Richie Owen-Henderson joined Lansdown Hockey Club in 2020 as Women’s 1st Team Coach and has progressed to become Director of Senior Hockey, overseeing squad management and leadership across all of the 12 senior squads.
Lansdown Hockey Club is one of the leading hockey clubs in the South West Area and has grown considerably over the last decade. The club offers opportunities for players from reception to masters and has a strong tradition of community, performance, and development. Richie has helped cultivate a culture of performance whilst ensuring that the club’s cherished family spirit remains at its core.
Richie began his journey in junior hockey at Cheltenham HC, progressing through the player pathway to JRPC (now Performance Centre) and trialling for NAGs. He advanced quickly into senior hockey, representing Cheltenham HC in the National Conference, before stepping up into the National Premier Division with Reading HC while still at university, studying Sports Coaching. Alongside this, he coached and captained his university team to BUCS Cup success. His playing career arguably culminated in winning the National Conference with Bristol University. Alongside this Richie was gaining a wealth of coaching experience. Including mentoring from elite international coaches and even lead coaching in the National Conference at just 25. Richie is always seeking new knowledge to further his own ability as a coach and is passionate about passing that knowledge on too.
Richie’s coaching philosophy is built on three pillars:
- Emotional Intelligence – developing self-awareness, resilience, and empathy in athletes.
- Technical Excellence – driving continuous improvement in skills and performance.
- Ambition Without Limits – daring players and teams to set bold goals and achieve them.
This approach has helped deliver competitive success and strengthen the bonds within Lansdown Hockey Club, balancing elite performance with the club’s welcoming, family-centred atmosphere.
This season, Richie has taken on responsibility for developing the junior and senior coaching staff at Lansdown through Hockey Fever (www.hockeyfever.co.uk), helping to build the next generation of coaches.
“Richie has played a key role in shaping Lansdown’s senior section in recent years. He has a demonstrated ability to inspire ambition whilst protecting our club’s community values” James Doughty, Chairman.
Since Richie joined in 2020 the women’s section of the club have added a 6th team, achieved National League status for the 1st team, the 2nds promoted three times, the 3rds twice, the 4th team once and the 5th team once.
The men’s section was in need of positive change but has begun the thrive with a recent title for the 1st team putting them just 2 leagues from National League. Also huge improvement on training standards and as a result steady improvement for all men’s teams. All with aspirations on a title soon.
The future is certainly bright at Lansdown Hockey Club, anyone and everyone are welcome.