Dr. Ric Charlesworth is a bloody ripper and it was a privilege for me to chat with a true legend of Australian sport. He is a Medical Doctor, Former Captain of the Australian Hockey Team and the Western Australian State Hockey Team and Cricket Team, having played hockey for Australia for a record 17 years and first-class cricket for nearly a decade. He was the National Coach of the Australian Women’s Hockey Team from 1993 to 2000 and between 2009 and 2014, he coached the Men’s team. In four World Cups and three Olympic Games as coach of Australia, Charlesworth’s teams won Gold on 6 occasions and once won bronze. They won 8 of 9 Champions Trophy tournaments and 2 Commonwealth Games Gold medals… this is a record never equalled in the sport. Between 1994 and 2014 Charlesworth was ‘Coach of the Year’ 8 times! Apart from being a four-time Olympian as a player, he’s also written five books, worked with Fremantle Football Club for two years as their high-performance manager and did I mention he was a member of Federal parliament for a lazy decade (pre coaching)? Amazing. Enjoy.
