There was a time not so long ago when Handsworth senior girls field hockey coach Paul Winstanley, with tough loss after tough loss piling up, was about ready to call it quits.
He became the team’s head coach in 2003 and over the next eight season his Royals made the provincial championships every year but never earned a medal, finishing no worse than eighth but never better than fourth.
“I was getting discouraged,” said Winstanley, adding that he even voiced his frustrations to a pair of coaches from Kelowna secondary right after that team stopped a string of heartbreak by finally winning their own provincial AAA championship to take back to the Okanagan.
“I said to them, ‘I just don’t know. Maybe I should just quit and let someone else give it a try,’” recalled Winstanley. “And they both looked at me and said ‘Paul, you’re going to win a championship. Don’t quit.’”
Those Kelowna coaches helped convinced Winstanley to stick it out but they were wrong in their prediction that he’d win a championship. Instead, he won three.
Handsworth’s third provincial title in a row came last week when the Royals overcame a shaky loss in pool play, tough playoff opponents and Noah-in-the-ark type rain to win the provincial banner at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex.
Winstanley knew his girls were ready to play as they warmed up for the final against South Delta Friday afternoon because the topic of the weather never came up.
“It was torrential rain, windy, very cold,” said Winstanley. “But they didn’t mention the weather, they just completely ignored it. They were caught up in the moment and went out and did what they needed to do. It was great.”
Mairin Christie got the Royals on the board in the first half and Anna Heatherington added to the lead in the second half, giving goalie Lena Benwood more than enough of a cushion as she recorded her third straight shutout to cement the 2-0 win and claim the title.
The Royals faced a tough road to get to the final. An upset loss to Heritage Woods in pool play meant that Handsworth had to take on Cowichan, the tournament co-favourites, in the semifinals. The Royals had already lost to Cowichan once this year in the Bridgman Cup tournament. That previous defeat, however, provided the team not with fear but with motivation. The Royals came out and blasted Cowichan 4-0 to make it to the final.
“Having lost to Cowichan at Bridgman they were absolutely determined to win that game and really dominated the game. They just didn’t give Cowichan any room or any time,” said Winstanley. “It was by far the best performance they had. The girls said it was their toughest game of the tournament. I think mentally because they’d lost to them before, but also just because (Cowichan) played extremely well and extremely hard.”
That mental toughness arrived at just the right time to allow the Royals to play their best when the stakes were at their highest, said Winstanley.
“I didn’t have any concerns about their talent and athletic ability in terms of winning (the championship) again but the mental side of it we needed to keep working on and understand how difficult it is to win on the last day and how much work you have to put in and how strong you have to be mentally to translate the desire into hard work,” he said.
This year’s Royals team was different from the other two championship squads in that they didn’t have a super scorer like Hannah Haughn in 2011 or Stephanie Norlander in 2012, both of whom have played at the national level. In fact, 11 of the team’s 16 outfield players this year scored at least once during the provincial tournament as the Royals put in 23 goals while allowing just two in their six games.
“We didn’t rely on any one or two players. It was a total team effort, which sounds sort of cliché,” said Winstanley with a laugh. “In the past we’ve relied on one big scorer and then a supporting cast of good players but we had depth from 1 to 18 and then we had the scoring distributed. It was great.”
The leadership on this team was focused on defence with high sweeper Mia Watson setting the pace in front of Benwood.
“I think she was the player of the tournament,” said Winstanley of Watson. “She just dominated the middle of the field defensively.”
Midfielders Lauren McKnight and Emily Martin, co-captains along with Watson, also helped the Royals take control of every game, said Winstanley, teaming with Benwood to continually push the attack away from the Handsworth goal.
“Those four players have three provincial titles (each). It’s pretty amazing. Most players don’t even get to the finals, and they’ve been there three years and won three provincials.”
Winstanley won three as well and that will be all — he retired from coaching following Friday’s win. Junior coach Graham Walker will move up to take over the senior team as they go for four in a row next year while Winstanley will move on to other things — he’s combined his loves of field hockey and photography into a new career that has him traveling the world taking field hockey photos at international events.
Wherever he goes now, however, he’ll take with him memories of a program that grew from disappointment into a dynasty. Of course, he takes little credit for the breakthrough.
“Finally players came along that were too good — I couldn’t mess it up,” he said with a laugh.
• • •
West Vancouver also took part in the provincial AAA championship and came away hard-luck fifth-place finishers. They faced South Delta in the quarterfinals and ended up in a tie, losing the match in the dreaded penalty strokes. They went on to win their final two playoff games to finish in fifth with a record of three wins, one loss and two ties.
