Austin Charles Smith (born 20 May 1985) is a South African

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 ...

player who plays as a defender for Dutch club

HC Den Bosch Hockeyclub 's-Hertogenbosch, also known as Den Bosch, is a Dutch field hockey club based in 's-Hertogenbosch, North Brabant. It was founded on 14 July 1937. The first teams (men and women) both compete on the highest level of the Dutch field hocke ...

and formerly the South African national team. In late 2021, Austin Smith announced his retirement from International Hockey. Smith has been a substitute supervisor and teacher in the International School Eindhoven in recent years. Smith competed for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

at the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

Summer Olympics, the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

Hockey World Cups, and at the

and

Commonwealth Games. He has also competed at the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

Men's Champions Challenge. He became captain of the side in 2009. He also joined in the Tokyo 2021 Summer Olympics and played for the South African national team. He retired from club hockey after 14 years with Den Bosch in 2023.

Biography

Smith was born in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, Western Cape, South Africa. He started hockey at the age of five years, and his parents played hockey for several years in South Africa and England. At Smith's Primary School, Pinelands North, he was introduced to hockey, among other sports. His coach at Pinelands, Murray Anderson, inspired Smith to focus on hockey. When Smith started at Pinelands High School, he had already succeeded, representing his Province at the U13 level. He went on to represent South Africa's U16 and U18 teams and became captain of each. He attributes a large amount of his achievement to one factor: ''"I was extremely lucky to have such dedicated coaches at both my Primary and High School. Michael McConnachie, who spearheaded the hockey at the High School, was my biggest mentor and made me truly believe in myself."'' In March 2004, aged 18, Smith achieved his lifelong dream of representing his country at a senior level. "It was an incredible feeling walking onto the field to play my first match for South Africa, and it remains a special moment every time I wear the green and gold." In 2005 Austin represented South Africa at the U21 World Cup in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

, the Netherlands. Smith moved to the United Kingdom in 2005 to join

Reading Hockey Club Reading Hockey Club is a field hockey club based at Sonning Lane in the English town of Reading. It is one of the most successful clubs in the United Kingdom with National League and Cup honours. The Men's First Team play in the Men's England H ...

. He spent four seasons at Reading, winning the Premier League twice and making the final eight of the

Euro Hockey League The Euro Hockey League is an annual men's field hockey cup competition organized by the European Hockey Federation, EHF for the very top field hockey clubs in Europe. The competition was launched at the start of the 2007-08 field hockey season whe ...

on consecutive occasions. 2008 was a defining year in Smith's hockey career as he achieved another childhood dream by attending the Olympic Games. Despite South Africa's final placing of 12th in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

, he was the team's top goal scorer with four goals. To finish the year, he was named South African Men's Hockey Player of the Year and Reading Hockey Club's Player of the Year. In 2009 Smith decided to leave the UK to join

HC 's-Hertogenbosch Hockeyclub 's-Hertogenbosch, also known as Den Bosch, is a Dutch field hockey club based in 's-Hertogenbosch, North Brabant. It was founded on 14 July 1937. The first teams (men and women) both compete on the highest level of the Dutch field hock ...

in The

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Earlier in the year, he was named the captain of the South African squad, leading them to victory in the African Championship to qualify for the World Cup in 2010. Smith was also named in the World All-Star Team for his performances in 2009. In 2010 Smith captained the South African squad at the World Cup and the Commonwealth Games, where they finished in 10th and 5th, respectively. Later in the year, he was named South African Men's Hockey Player of the Year for a second time. He announced his retirement from international play on 9 September 2021.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Austin 1985 births Living people South African people of British descent South African male field hockey players Olympic field hockey players for South Africa Male field hockey defenders Commonwealth Games competitors for South Africa Field hockey players from Cape Town 2010 Men's Hockey World Cup players 2018 Men's Hockey World Cup players 2014 Men's Hockey World Cup players Field hockey players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Field hockey players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Field hockey players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Field hockey players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Hockey India League players Reading Hockey Club players HC Den Bosch players Men's England Hockey League players Men's Hoofdklasse Hockey players