Muscat — “It kind of stings when you see Australia at the bottom of the pool,” admitted Kieran Simmons, a 28-year-old electrical engineer from Melbourne. And the Kookaburras Hockey 5 his team took the green and gold to heart and performed their best in this World Cup, defeating the USA his 6-3 and scoring their first win in Oman.
“From where we started to now, it’s been wild; [the win] It definitely brings a smile to our faces,” Simmons added. Mr Simmons’ last name goes to Altona HC, a club based in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
Selection of the Australian team was based on the National Indoor Championships and National Championships outside of the High Performance category, with 10 athletes selected from each tournament. They were then narrowed down by a selection committee before the Hockey5s Qualifiers.
Although he is a representative indoor player, Simmons’ preference is for the outdoors, although he has not been a part of the Australian indoor team until now.
A week after he and his partner found out they were expecting a baby, Simmons announced that he had been selected for last July’s Hockey5s Oceania Cup, which served as a World Cup qualifier for Muscat. I learned.
He recalls: “I could have played if I had waited until the deadline, but I chose not to and luckily my baby was born three days after the tournament started. It turned out to be a good decision!”
Simmons, who scored the opening goal in a 5-0 lead against the USA in the Challenger berth, is enjoying the bond with the team after playing his first game in Australian colors.
“They had a pre-existing bond on the Gold Coast, but to be able to step in with them was phenomenal,” he admits.
Forging a path outside the elite realm, Simmons looks up to his father Peter as an inspiration.
Simmons senior played in the 70s and 80s, was part of the club’s first SL1 Premiership team in 1994 and, according to the club’s website, boasts one of the “greatest mustaches of the 1980s”. Ta.
Naturally, his son also plays sports in Muscat.
Simmons Senior also played for the Green and Gold at the Masters (O45s) but never had the opportunity to represent Australia at senior level.
Indeed, Kieran, who previously spent several seasons with Oxford club Banbury, returned to his hometown of Victoria and was seen playing for his country in Singapore in a Masters match while father and son wore the same jersey numbers at the club. I watched the game.
“I keep in mind my father’s words that it doesn’t matter when you wear your colors as long as you keep working hard,” he says. “Find your niche whenever possible. There’s never a bad time to go green and gold.”
