Last week, field hockey head coach Donna Hornibrook made an announcement that Gavin Featherstone would assume the role as assistant coach for the Red.
“I am very pleased to announce the addition of Gavin Featherstone to our coaching staff,” Hornibrook said in a statement. “He is a world class coach with an outstanding pedigree and an impressive track record of success everywhere he has been. I fully anticipate that he will make a tremendous impact on the Cornell field hockey program.”
Featherstone comes to Cornell from his alma mater, England’s Durham University, where he held a head coaching position for both the men’s and women’s field hockey teams. In six years as the head of the women’s program, the team won three National Club League titles in four trips to the finals, while the men earned recognition as a highly competitive squad as well.
As a former Olympic coach for both the United States (1984) and South Africa (1996), Featherstone’s coaching résumé contains a wealth of experience. With 324 international matches to his name, he was the youngest coach to ever take a field hockey team to the Olympics when he coached the United States in 1984. Featherstone also led England’s men’s and women’s U21 World Cups teams as head coach.
In addition to a wealth of coaching experience on an international level, Featherstone is an authority in many aspects of the game. He has produced 20 DVDs to teach strategies and principles of field hockey, which have been distributed to over 25 countries around the world and endorsed by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). Additionally, Featherstone has conducted seminars hosted by the FIH that aim to breakdown and improve overall game performance.
Featherstone received a Bachelors of Arts degree from Durham in 1975, where he was captain of the first field hockey club in the University’s history. He later became the President of the Durham University Athletic Union and continued on to play for the British Universities Team and England’s national program, where he served as team captain and competed in both the World and European Cups. Featherstone also earned a Postgraduate Certificate of Education from Oxford University in 1976.
The Red will kick off its season under Hornibrook and Featherstone on August 31, as Cornell travels to play Lock Haven University.
Original Author: Lauren Ritter