match against New Zealand, at the opening of the AIS Arena in 1981. Walking into the AIS Arena was a different world for players used to training in school gyms. We took a bit of time adjusting to the extra space.

In 1990, volleyball became an AIS program, with the men’s program based in Sydney. It was a dream come true to be offered a scholarship, especially because I was 30 at the time. To my wife’s credit she supported me to follow my dream, even though it meant moving our family and jobs to Sydney. I’m so glad that we took that step.

We’d come to the AIS in Canberra for camps a couple of times per year. The volleyballers thought we were tall, but I remember the size of the junior basketballers at the time. They weren’t famous then, but future NBA players, Luc Longley, Mark Bradtke and Andrew Gaze were among those youngsters.

In 1994 I became the first Queensland Academy of Sport coach and in 2000 went to the Olympics as a beach volleyball coach. I became AIS men’s volleyball assistant coach in 2002 and in 2004 we qualified for the Athens Olympics. I was AIS head coach from 2005-2010.

If you were talking with a modern-day athlete, finish this sentence: ‘Back in my day …’

To watch our matches, and scout opponents, we carried a large VHS camera, tripod, VCR and a TV on our overseas tours! Of course, the team’s junior player had the pleasure of carrying the TV in a heavy metal case.

What are your fondest memories of the AIS?

When the AIS squad was training at the State Sports Centre in Sydney, there was a young coach and former AIS athlete helping run the weights gym. He’s now the AIS Performance Services manager Julian Jones and he’s still a comedian.

My AIS roommate was a big guy, 204cm and 110kg. We were always trying to trim down a little but we both loved chocolate. On tour we’d stash chocolate bars in the draw between the beds that held the Bible. The other guys were always confused when we suggested we were going back to the room for “religious studies”.

How did the AIS help progress your sporting career? What were your proudest sporting achievements?

In two years of full-time training and playing as an AIS athlete I learned a lot that would stand me in good stead as a coach. That experience was critically important.

As an athlete, my proudest sporting achievements were playing in the 1982 world championships in Argentina. I got to play more than 150 games for Australia and captained the national team.

As a coach, it was helping the Australian team qualify for three Olympics – Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and London 2012.

Most importantly, I still having a good relationship with most of my former athletes and I’ve enjoyed watching them become successful people in work and family.

Describe the AIS in three words.

World class people

How did this time at the AIS influence your career after sport?

There is no “after sport”. I’m still in sport and loving it!

The AIS influence has certainly been meeting so many good, positive and giving people, who are often world-class in their fields.

Tell us about your role now and what you enjoy most about it?

I have been very fortunate to continue to have great learning opportunities in my current work, now in the new High Performance Coach Development team. The real quality of the AIS is in the people, and that continues today. I love working at the AIS and with coaches, hearing their stories and trying to help them navigate what can be a high pressure career.

Are you still involved in sport outside work?

I still coach at club, national and sometimes international level as a volunteer. I’m on the Asian Volleyball Coaches Commission, the Boards of the ACT Olympic Council and Volleyball ACT. And I still play (increasingly poorly) in the local club competition.