Michael sticks to his passion

MICHAEL Poulton has enjoyed a fruitful career in athletics, but hockey is where his true passion lies.While the 45-year-old is the national coaching manager at Athletics Australia, a position he has held down since late 2006, he is also the current president and one of the driving forces behind WestVic Hockey.Poulton has enjoyed a decorated career in athletics and hockey, winning many races during a 22-year stint on the professional running circuit, while also yielding a stick since the age of eight and playing at a high level in state league competition."My true passion is probably hockey," Poulton admitted."I have always played both sports, which has been good because one is summer and one is winter."I have probably become a better hockey player because of my running."Poulton won various middle distance events during his time on the track, including two 550 metre races at the historic Stawell Gift carnival, and still remains a player of Hockey Ballarat team, Eureka & Golden City. He also coaches his daughter's team at Loreto College.Poulton was integral in the development of WestVic Hockey, an off-shoot of the WestVic Academy of Sport, which began in 2005 with a boys junior team before the addition of girls side a year later. Senior men's and ladies teams followed in 2008, with all teams playing in Hockey Victoria competition."Ballarat used to have a state representative team and I started that, (but) in 2006 that team folded," Poulton said."We needed to bring a junior program through and then build on that with a senior program."I started the junior program up and got some coaches that hadn't been coaching before, so my role was to assist them in what they were doing."My role was to also establish the club ... and now it is basically to oversee it."Poulton said it had been frustrating watching talented junior players work through the ranks in Ballarat and then head to Melbourne because there was no senior representative teams in the town."We had some really good players playing in state league two and three in Melbourne, but what they wanted to do was play back here (in Ballarat)," he said."It has kept the better hockey players back here."WestVic enjoyed senior men's and women's state league success in those teams' first year of existence in 2008. The ever-successful under-17 boys squad also played in the grand final last year to see three of the club's four teams fighting out premiership deciders.The successful run has continued this year with both junior teams unbeaten after six matches of the 2009 season and the men and women both inside the top four."It is just great having the best players in the region all wanting to play representative hockey," Poulton said."The big thing with hockey is that outside of metropolitan Melbourne, people see you as no good. But there is some really good sport being played here."Poulton, a level three coach, said WestVic was different from most hockey clubs as it draws on players from around the region."We provide opportunities for kids from all different clubs," he said."Because of that you also need very good coaching so we put a lot of time and energy to developing them."