As a player, she won two Olympic Gold Medals (1996, 2000) and two World Cups (1994, 1998) with Australia. As coach of the Netherlands women’s team, she took them to silver at the Rio Olympics in 2016, the World Cup title in 2018 and finally gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
Then in Hangzhou, Alyson Annan led the Chinese women’s hockey team to the Asian Games gold medal that confirmed their place for Paris 2024. Her team broke Indian hearts in the semi-final. In a career that is legendary in every sense of the word, he is now trying to add a new chapter: China’s return to the heights of the early 2000s.
“We are aiming to win a medal at the Olympics,” Alyson tells The Indian Express in Ranchi where China is part of the Asian Champions Trophy. “We’re trying to be the best we can be and hopefully win a medal next year. When I took the job, we talked about winning the Asian Games for a year and a half. You have to talk about it to make it real.”
What keeps the 50-year-old despite what she has achieved? “Learning more about myself every day and giving back to the sport that I love so much, that has given me so much is what keeps me going,” he says, adding, “And having new challenges… this is a really new cultural experience. “
Born in Wentworthville NSW in 1973, Alyson moved to the Australian Institute of Sport hockey program in Perth aged 19 and was immediately recognized as a star player. She went on to score 166 goals for the Hockeyroos in 228 international games in a glittering career that ended a bit early as she retired after moving to the Netherlands.
Coaching was something Alison knew she would get into very early on. “I grew up in a small town that didn’t have much hockey, didn’t have a field hockey field like the one here in Ranchi. I went to a big city when I was young and when I was 16-17, I wanted to come back and coach, help players get the same experiences I had,” he says.
After a decorated couple of years as Holland coach, things came to an unhappy end for Alyson at the start of 2022 as he parted ways over a difference of opinion with the set-up. But in May last year came the announcement that he was taking on the role with China.
“I’ve always been intrigued by Asian teams. They seem to have many qualities that interested me. Why isn’t it in the top four? China was there around the time it hosted the Olympics. There seems to be a lot of quality in Asia, but there doesn’t seem to be a constant flow of top four and top six teams. I think this can happen. China approached me with the opportunity and combined with my curiosity, here I am,” he says.
The Chinese women are now arguably one of the most improved teams in the world and he attributes this to the belief that has been instilled in the team as well as changes in training methodologies. “With Holland, we did a lot of data-driven training. I brought it to China. We play at high speed in the Netherlands. China needed to step up the game, so I used these things. But you can’t get them all because they are different cultures. We are a strong team but we need to get fitter and faster before Paris.”
Taking on the role with China, Alyson negotiated wanting to pick her own teams for the big events. He saw that China needed quick and skilful players and used the provincial tournament to select a large group that he cut last year and started on the road to Asian Games glory in January. In addition to hockey, however, he also had to adapt to the new culture.
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“I’m trying to learn Mandarin. I think speaking it is easier than reading it. You have pinyin and you have the characters. I just learned pinyin, I haven’t learned the characters yet,” he says. “I can do the training in Chinese. Not completely and thoroughly, but I can explain the training and explain a bit to the players. And my players are learning English. It is a sign of mutual respect. I’ve learned a lot in this last year and a half with this team.”
When the Dutch women’s team won Olympic gold in Tokyo, Alyson became the first woman to win hockey gold medals as a player and then as a coach in separate editions. He had said at the time, “It’s nice, but that’s not why I’m doing this.”
So why does it do this?
“My life changed through sports. And it brought me so much,” he says. “Sports is a way to bring people together and unite people. Look where I am. I’m in India with the Chinese team, I’m Australian and I live in the Netherlands. It’s wonderful.”