Paul Revington, who is a former World Coach of the Year winner, guided his native South Africa to the 2004 Olympics and also worked with Malaysia as well as the GB women’s set-up prior to being appointed as the GB men’s head coach in early 2022.
He soon led England to Commonwealth bronze, but European silver the following year was a truly significant moment as it was the first time the GB men had stood on a major event podium for 14 years.
The Netherlands denied GB top spot on that podium.
Revington saw the success as long overdue and indicated the team were ready to realise the potential he had suspected they possessed for decades.
“Perhaps there’s been too much emphasis on one head coach driving everything and being responsible for producing world-leading teams, but I think GB Hockey as an entity is bigger than that,” Revington tells BBC Sport.
The head coach has received praise for his relentless ‘Bazball’ tactical approach to the sport – embracing the spirit of positivity and audacity seen in Brendon McCullum’s England cricket team.
However, he insists recruiting and utilising the experiences of “creative” defensive coach Zak Jones has been crucial to recent improvements, as has bringing Kwan Browne, Olympic champion Mark Hickman and Craig Sieben into the coaching unit.
“We’ve given coaches more responsibility to spread their wings and have more control of direction in their specific areas without being caged or stopped,” says Revington.
“I’ve perhaps been a little greedy in terms of the changes that I’ve wanted to make, but ultimately it’s more people working together and the players have really benefited.”
