The Tassie Tigers are set to continue their tradition of appointing highly credentialed, national medal-winning coaches for the 2024 Hockey One League season, with the announcement of two new coaches.
Ben Read, a notable figure in Tasmanian hockey, has been named the men’s head coach, while Susan Brooks will bring her extensive experience to co-coach the women’s program alongside Tim Strapp, who led the team in 2023.
Ben Read, who currently coaches the University men’s team and the Tasmanian Under 21 men’s team, will transition to the Hockey One League. Read has a strong history with national Under 18 and 21 titles and is a former Tassie Tigers player. He follows in the footsteps of his father, Ken Read, who played as a goalkeeper for the Kookaburras in 1978 and later coached the Tigers from 1991-93 and 1999-2007.
“I have a strong personal connection to the program with my father having represented the Tigers as a player and then returning later as a coach, a journey that I am now fortunate enough to be able to experience first-hand,” Read said. “I’m extremely proud and humbled to take on this role, joining a program that has not just been successful, but also plays such a pivotal role in producing Australian representative athletes.”
Read was part of the Tigers’ 2014 national title-winning team and is eager to lay the groundwork for current players, including Kookaburras Eddie Ockenden and Josh Beltz, to succeed.
On the women’s side, Tim Strapp is returning after a cultural rebuild last year, bringing on board the expertise of former Van Demons star Susan Brooks. Brooks, who currently coaches the OHA women’s team and is the mother of Hockeyroos star Maddi Brooks, has successfully led Tasmania’s Under 18 girls’ team to a bronze medal in 2022.
“I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to work with Strapp coaching the girls this year,” Brooks said. “He brings a wealth of experience from his TIS (Tasmanian Institute of Sport) and Australian coaching roles.”
“We have some very talented players in Tasmania, and combining them with a small number of carefully selected, experienced imports will provide us with a great opportunity to be extremely competitive in this year’s Hockey One League.”
Hockey One
