Peter (‘Billo’) didn’t pick up hockey stick until he was aged 16 at school, first playing on a muddy fields in the south of England before transitioning to turf at University in 1992. His love of the game of hockey has meant that he has now played for over 30 years with three different teams across England. He started with UQHC in 2010 after he moved to Brisbane with his family and his wife asked for respite on Sundays. He has played representative hockey for Brisbane (O35s) and (O40s). He continues to play senior men’s hockey (BHA) and masters’ hockey for UQ. Billo has a level 1 and level 2 coaching accreditation. To date he has coached lots of fantastic little Red Roos: U7s, U9s and U11s. His coaching philosophy is that young kids gain an understanding of the game and develop skills best through modified forms of hockey interspersed with entertaining games and via regular reinforcement of basic skills from an early age into their teens. Perhaps most importantly Billo wants all his players to wear a smile, be enthusiastic and have fun when playing.
Max Diamond (J2 Boys Coach)
Max Diamond played his junior hockey for Commercial in Townsville. He made a number of junior state teams and was then offered a place at the Australian Institute of Sport (Perth) in 1991, where he was a scholarship holder till 1998. During that time he played for the National u21 team (The Burras) at the Junior World Cup in Barcelona, where the team won a Bronze medal. He played for the QLD Senior Men and the Blades for 5 years. He played 31 games for the National team (The Kookaburras). He also played club hockey in England. Max came to UQHC in 2017 when his children started playing. He has since coached the u11 and u13 boys, he holds a level 2 coaching certificate and helps out with the Division 1 men.
Tara Diamond (Junior Development Coordinator)
Tara comes from a hockey family so she isn’t able to recall the exact age she started playing. Growing up in Townsville, she represented Townsville from a young age and this fostered a healthy rivalry against Cairns and Brisbane. Anyone from a Queensland regional area knows that everyone backs whichever team is playing against Brisbane! Tara had to get over this rivalry when she moved to Brisbane and played hockey as a junior for Brisbane and Queensland (outdoor and indoor). She played Div 1 and Div 2 (Easts) hockey in Brisbane and whilst at University studying to be a PE teacher got her first paid gig as a hockey coach for Somerville House. Tara continued to play and coach in Sydney and the United Kingdom and commenced coaching at UQHC in 2018. Relinquishing a coaching position in 2021 to focus on junior development for all our junior Red Roos. Tara is passionate about team sport participation, providing an inclusive, enjoyable and challenging skill development environment for juniors. Tara continues to play hockey and feels privileged to play at UQHC where, in the summer comp, gets to take the field with her children, nephews, nieces, brother and sister.
Sarah Hannam (J2 Girls Coach)
Sarah started playing hockey aged seven years old with a skills coach Glad Cole, and then played for Fernridge School in New Zealand. She represented the Wairarapa province U15, U18s and the NZ Army and NZDF. Sarah started playing at the UQHC club six years ago. She has coached senior women at the club across several divisions as well as junior girls. She currently plays in BWHA Div 3.
Sam Howitt (U13 Girls Coach)
Sam grew up in Canberra and started playing for Central Hockey Club in their under 7’s Minkey side. She played seniors alongside juniors from 14 and just couldn’t get enough of hockey, throwing some ACT junior rep into the mix! After taking some time off while living overseas, Sam moved to Brisbane for university in 2018 joining the Red Roos as a player and coach. Sam coached UQHC under 9’s then followed the great bunch of girls to 11’s with the ever-wonderful Jill Toppenberg. Working in childcare while at university, Sam really enjoys coaching juniors, as it is a time for players to develop new skills and game awareness, get active and make great friendships! Sam understands players can have multiple passions that sometimes clash and will try help work around it… See below an example of a junior Sam dolled up for a hockey semifinal at 9am and a dance competition at 10!
Kylie O’Donohue (U13T Girls Coach)
Kylie (pictured below (right) with fellow UQHC coach/player Sarah Walton) is a senior player from BWHA Division 2 and has been playing hockey for 28 years. Kylie has two daughters aged 9 and 10 that also play hockey. She has represented Brisbane and Met East in her childhood years, and more recently Queensland and Australia masters. She has been coaching hockey on and off for 17 years from U7s up to seniors, plus U15 Brisbane. Kylie’s coaching philosophy is that anyone can learn any skill given the correct focus and time. She enjoys figuring out the unique qualities of each player and how to help them achieve their personal goals with hockey. Kylie loves how team sport teaches kids how to collaborate and work together towards a common goal. She believes that it is in this space that juniors will enjoy have the most fun and find their love of hockey.
Ashleigh Neill (J3 J4 Coach)
Ash (pictured below) has been involved with hockey for 15 years and loved every second on the field. Ash has been selected in representative teams since being a little U13 player all the way through to U18’s. She has been involved with coaching juniors for three years it is by far one of her favourite things. Watching the juniors grow as players and how they get so excited when they score a goal or win a game is so rewarding. 2021 was Ash’s first year at UQHC both playing and coaching, and she is so excited to take on this journey and is super keen to be with her new hockey family.
Felicity Poad (U9 Coach)
Felicity ‘Flick’ Poad (pictured below) has been working with kids for as long as she has been playing hockey... 20 plus years. Her experience and enthusiasm come together on the field to make learning hockey basics fun for some of our younger players. Flick has been a volunteer with the club since she and her family moved to Brisbane in 2016 and she can answer many of your hockey-related questions.
Andrew Price (U13T Girls Coach)
Andrew (pictured below mixing it with Easts) has been playing hockey for nearly 40 years and has Level 1 coaching accreditation. He has been a passionate member of UQHC for the past 20 years, playing both Masters and BHL divisions and is a member of the executive. At university he was a division 1 player and state equivalent representative. Andrew’s daughter has been playing for UQHC since she was 7 and is currently in the U13 squad. Andrew is also a chartered accountant and has been the Chief Financial Officer of ASX listed energy and resource companies.
Matt Stockwell (JT Boys Coach)
Matt first joined the UQHC in 1995 and helped the club return its Mens team to Div 1 in 1996. Prior to this Matt played in country Qld and WA in representative roles including a start-up Central Queensland team that was eying entry to the National Hockey League. After a break from hockey he returned to play with old UQ friends in Division 3, 4, Masters and enjoyed QLD selection after winning an o40 Qld State Titles. Over recent years Matt has moved onto coaching to support his children who enjoy hockey. With Shawn Hopkins he has been coaching a junior UQ Indoor Hockey team and they will now take a role coaching UQ’s new J3 junior boys’ team. Matt has completed a Level 1 coaching course. Matt also brings unique skills to coaching gained through more than 10 years of sport & athlete management roles in TV and major action sports events including 2005 WWA World Wakeboarding Championship and 2004-6 Gravity Games H20 events.
Jill Toppenberg (U11 Boys Coach)
Jill’s family has been a part of UQ Junior Hockey since its conception in 2015 when her daughter played in the U9 Competition. Having played hockey for many years and being a teacher made it easy for her to volunteer to coach the younger teams. For Jill it has been an absolute joy to coach teams from U9’s to U13’s over the past few years –even getting a couple of Grand Finals under our belt. In 2021 Jill is co-coaching the U11 boys with the fabulous Luke McPhail – back to the grass where her hockey roots lie!
Noreen Walton (J Coach)
‘Nors’ started playing when her family moved to Cairns when she was 10, and has played ever since. You may not have that many fingers to count! Nors loves the game. Nors has represented Queensland and Australia since 1996 in Masters. She has a Level 2 Coaching accreditation and Level 1 umpiring accreditation (and old State B badge). Besides hockey, Nors keeps busy looking after her family – six children and 7 grandchildren! Nors is pictured below with her daugher Sarah (also a UQHC Junior Coach and Austalian rep player) and two of her grandchildren Mia and Emily.
Sarah Walton (J1 Girls Coach)
Sarah started playing hockey at a young age; she was coached very strictly on basic skills by hockey royalty – Nors (her mum). So Sarah does like to practice and practice basic skills with her teams and impart her "3 secrets to hockey" to her team members. Sarah is mum to Emily (5) and Mia (9) (pictured above) who have been playing with UQ for the past two and three years respectively. Sarah has played with UQ for over 10 years, and most recently returned to play for the Red Roos in timely fashion to play with the back-to-back div 2 premiers. Sarah’s representative career highlight was playing for Australia O35s at the Gold Coast trans-Tasman in 2019, and having her family cheer the team on to bring home the gold.
Beth Westmore (U11 Girls Coach)
Beth (pictured below, with her sizeable fan club) started playing hockey when she was seven years old as a ‘Minkey’. Growing up in Sydney she played juniors for Ryde Hunters Hill HC. Beth has been a Red Roo since 2014 and has played in two Premiership winning teams in Division 2 of the BWHA senior women’s competition (2019-20). Beth absolutely loves coaching little Red Roos and has spent the last few years coaching the mighty U7s and the Premiership winning U11 Girls (2020). Beth loves a sneaky jab tackle, is a big fan of lollies, UQ hair accessories and ‘stuck in the mud’ warm ups before training.
Joey Stam (Goal Keeping)
Joey is currently Masters goalkeeper at UQHC and has been a goalkeeper from when his age was still in single digits a long time ago. Growing up in The Netherlands he played Junior hockey all the way through to university and Seniors before coming to Australia and taking a break for a few years. He started playing again in Masters in 2014 and is still going strong. Joey completed the Level 1 coaching course and has coached U7 and U9, and most recently started doing goalkeeper coaching for Juniors during regular team training. He still remembers the frustration from Junior days when training involved no specific goalkeeper drills/coaching and 'training' was mainly standing in the goal waiting for field players to hit balls at you from the top of the circle. Joey is very keen to work on specific goalkeeper skills with Juniors to make sure they have the opportunity to improve as the season progresses.
Lieuwke de Jong (Goal Keeping)
Lieuwke first picked up a stick at the age of 4. He played at various hockey clubs: Royal Hockey Club Leuven (Belgium), Oranje (now ISCA, Belgium), and Haagsche Gazellen Club (HGC, Netherlands), before joining UQHC in Brisbane. He has played defensive positions most of his hockey career: full-backer (L), sweeper and goalie. Lieuwke has trained and coached kids aged 4 to 16 for more than a decade and started training goal keepers at UQHC in 2021. He also coaches UQHC indoor and outdoor teams and was manager for BWHA under 15. His training and coaching approach is simple: have fun, train hard, improve your skills and play as a team. Finally, Lieuwke has 4 kids who all play hockey at UQHC!