Life after Glasgow 2014

Nikki Kidd

Three months have passed since the closing ceremony of The Commonwealth Games and it still only seems like yesterday that we were celebrating Glasgow winning the host city bid in 2007. Since then competing and succeeding for Team Scotland at a home Games was a massive goal of mine and indeed most other Scottish athletes.

NK Glasgow

Running out in front of 5,000 passionate fans at Glasgow National Hockey Centre in the summer was an amazing experience and being able to share that with family and friends made it even more special. The Games were a fantastic advert for international hockey and although we may not have finished where we wished, we were astounded by the amazing level of interest and support from the Scottish public. A tweet from a friend in the afternoon after our match against England really typified this “Just heard two Glasgae lads talking about this morning’s hockey like it was an old firm match! #showcase” It’s not often hockey gets that kind of profile and it can only be positive for our sport! Representing Team Scotland was a huge honour and I have so many memories that will stay with me forever.

NK Bike

After the games I headed home to the Aberdeenshire countryside for a few days to chill out with the family. Although, as those of you who know me understand, I’m not good at relaxing! I was out running along the beach the next day and was soon off to Torridon and the Isle of Skye with for a week of epic, off the beaten track mountain biking with Pete. A 6 hour route over the Torridon mountains took us 9 due to driving rain, gale force winds, exposed rocky tracks and carrying bikes through waist high rivers. Brilliant fun and our idea of a great holiday! After a week of biking, hiking and battling hurricane Bertha we headed back to Glasgow for the athletes parade. Scotland is famed for its friendly, welcoming population and the crowd that lined the streets really epitomised Glasgow 2014s ‘People Make Glasgow’ slogan. The parade was a great opportunity for us to thank the public, friends and family for their incredible support.

It was all go again and after a quick catch up with the family we headed off to Hull to catch the ferry to Rotterdam and then on to Mannheim in South West Germany. I spent the 2011/12 season with Mannheimer HC and jumped at the chance to sign with them again and play in the German Bundesliga . We have a young, talented team with a mix of senior and junior internationals from Germany, Chile, Czech Republic and of course Scotland. The Bundesliga involves a fair bit of travelling and an away weekend normally includes a Friday evening train trip (which can last up to 5 hours), 2 matches and a couple of nights in a hotel. It’s a really professional set up at MHC and a great club to be part of. My main position at the club is as a hockey player but I also do a few hours a week as a physio. So it’s been a busy few months trying to get back up to speed with the language, getting used to playing man to man defence for 70 minutes and exploring the German mountains and forests on the bikes.

NK Germany

It was great to join back up with the Scotland squad recently and conveniently for me it was in Germany. We played 3 tough matches against the reigning European Champions and our young squad with some new faces competed well. I was delighted and honoured to play my 150th match for Scotland there and I am already looking forward to the 2015 international season.

 

Iain Scholefield

It was a hard come down after the amazing summer. It was the small things like not being stopped in the street, however the athletes parade through Glasgow was a more than fitting end to the whole experience. Everybody I’ve spoken to has had nothing but positive feedback about the games and the hockey itself. The debriefing of the tournament itself we felt that we could have finished higher. The final game against Malaysia was a disappointing end as we felt we played well throughout the tournament. However it was definitely an improvement on Commonwealth Games 4 years earlier in Delhi. There are so many things that happened which made Glasgow 2014 special, from seeing royalty, walking out at the open ceremony and the playing the first game in front of the home crowd. They all contributed to making it an unforgettable two weeks.

IS Glasgow

Work

For the last few years since finishing university I have been playing hockey in Holland and Belgium. However now I have decided to concentrate on my career more. Change from playing and coaching hockey to working with my engineering degree. It’s not an easy transition but sadly hockey doesn’t pay football size salaries.

Injury

This year hasn’t been kind to me injury wise. I’ve had three pretty bad injuries one after the other, my hand and my ankle twice. Despite the frustration of being injured for a long time I feel very grateful to have been able to play in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. I spent a lot of time sitting watching training, cycling and swimming expecting the worst. However with the support of our physios and doctors I made it back just in time!

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Kelburne

After 3 years away from Kelburne I’m very happy to back at my home club. There will always be a small part of me that regrets missing the last 3 league titles however my experiences abroad have more than made up for that. Since I have returned I have been heavy involved with the club trying to help the clubs development and move forward by using many of the things I’ve learnt whilst being abroad. I’m really enjoying giving back into the club.

IS

This season marked the 7th year that Kelburne have been involved with the Euro Hockey League. The rules have slightly changed this year which made it much harder to progress to the next round. We played the Austrian team SV Arminen and Spaniards, Athletic Terrassa. The games were tough, we competed well in hot conditions however too many mistakes at crucial times cost us. We lost 5-2 in our first game vs the Austrians and then 4-1 when we played Terrassa in our second game. The games were closer than the scores suggest and everybody recognised the areas where we need to improve. We are now back and focused on winning our 11th league title.

 

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