“Had I not accepted, I wouldn’t have had the amazing opportunity to go Cape Town,” says Cheltenham Hockey Men’s club captain Rob Dent.
In January 2024, Dent left Cheltenham to travel to New Zealand to pursue new coaching and playing opportunities.
The 25-year-old fell in love with the sport of field hockey at the age of 10, and since then has played for every team at Cheltenham HC. “I’ve played for every Men’s team in the club, from Under-11s through to the men’s first team.
“For the first few years, I was just a player, but when I reached Year 10/11 at school and decided to take part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award, I took up coaching as my ‘volunteering’ aspect.”
Dent started out with the Under-11’s team at Cheltenham and admitted that it gave him invaluable experience. “It helped me develop as a player and as a coach. I was surrounded by some very talented coaches that I gained tips and tricks off for both playing and coaching.”
Dent then had the opportunity to move countries, something he took with both hands.
“The opportunity to coach and play in New Zealand has always been on my bucket list as I’ve heard amazing things about the country and love hearing about their culture and lifestyle.
“Back in January 2023, personal circumstances changed and so I thought there’s no better time to travel.”
After spending a year saving up and contacting clubs in Wellington, New Zealand after meeting a coach from there during an online coaching course, Dent’s plans started to emerge and become a reality.
“My original plan was to coach a bit and play a bit to allow enough time to travel and see New Zealand for what it is, but since arriving here, I took on a lot more coaching roles than anticipated which took up a lot of time and meant I couldn’t travel as much as I’d have liked.”
One of the roles taken on by Dent was head coach for the Wellington U18 men’s performance/representative program. This is a program which focuses on helping athletes learn to perform skills under a variety of competitive conditions and challenge them to compete at a national level.
At the end of their season, they travelled to Hawkes Bay for the U18 National Championships to compete against other regions, where Dent’s team finished third out of 22 teams.
Dent then had the opportunity to travel with New Zealand’s Masters Team to their World Cup in South Africa through his assistant coach, Leah Murphy.
On how the chance to travel with them came, Dent explained “During the U18 tournament, a few players had become injured or suffered aches/pains and so using my Sport Rehabilitation degree to assess and treat them.
“Leah Murphy is the Over 40’s women head coach and asked if I’d like to join them in Cape Town, South Africa for the Master’s Hockey World Cup. Originally thinking she was joking, a few weeks later she asked again and then I was put in touch with the head physio for the NZ contingent heading to South Africa where it all became official.”
Dent is also a qualified graduate sport rehabilitator after graduating from the University of Nottingham. After returning to Cheltenham, his teammate Aled Howell (who is co-captain of the Wales O35 men’s masters team) asked Dent to cover their team during their European Championships in 2023.
“I impressed them with my skills,” Dent said, “And I got asked to be part of their therapy team for the following season. Little did they know I was planning a trip to New Zealand.”
Due to committing to his role with New Zealand in South Africa, Dent couldn’t work with the Welsh team. However, Dent kept in close contact with Wales masters.
“The older age groups of the Masters World Cup are competing in Auckland between 7-16th November 2024, and so they asked me to travel up and provide medical treatment for them, another amazing opportunity working at a World Cup with an International Squad,” Dent explained.
The 25-year-old admitted that all the opportunities that came his way all came through knowing people. “The majority of my success stories and links have come through people I know through hockey in one way or another, whether that’s a teammate or a coach.
“I am very grateful to everyone I have made connections and relationships with within the hockey world as the networking is fantastic.”
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