Hampstead & Westminsters Andrew Wilson Readies Himself For A Crunch Men’s Premier Division Encounter

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Rod Gilmour of The Hockey Paper speaks to Hampstead & Westminster men's co-coach Andrew Wilson after returning from a lengthy tenure with Spain women

Andrew Wilson is busy co-ordinating junior team programmes, crunching some analysis and, as the weekend nears, readying himself for a crunch Men’s Premier Division encounter against champions Old Georgians.

After a lengthy spell abroad with the Spanish women’s side, Wilson is back in the UK and co-coach at Hampstead & Westminster alongside Simon Letchford. His H&W role also takes in being head of the club’s Talent Academy, while he is still involved with Spanish hockey as head of scouting and analysis.

Wilson will also have done his analysis on Old Georgians ahead of Saturday evening’s encounter, in what is set to be a lively game given that Finals Weekend placings are still in the offing, with two games remaining in Phase 3.

H&W lost 1-0 away to Holcombe last weekend and now must make home advantage count at Paddington Rec against their Surrey rivals.

“When you get to this part of the season there is now slightly more riding on it emotionally,” said Wilson. “We are playing for a spot at a special weekend and the chance of Europe. Tensions can run high and it becomes more competitive, with more uncertainties as to how players will react to situations. But this is what Hamsptead does best in these one-off games.”

With seven wins from 11 in the first half of the season, Wilson hailed a “fantastic” opening to their campaign. “We were onboarding new players and we got into the swing of things, playing really nice hockey before Christmas,” he admitted.

“We then had a lot of players at the World Cup which kept them active, but starting the season so soon afterwards jeopardised our and all the players coming back from India. It was probably a little bit too soon although the league had to be finished by a certain date.

“We were knocked off our stride and lost quite a bit of momentum. But we’ve been playing better hockey every game. It was unfortunate against Holcombe as it was our best performance since the first half of the season and this weekend will be even better than that.”

Wilson first moved to Spain in 2008, returning briefly for a season with Canterbury alongside Kwan Browne in 2011 as he finished his degree. Back in Spain, he originally volunteered to help out under fellow Englishman Adrian Lock, the long-serving Spain women’s coach.

“I wanted to watch and learn,” recalled Wilson. “As I was there, Adrian said I should get involved. It was uncharted territory for me - I hadn’t even done a regional team up until that point and had only done club.

“I was jumping straight into the national team. I was putting out cones and picking up balls and giving some advice privately to Adrian.”

He started filming games and was invited to his first tournament in 2014. He went to the Rio Olympics in 2016, as well as being assistant coach to the under-21 teams, and was an assistant coach in the Tokyo cycle. Then, towards the end of 2020, he was offered the head coach role with Canada women.

He said: “It was a tough decision to leave Canada, and an easy one to join Canada. I was there for eight months and things didn’t quite work out.”

A call beckoned to Browne as he returned to the UK and looked for a potential role. As a contracted analyst with Three Rock Rovers, he had seen H&W close up at the Euro Hockey League and soon he was offered a coaching position.

“I knew the style they played but moving after a decade in women’s hockey it was a shock to the system to begin with but I soon got over that.”

He has almost gone full circle on his UK return, having also originally been an assistant coach in the old performance centre set up in England. Now helming a top flight club side, he is a keen advocate of the new league structure.

He said: “It’s fantastic. It has made every game count and we’ve just wanted to win to get better and get more home games.

“Last season there were teams who had to win one game after Christmas and that was them done. We need a result this week and our next two games are must-wins.

“We need to make sure we are solid in defence on Saturday and we know that however we choose to play, we will steal balls from them.”

Saturday: Hampstead & Westminster v Old Georgians, 5:45pm