Born in East London, Eastern Cape, Emile developed his hockey knowledge at Sporting Club Parkside and later at Bohemians Hockey Club. He achieved Honours for Hockey at Selborne College at school level.

Later in higher education Emile represented TUT and TUKS. He then moved to Holland where he played for HDM in The Hague for a season. In total he played 149 games for SA with 77 goals, including 2 Commonwealth Games (1998-2002) and 2 Olympic Games (Athens 2004 as vice captain and Beijing 2008), Hockey World Cup in Malaysia and many others.

Emile has coached Tuks Women’s 1st, Quins Women’s 1st, Quins Men’s 1st, TUT men’s 1st and was an assistant coach at Galaxy league. He is a hockey fanatic and a big fan of the game.

He served as the high performance director for SAHA 2015 to 2017 and delivered 2 seasons of PHL as project manager and been part of the original group of developers. He is married to Veronique Prinsloo with 2 kids:  Blake and Alyssa.

Emile currently works as a sports and commercial consultant to Royal Bafokeng Sport; he has vast experience in the sports fraternity and has been active in the sport for the past 15 years.

We are privileged to have him on board at Phobians.

By way of context

 I represented two provinces and two national sides in Volleyball from 1985 to 1991. I am still actively involved in sport and enjoy under water hockey, freediving, cycling and am a supporter of Liverpool FC.

My interest in sport is fuelled by my love for analytics on the one hand and talent development on the other hand.

I am the owner of My Code – a study of laterality in sport and education where I assist professional sides in rugby and national players in tennis and hockey in South Africa, India and the USA to understand the effect of their eye, ear, hand, foot and mental processing on the quality of their spatial awareness, mobility / athleticism, decision making and grit. I use this work to create a readiness for coaching and a foundation for high performance.

I am also the local face of Athlete Monitoring (Canada Based) – player monitoring solution for athletes involved in professional and amateur sport. My role is to support the real time wellness and performance monitoring of players in SA / Africa. This exposure gives me an understanding of performance standards and conditioning protocols for all levels of competition. Teams that are on the platform include Netball New Zeeland, USA Hockey, NWU Sport (SA); Wales Rugby; Barcelona Youth Academy (USA) to mention a few examples.

Why hockey?

My passion for hockey comes from my love of football and the idea of the complete game that is accredited to Johan Cruyff (Dutch footballer https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/johan-cruyff-quotes )

It is this ideal / approach to the game that led me to hockey in 1996 when I was involved as an assistant coach to the 0/19 ladies provincial side in Gauteng North. My role was strategy and approach to the game. It was during this time that I developed my version of the complete game and I was invited to Alliance Mixed Hockey Club in the Netherlands to teach on this and to work with the 0/16 and first team (ladies).

Influences that shaped the way I coach

An important building block in my understanding of the condition required to play the complete game comes from exposure to and understanding of how Acumen in Argentina use an integrated MVP (Mental, Visual and Physical) approach to talent development. I was fortunate to visit them in Buenos Aires and exposure to their work and the application of it for teams like the national ladies hockey side had a significant influence on how I work.

Practical Application

On a practical coaching note: I was involved in the talent development (coached) of a junior side in Pretoria at Affies for 5 years (0/14-16) with the focus on integrated talent development in a competitive environment. The club used the process to introduce some of the young talent to a high intensity environment and the club competed in the premier division. The best performance of the young side led to promotion to the second division with several young players representing the club in the premier division.

Coaching philosophy

My approach to hockey coaching is simple – you play to master the game – winning is a distant second.

I prepare players to play the perfect game and challenge limiting beliefs about positions, roles, conditioning, defence and attack to equip players to play fast – direct hockey. My approach is combined with lessons learnt from an appreciation of rock music where every performance is a combination of exceptional technique, passion and the unquestionable love of music. This is why I stand for the following:

• never let the fear of mistakes prevent you from stretching;
• use every match and every training session to learn something new;
• be adventurous and never afraid to try something;
• use every opportunity that comes your way and never criticize any team member or official;
• play hard, encourage your team members, stretch every rule and always;
• be kind to opponents.

Started playing hockey aged 8 at Cornwall hill college where he continued to play for the extent of his school hockey. After school he joined CHIPPAS hockey Club where he represented 1st side in the Northerns premier league, as well as representing TUT at USSA tournaments.

Dylan started his hockey coaching career at Southdowns College, leading the U13 Boys to Champs of Champs Playoff. Today he heads up the Girls Hockey and Coaches the Girls First Team at Southdowns. Dylan has also coached the various Northerns sides for Northerns Blues Primary Schools and has been selected as head coach for the U13 A IPT side for 2021. Dylan coached the CHIPPAS Ladies First Team in the Northerns Premier League, finishing in the upper half of the league and maintaining their position in the top league.

Dylan also has experience in the Indoor league having coached a side for Tshwane Titans in the 2019 PSI tournament in Cape Town.

Richard matriculated in 2019 from Grey High with 55 caps for the first 11.  He played Provincial Mens and Provincial Outdoor and have been in the Mens Indoor Provincial set up for the previous three years. Currently playing for the PHSOB 1st Team.