1/ How long have you been coaching and what is your playing background 

I started to take an interest in coaching at an early age. I coached our school team to a National final at the age of 18. When I was 22 I coached Kent U21 and the likes of Mel Clewlow. At 24 I stared to coach East teams.  Last year I decided to retire from playing when my coaching ambitions started to shout louder at me than the playing and so I assisted Jo Green at Old Loughtonians where we swapped ideas and strengths.

My playing background is one of premier league and National league hockey clubs and I played for England in the U21 world cup in 1993 alongside fellow Ipswich player Leisa King.

2/ what are your aims for Ipswich 1^st team this season

I am very excited about this season, all teams will have to contend with changes to their squad that the international call ups have caused and with Leisa King and Jo Ellis missing there will be gaps in our starting line up too. I hope this will create new interest from local young players with ambitions to join us and players within the club to train harder to take up these places.  As director of coaching I am also looking closely at our youth set up to try an influence progress of talented youngsters who will become our first team of the future. 

3/ what affect do you think the lack of international players to all teams will have and do you think it will work in Ipswich’s favour. 

I don’t think the lack of international players will work in our favour as everyone will be in the same boat, but I am excited about the play off group being extended to top 6 as this may prove to be a big juicy carrot for the post xmas games and hopefully will help extend our season. 

4/ what are your long term coaching ambitions 

I make no secret of my burning ambition to go on to coach England in the future. I have already invested many hours into developing as a coach and hope the experiences I will have at Ipswich will continue that growth. 

5/what do you look for in a player, and what do you think is the most important asset to make it to the top.

I look for athleticism, co-ordination, balance and coach-ability in a player but the extra qualities needed to go to the top are determination and ability to put hours of hard work in to reach set goals. 

6/what would be your advice to a young player who wanted to make it all the way to the top of the game. 

Come and join Ipswich where the coaches will work as hard as the players. It takes thousands of hours of hard work; it’s not just about talent

7/Ipswich has had not only success in English leagues but also in European competition but the club has not been to Europe for over five years. What do you think they need to do to change that and is European success part of your plan? 

My ambition as a club player and now as a club coach is to reach European competition. I feel the easiest route is via the premier indoor league. Ipswich has great indoor talent but has in recent years lacked ambition at indoor hockey. Indoor hockey is a great spectator sport, it improves skills and speed and I love the game I hope to ignite the passion within the players to do better. 

8/Each coach has a unique style what do you think yours is. 

My coaching style is reflective of my own personality. I am sure of the knowledge I have already gained; I am always seeking ways to improve that knowledge. I am a confident person who knows her own strengths and weaknesses and I am not afraid to be open about those weaknesses for the good of the outcome. I am personable and approachable and hope that all those at Ipswich whom I have the pleasure of working with will find it as much of a pathway of discovery as I hope to.  Lastly and most importantly I am very hard working. 

9/if you could change one rule in hockey what would it be? 

Short corners must be stopped before a shot can take place. They have been playing the “no stopping” rule for 6 months in Holland already and there apparently has been an increase in injuries to players.  The best rule change was when they introduced “rolling substitutions” it has allowed injured players to seek treatment within a game and better development of youngsters who can be given little “tasters” of games at high levels. 

10/where do you see yourself as a coach in five years time 

The job at Ipswich is a year contract but I am putting in place a 4-year plan to develop youngsters with a more grounded idea of the commitment they need to make to sport if they want to achieve greatness. I hope to be the coach who gets to see that plan come to fruition.