Times of India: Stick check: Aussie legend Dwyer turns equipment designer

By Saumojyoti S Choudhury

Lucknow, Dec 11 () He might have retired from international hockey this year but Jamie Dwyer still continues to inspire a whole lot of generation, including his young Rio Olympics teammate Blake Govers who uses customised sticks only designed by the legendary striker.

Dwyer is regarded as a legend of world hockey but even after quitting the game this year the diminutive striker still did not disassociate himself from the game for a single moment.

Blake, who made his Olympic debut at Rio at the age of 20 alongside Dwyer, is a great a fan of Dwyer and prefers sticks only designed by the legendary Olympian.

Blake is one of the four international hockey players associated with Jamie Dwyer Hockey (JDH), a company launched by Dwyer which designs customised hockey gears for players.

Besides Blake, other hockey players who are associated with JDH are Argentina international Lucas Rossi and Australian women hockey players Emily Smith and Georgia Morgan.

“Besides my elder brother Kieran, I always looked up to Jamie. It was my privilege to play alongside him in the Rio Olympics although we didn’t do well there. I also use sticks sticks that are designed by Jamie himself. He designs the best sticks in the industry and he is really good and I love my sticks,” Blake told on the sidelines of the men’s Junior Hockey World Cup here.

“Jamie designs sticks keeping in mind personal preferences. He was a very picky player so he knows inside and outside of the preferences,” the young forward said.

“The sticks are made for one reason only and that is to improve your performances with the range to cover what you prefer. Jamie really knows what he is doing with all his knowledge about hockey sticks and I have never flicked and played better,” he added.

Blake’s sticks are 37.5 inches in length with a weight of 520 grams and balance of 38.5cm. To suit his style of play the sticks have extra low bow shape.

Blake’s elder brother Kieran is a more established hockey player having made his debut for Australia in 2010. Kieran was also a member of two World Cup-winning sides (2010 New Delhi, 2014 The Hague) besides winning a Olympic bronze with the Kookaburras in 2012 London.

But going by character both the brothers are similar and are very emotional in nature as revealed by Blake.
Both the brothers, from Albion Park in NSW, have a common hobby of getting body arts and the duo have plenty of tattoos to show off, which also includes an emotional one dedicated to their cousins.

Kieran and Blake’s cousins, Dominique and Nikkita Hingston, were just aged just six and five when they were murdered by their own father in New Zealand in 2001 before he hanged himself.

“Our cousins are not alive, they were little bit younger. It was a tragic incident but me and my elder brother Kieran were very close to them. Both of us have tattoos a tribute to them. I have two rose buds on the right shoulder,” Blake said.

“My brother has also has a tattoo in his bicep which says, Two tiny rose buds God picked to bloom in heaven’.”
Besides the tribute to his cousins, Blake has a tattoo of a red rose in honour of his late grandmother, cards with the birth dates of his parents and a guardian angel reflecting a story his father Ian told him as a child.
The latest addition to the young striker’s tattoo list is Olympic rings inscribed just before the Rio Games although he still regrets missing his brother on his maiden Olympic journey after Kieran was not selected in the Australian final squad.