The Half Court Press Podcast

Gary Wright is a well known hockey coach in and around the Edinburgh area. Currently he is the coach at Fidra Lions Hockey Club, which is based in the Scottish seaside town of North Berwick, he has also been a part of the set up at Waverly Inveresk Trinity H.C. Originating from Sunderland, Gary has lived in Scotland for over two decades and has had experiences of coaching both children and adults...

Matt Noble has worked as both a football and a cricket coach. Like any good Yorkshireman, he likes his bat and ball game and, whilst living and working in Mexico City, was one of the international youth team coaches for the Mexico National Cricket Team. Whilst in this role, he also worked as a football coach for FutAcademy. Now he’s involved in the girls and community engagement programmes put on...

Luke Thorp is a football coach who has travelled around the world in search of new sporting experiences. Originally from the United Kingdom, he is now in Mexico City working as the Technical Director for FutAcademy. He has gained a varied range of perspectives from coaching different age groups in his sport of choice from Western Europe to Central America. Grassroots Sports is the seventh season o...

Neil Shaw is a well known figure within the hockey community on the East Coast of Scotland. Formerly of Waverly Inveresk Trinity (WIT) Hockey Club, he went on to represent his local team in the National 1st Division, as well as having chaired the club’s committee as President. More recently, he has been called up to the Scottish Masters (Over 45’s) team that won the 2019 European Championships in...

Poorya Mortazavi is a football coach with an interesting background. He born and raised in Denmark to Iranian parents, spent a period of his later schooling in the English capital city, of London, before moving across to the Americas. He spent time working in Mexico, before moving to the United States of America, where he now is progressing with his coaching career. In addition to his vocational e...

Ryan Godsmark is a Scottish born rugby player, who now lives in Belgium, playing for the national team after competing in the league structure over there for several years. He is also a rugby coach and sports teacher and is in fact the Head of Rugby at the British School of Brussels. Ryan also has a sports science degree from Edinburgh Napier University. Grassroots Sports is the seventh season of...

Suzanne Sinclair Hamill is a sports coach, based on the East Coast of Scotland. Working as a freelancer in schools and clubs around the Edinburgh area, she is predominately involved in hockey. Suzy is also the Youth Convenor at Dunfermline Carnegie H.C. She has a broad range of views on developing youth team players and school students, who are involved in sporting activities. Grassroots Sports is...

Michael Linnecar is a football coach who, as a player, has progressed through the junior ranks at professional clubs in England, as well as having played at a senior level in the Welsh Premier League. Now, Mike runs FutAcademy, which is his own football academy in Mexico City. Grassroots Sports is the seventh season of the Half Court Press Podcast. In this series, Tao MacLeod talks to a variety of...

The sport of hockey is played and enjoyed all over the world. In the sixth season of the Half Court Press Podcast we focus on what has been happening in the Pan American region of the sport. In this series we gain perspectives and opinions from those involved in the game that might not always have been heard from much before now. For our sixth episode we have an interview with Jamaican hockey inte...

The sport of hockey is played and enjoyed all over the world. In the sixth season of the Half Court Press Podcast we focus on what has been happening in the Pan American region of the sport. In this series we gain perspectives and opinions from those involved in the game that might not always have been heard from much before now. Episode five brings us an interview from Nico Tixe. He is the coach...

The sport of hockey is played and enjoyed all over the world. In the sixth season of the Half Court Press Podcast we focus on what has been happening in the Pan American region of the sport. In this series we gain perspectives and opinions from those involved in the game that might not always have been heard from much before now. In the fourth episode we hear from FIH umpire, Ayanna McCLean. As so...

The sport of hockey is played and enjoyed all over the world. In the sixth season of the Half Court Press Podcast we focus on what has been happening in the Pan American region of the sport. In this series we gain perspectives and opinions from those involved in the game that might not always have been heard from much before now. In the third episode we hear from the goalkeeper and captain of the...

The sport of hockey is played and enjoyed all over the world. In the sixth season of the Half Court Press Podcast we focus on what has been happening in the Pan American region of the sport. In this series we gain perspectives and opinions from those involved in the game that might not always have been heard from much before now. Episode two is with a friend of the show Keely Dunn, of FHumpires. A...

The sport of hockey is played and enjoyed all over the world. In the sixth season of the Half Court Press Podcast we focus on what has been happening in the Pan American region of the sport. In this series we gain perspectives and opinions from those involved in the game that might not always have been heard from much before now. Episode one is with Aldair Esteban Bejarano Tortós, who is the 22 ye...

Whistle Blowers is the fifth series from the Half Court Press Podcast and takes a look at the wonderful world of umpires, referees and officials. Episode six is with 2018 Hockey World Cup umpire Ayanna McClean. As an FIH Grade 1 level official, she is the foremost gamekeeper to come out of the Caribbean in recent years and will be going to the Tokyo Olympics if it ever happens. Here she talks to T...

Whistle Blowers is the fifth series from the Half Court Press Podcast and takes a look at the wonderful world of umpires, referees and officials. The sixth episode is with Keely Dunn. Based in her native Canada, Keely promotes all things to do with umpires. Through her business FHumpires she is one of the foremost educators on the rules of hockey.

Whistle Blowers is the fifth series from the Half Court Press Podcast and takes a look at the wonderful world of umpires, referees and officials. The fifth episode is with Dominic Falconer, who is a football and futsal referee, with the Scottish Football Association.

Whistle Blowers is the fifth series from the Half Court Press Podcast and takes a look at the wonderful world of umpires, referees and officials. Episode four is with up and coming Scottish based hockey umpire, Duncan Ruzzak, who is starting to make a name for himself on a wider scale.

Whistle Blowers is the fifth series from the Half Court Press Podcast and takes a look at the wonderful world of umpires, referees and officials. Episode three is with Christina Davidson, who is the International Umpiring Manager of the International Netball Federation, who are the world governing body for their sport

Whistle Blowers is the fifth series from the Half Court Press Podcast and takes a look at the wonderful world of umpires, referees and officials. The second episode is with Scottish Hockey National League umpire Nathan Forrest.

Whistle Blowers is the fifth series from the Half Court Press Podcast and takes a look at the wonderful world of umpires, referees and officials. The first episode is with a friend of the show, Suzanne Sinclair Hamill, who talks to us about her role as a technical official.

The fourth season of the Half Court Press Podcast focuses on the people that help to develop and educate those in their respective games. In the series, View from the Touchline, Tao MacLeod talks to coaches from different backgrounds about their philosophies on sport, the techniques used when teaching and their approach to their job. In our final episode we talk to former olympian and head coach o...

The fourth season of the Half Court Press Podcast focuses on the people that help to develop and educate those in their respective games. In the series, View from the Touchline, Tao MacLeod talks to coaches from different backgrounds about their philosophies on sport, the techniques used when teaching and their approach to their job. In our fifth episode we talk to football coach Chris Faust. Orig...

The fourth season of the Half Court Press Podcast focuses on the people that help to develop and educate those in their respective games. In the series, View from the Touchline, Tao MacLeod talks to coaches from different backgrounds about their philosophies on sport, the techniques used when teaching and their approach to their job. In our fourth episode we talk to football coach Luke Thorp. Havi...

The fourth season of the Half Court Press Podcast focuses on the people that help to develop and educate those in their respective games. In the series, View from the Touchline, Tao MacLeod talks to coaches from different backgrounds about their philosophies on sport, the techniques used when teaching and their approach to their job. In our third episode we talk to hockey coach Gary Wright. Origin...