Lives in Cricket No 12 - Ric Charlesworth

* * * * * Even as he relinquished any thoughts of coaching the Australian cricket team in 1999, Ric had already decided he would not stay with the Hockeyroos after the Sydney Games. Soon, the gold medal in Sydney marked a fitting climax to an era of phenomenal success since 1993. ‘My duty was discharged,’ he wrote later, ‘and I felt I had been discharged too. Yes, I was relieved. Yes, I needed and craved a break.’ Although he also knew he would ‘miss it’, there were compelling personal reasons to make the break. His new partner, Carmen, gave birth to a baby son, another Oscar Charlesworth following Ric’s grandfather and great-grandfather – four weeks after the Sydney Games finished. For the past year the Olympics had filled his life ‘to the point of obsession’: Oscar’s arrival was a grounding event, reminding me of what was most important to me. The Hockeyroos came second in my life to only one thing, my family. Carmen and Oscar were the new part of my family. Kate, Libby and Jonathan were my family from my time with Frances two decades earlier. All were vitally important and precious to me. 30 Had he wished, he could have gone straight on to another job in hockey: They offered me the coaching job of the men’s team. I said I needed a break, so they said to me, take a year off and we’ll get someone to fill in. And that was attractive. But the World Cup in hockey was due in March 2002 and I’d have had only a few months with the players before it. So he took an ‘in-principle decision’ to wait until after the Athens Olympics. In 2002 he released his second book, Staying at the Top , discussing his ‘five principles for being the best and how to stay there’. In July that year family commitments became even more important with the arrival of Hugo, a second son for Carmen and Ric. And there were other things he wanted to do, including finishing his BA and perhaps travelling to spend extended time in one place overseas – 74 1993-2002 30 Ibid ., pp 16-17.