Adam David Commens (born 6 May 1976) is the brother of Scott Commens, is an Australian

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

coach and former player. He was born in

Wagga Wagga, New South Wales Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's ...

. Commens was

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

d ''Billy'' by his teammates, and earned 143 caps (20 goals) for Australia. He was a member of the team that won the bronze medal at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. Commens was named head coach of the Belgium national field hockey team on 4 July 2007. He was coach and a key player of the Royal Antwerp Hockey Club (RAHC). His assistant was

Murray Richards Murray ("Muz") John Richards (born 6 November 1976 in Brisbane, Queensland) is a former field hockey defender from Australia whose team won the gold medal at the 1997 Junior Hockey World Cup in Milton Keynes. Richards made his senior debut for ...

. Commens became coach of the Australia women's team at the start of 2011. When he took over as coach, he dropped five experienced players from the national squad:

Kate Hollywood Kate Hollywood (born 28 May 1986) is an Australian former field hockey player who represented the Australian national team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and won two Commonwealth Games gold medals, in 2006 and 2010. Domestically, Hollywood playe ...

, Fiona Johnson,

Alison Bruce Alison Bruce (born 1962) is a New Zealand television and film actress, who starred in the 1999 feature ''Magik and Rose''. She also appeared in the teen series ''Being Eve'', '' Xena: Warrior Princess'' and had a recurring role as Simula in '' ...

Shelly Liddelow Shelly "Sparky" Liddelow (born 30 June 1984 in Manjimup, Western Australia) plays field hockey for the Australian Women's Hockey Team, the Hockeyroos. She made her debut for Australia in 2007. Her Australian National Hockey League (NHL) team is W ...

and Amy Korner. His contract was terminated by Hockey Australia in 2016 after their investigation into allegations that Commens "had engaged in behaviour amounting to serious misconduct". It was reported to have involved Commens exposing himself and making lewd remarks to some squad members during the Rio Olympics. Since the Rio Olympic Games, Commens has been appointed as the High Performance Director of the Belgian Hockey Federation and won Belgium's first ever World Cup in 2018.

References

External links

*
Profile on Hockey Australia
1976 births Living people Australian male field hockey players Male field hockey midfielders Australian field hockey coaches Field hockey players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic field hockey players of Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Olympic medalists in field hockey Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics 1998 Men's Hockey World Cup players 2002 Men's Hockey World Cup players Sportspeople from Wagga Wagga Commonwealth Games medallists in field hockey Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Field hockey players at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Australian Olympic coaches {{Australia-fieldhockey-bio-stub