Edinburgh-raised Graham Moodie (pictured), Scotland men’s under-21 head coach and assistant coach of Scotland’s senior men, is leaving Scottish Hockey after over ten years with the organisation.
Moodie, from Balerno, is a former Scotland captain, and accumulated 148 international caps and 56 Great Britain caps and competed at two Commonwealth Games as well as playing in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
He is moving into the school performance hockey programme at Culford School near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk and to further develop the Complete Hockey Coaching brand, in which he is a company partner. He will also continue to assist on the Great Britain Elite Development Programme.
During his time as Scotland’s under-21 men’s coach, Moodie worked hard to connect the player pathway and the success of the under-18 and under-21 teams, plus the number of players that have transitioned to the senior programme, underlines this.
A particular highlight was overseeing the under-21 men’s promotion into the European top division in 2019.
As assistant coach of Scotland senior men, Scotland have moved up to their highest ever world ranking. He has looked after the defence for the senior men since 2015.
During this time, the senior men have qualified for World League 3 and gained promotion to the European A Division, as well as achieving a highest ever finish in a Commonwealth Games, sixth, at the Gold Coast in Australia in 2018.
Moodie said: “I feel honoured and proud to have coached on the under-21 and senior men’s programmes. I’ve been lucky to work with fantastic groups of players willing to give their all for Scotland and I’ve loved coaching them.
“I’m extremely grateful to Derek Forsyth, our senior men’s head coach, for the trust he’s put in me. It’s been great to learn from him and be part of such a successful period for the senior men’s programme.
“I would also like to thank my dedicated and loyal support team with the under-21 programme. I’m hoping we can finish on a high this summer in Belgium and I’m extremely motivated to do so.”
The recruitment process for a new men’s U21 coach will commence in the next few weeks.
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