Ric Charlesworth

Dr. Richard "Ric" (or "Rick") Ian Charlesworth AM (born December 6 1952) is a sports and performance consultant and a former Australian cricketer and field hockey player and coach. Born in Subiaco, Western Australia, he is a Doctor of Medicine.

Charlesworth attended Christ Church Grammar School until he graduated in 1969. He then attended The University of Western Australia.

Cricket

In 1969 he captained the Western Australian State under 19's cricket team before going on to play A-grade Club cricket for West Perth (1969-70, 1976-82) and University Cricket Club (1970-76). He played in 47 first-class matches for Western Australia from 1972 until 1979, making 2,327 runs at an average of 30.22. He was a member of Sheffield Shield winning teams in 1972-73, 1976-77, 1977-78, and was a squad member in the winning season of 1974-75.

Hockey

Player

Charlesworth came under the Guidance of Ray House at Christ Church Grammar School, where he was promoted to the School's First XI Hockey team at an early age. He was a member of the PSA Hockey Cup (Now known as the Ray House Hockey Cup) winning Teams of 1966-67. In his final year at Christ Church Grammar School (1969), the team faced off against Aquinas for the title, led by David Bell (who would later become a State and National teammate). Aquinas won the match and the 1969 title 2-1.

He played in and captained the State hockey team and then into the national and international level where from about 1978 he was regarded as the world's best hockey player for a decade, playing in and captaining the Australian men's Field hockey team the "Kookaburras". He was selected to represent Australia in five Olympic hockey teams, 1972, 1976, 1980 (captain) (Moscow Olympics were boycotted), 1984 (captain), and 1988. He was a member of the national team which competed in various other international tournaments including winning the World Hockey Cup in London in 1986. He retired from playing after representing Australia at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. He played 227 games for his country scoring

Charlesworth was inducted into the Australian Hockey Hall of Fame in 1987, the second person to achieve this award.

Charlesworth also won the Olympians' Medal in 1980 while playing for The University of Western Australia Hockey Club, an annual award presented to the player judged by umpires to be the Fairest and Best in the Men's First Division Competition in Western Australia. In addition, the female equivalent of this award, an annual award presented to the player judged by umpires to be the Fairest and Best in Women's First Division Competition, is named in Charlesworth's honour, the Charlesworth Medal.

Coach

After his playing career ended, he went on to be head coach of the Australian Women's hockey team the "Hockeyroos". During this time they won the Champion's Trophy in 1993 (Amsterdam), 1995 (Mar del Plata), 1997 (Berlin) and 1999 (Brisbane), the World Hockey Cup in 1994 (Dublin) and 1998 (Netherlands) and were gold medallists in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and Sydney Olympics in 2000 and 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.

Prior to his recent appointment as technical adviser of the men's and women's Indian hockey teams, he was the high-performance manager for the New Zealand cricket team.cite news | last = | first = | coauthors = | title = Hockey needs India, says Ric | work = | pages = | language = | publisher = The Telegraph, Calcutta |date=24 October 2007 | url = http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071024/asp/sports/story_8467442.asp | accessdate = 2007-10-25 ] He was selected to act as an advisor to the newly formed hockey selection committee formed by the Indian Olympic Association. [http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2008042961431900.htm&date=2008/04/29/&prd=th&] He later resigned due to several issues related to red tape in India and his fees. [http://www.rediff.com/sports/2008/jul/11charles.htm]

Charlesworth has been a mentor coach to several national team coaches with the Australian Institute of Sport and a performance consultant with the Fremantle Football Club.

Politics

He was elected as the Federal Member for Perth in 1983 and was a Member of Parliament for 10 years until 1993 representing the Australian Labor Party.

Books

He has written three books: "The Coach – Managing for Success", "Staying at the Top" and "Shakespeare the Coach"

Awards

*Western Australian Sportsman of the Year in 1976, 1979 and 1987
*Advance Australia Award in 1984
*Order of Australia in 1987.
*Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1987
*Hall of Champions, WA 1995
*West Australian Sports Champions of the Year Award – Coach of the Year 1994 – 2000
*Australian Coaching Council Team Coach of the Year 1994, 1996, 1997,1998,1999,2000
*Confederation of Australian Sport Coach of the Year 1996, 1997 and 2000
*Western Australia Citizen of the Year Award 2001

External links

* [http://content.cricinfo.com/australia/content/player/4681.html Cricinfo on Ric Charlesworth]
* [http://www.riccharlesworth.com.au/ riccharlesworth website]

References

* [http://www.olympics.com.au/ Australian Olympic Committee]

Persondata
NAME=Charlesworth, Richard Ian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Charlesworth, Ric
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Cricketer and field hockey player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH=December 6 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH=Subiaco, Western Australia
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=