The Bermuda Hockey Federation has finally concluded their search for a full-time head coach with the appointment of Mathias Ahrens.

Having endured dwindling numbers within its members for a number of years, the federation advertised for the position, both on island and further afield, back in March, with the aim of restructuring their coaching hierarchy in the hope of growing the sport’s popularity back to its past levels.

Initial attempts to find a suitable appointment proved fruitless, however that search has now finished with the arrival of the vastly experienced Ahrens, who will also take on the role of development officer.

Ahrens arrives on island from British Columbia, where he was coaching at both the regional and provincial level. Additionally, Ahrens boasts international pedigree having held the positions of national head coach of the Scotland senior men’s team between 2004 to 2008 and chief coach of the Indian women’s team for a little over a year from 2015 to 2016.

Having gained a degree from the German Olympic Sport Federation at the Coaching Academy Cologne and from the Canadian National Coaching Certification Programme, Ahrens also holds Chartered Professional Coach certifications; coaching teams for the Youth Olympic Qualifiers as well as the Olympic Qualifiers.

With more than 20 years of experience in successfully leading senior and junior programmes, it will be hoped that Ahrens’s appointment can not only help enhance the federation’s existing field hockey programmes, but also help develop new and exciting initiatives.

As part of the federation’s overall strategic plan the new head coach will be charged with being part of local coach education and development, through planning and implementation, growing system development from grass roots to high performance, as well as organising and implementing National Programme Management at both senior and junior level.