Mick McCann shares his experiences with PH students
The 4th May, the national hockey player Michael McCann visited the Pädagogische Hochschule in Heidelberg. A group of thirty students were in the audience and were able to ask him some questions about his incredible career as a hockey-star and his private life.
As one of the most bull-headed and most persisted hockey players he became also one of the most successful athletes in Australian hockey history. He admitted that aggressiveness is obligatory for everyone who is focused on victories. “I used to hate my opponents on the field”, he explained. Not until he lived in Barcelona, where he learned to love the Spanish mentality and way of living, was he not able to see something else in the players of the other teams. Without his strong will, he would never have won such a big number of trophies like the Olympic gold medal in 2004, the Commonwealth Games in 2002 or the Champions Trophy in 2005. Even away from the playing field, his opponents tried to avoid to meet him because they were much more impressed than he thought they would be. Because he never gave up and because he was not the fastest player on the green, he got the name “The Mule”.
He deplored the fact that the hockey players have to sacrifice so much for their career. Though they train about forty hours every week, they have to work in regular jobs to finance the outgoings of life. Even for successful games, the athletes receive only about €60 for the day. McCann tries to always look forwards instead of reflecting on past decisions, so that he doesn’t mourn about his sacrifices. He conceded that it is very difficult for an athlete in a sport that is less famous and lucrative than for example soccer or American Football, to have a private life besides the sport activities. The athletes even have to buy special food for their nutrition which is much more expensive. For a long period of time there even was no opportunity for McCann to have a fulfilling relationship with a woman. After he went to Barcelona, he had more time to spend with his Austrian girlfriend. He loves the Spanish food and the mentality, so that he wishes to return to Barcelona, which he called “the most beautiful city in the world”.
Today he is player-coach of the Mannheim Hockey Club 1907 e.V., which is 8th of the German Hockey Premier league. One of his national team-mates will follow him soon. The world-hockey-player Jamie Dwyer will join the Mannheim team in the next season. Dwyer’s contract will at least last until the Olympic Games in 2012. But “The Mule” will watch the games on TV instead of giving the creeps to his opponents.
