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'A person of high integrity' - Black Sticks players jump to under-fire coach's defence with heartfelt support letter

August 22, 2018

It follows claims made against Black Sticks coach Mark Hager.

Former and current Black Sticks Women's players have jumped to the defence of under-fire coach Mark Hager, saying allegations of a negative environment within the team are false.

Forward Katie Glynn, along with six other players combining for a total of 864 international caps, have penned a letter of support for Hager.

The seven were all coached by Hager "over a long period since 2009 when he first took over the team".

"We strongly refute recent allegations around a 'negative environment' with the Black Sticks programme, Mark Hager's 'mistreatment' of players, 'bullying' or playing 'mind games'," they wrote.

"Mark is a person of high integrity and has always created a high-pressure training environment designed to challenge players physically and mentally. Mark never allows the group to become complacent and he always has every player in squad pushing and challenging for selection."

The group said the Black Sticks always had "a positive and supportive team environment amongst players and coaching staff" which was reflected in the results the team slowly built.

"Since taking over the team in 2009, Mark has achieved many outstanding results with this group and many first for NZ hockey as well as taking the team from 13th to 3rd in the world."

The message of support comes after Hockey NZ announced they will launch an independent review when it was revealed by 1 NEWS last week Hager accidentally sent an email that was highly critical of players at the World Cup to the entire team.

The review will look at feedback given by past and present players.

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