David Thompson, CEO Hockey NSW

Alex Mednis, Nicholas Watkins & Cass Simonetti, Australian Sports Professional Association
David Thompson, Hockey NSW

Bonus content

Each CEO has bonus content available to ASPA members that is not found in the book. The philosophies below are sourced directly from the interview, however each interview contained so much great content we had to put together an excerpt. Note that the content of the interview differs than the philosophies.

Interview

In 2010, David stepped into the role of General Manager, State Cricket Department for Cricket NSW before moving into the role of General Manager of Operations at Hockey NSW, and then CEO since 2016. 

Have you found it challenging moving from cricket, which probably has far more resources and deeper pockets, into a mid-tier state organisation?

I've learned to appreciate what was there, and I just almost expected it when I was in cricket, and I expected people to do the jobs that needed doing, whereas here I think I've learned to appreciate the day to day work more. We're a smaller team, and we punch well above our weight, but it makes you really appreciate the limited resources you have.

I imagine that means there's a heavier reliance on volunteers?

Absolutely. We are so reliant on volunteers, and in turn, so appreciative of the time they put into our sport. A state championship for us with five or six hundred kids might have 50 volunteers running the event. 

If it's not for those volunteers we cannot operate that competition. We've really worked to hand over all the autonomy for those events, and allow the volunteers to be fully responsible for running the event, which they wanted. They didn't want someone from head office standing over their shoulder, checking on them.

It's not something that can be done overnight, is it? Handing over that level autonomy takes a lot of work to get to that stage.

You've got to give them great guidelines to run the event, all the right policies and procedures, and you'll get a great result.

Do you think there is a shift in the culture of acquiring volunteers?

In the cricket club I volunteer at, on a Saturday afternoon, there are no parents or partners there. It is just the players. And this is Premier Cricket. There's just no one there who would go and work in the canteen or cook the barbecue, whereas in my day, there was a group of our families who would all go at three o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, and it was part of the culture. I just don't think that's there anymore.

And I think part of it actually is local play versus playing away. When I grew up playing for Bankstown, everyone lived in Bankstown. Now, those same players would be living in Sydney Olympic Park, Parramatta, Ryde - not local to the venue. That changes how easy it is for friends and family to want to get involved as supporters and volunteers.

What about staff at your organisation – does the same hold true when staff aren’t local to the office?

Yeah, absolutely. We have staff that travel great distances to come and work, so we have to be flexible. We've got to support the remote work culture to be able to allow them to thrive.

Technology has a part to play, but a lot comes down to leadership. Are the staff trusted to work from home? If they are, they'll get the job done.

Speaking about distance, Hockey in NSW has a huge regional membership base.

Yes, that's right. Regional NSW is really important to us. You can see that now in rolling out the HockeyOne League. We have one NSW team now - but if it's successful, there's no reason we couldn't put a second team in from the country. 

I think taking games to the country will be important in time. And not just for the players, but for the fans. That's a whole other economy. Our membership sees a number of members not return each year - the same as any sport - but the critical question is: for members who are no longer playing, can they still be a fan? Will they buy a ticket? Will they buy a shirt?

People stop playing for all kinds of reasons, and we've done a huge amount of work understanding that. So, if we can identify both for regional and metro whether and why players might continue to be a fan, it really unlocks some potential for the sport.

It sounds like streaming could be a future for the sport as well.

I think it definitely is the future, especially with our regional members. It also unlocks fans who may be from different parts of the state, and different cultures, and those who have different reasons for watching our game.

How does multicultural participation form part of your strategy?

We recently did a day out of Western Sydney University with 300 students from diverse backgrounds who wanted to give Hockey a try. It was really amazing. It's an area we're committed to fostering.

We're delivering a project with the Lebanese Muslim Association currently as part of a tri-sport day for several hundred girls who have an interest in Hockey. We're working with ambassadors from Western Sydney to engage with communities we've never engaged with before. 

If you look at Liverpool alone, there are 41 nationalities of people living there. We're going to be investing time and facilities into that region to really start there. 

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