Born East Fremantle WA
22 March 1940
Tom Hoad dominated the Australian water Polo scene for 30 years as a player and coach.
He began playing for Western Australia in 1959 and competed until his retirement in 1972. He was Captain Coach from 1964 to 1972 during which time he was selected to play in the Rome, Tokyo, Mexico and Munich Olympic Games.
Tom Hoad played mainly as a forward but could play equally well in defence. Superbly fit and immensely strong, he once completed a swim through Perth, covering the five kilometers solely in the butterfly stroke.
Hoad was regarded by his contemporaries as a fine team man with international class skills and reliable goalscoring ability. He was shrewd tactician with the rare capacity to read the pattern of the game and capitalize on an opponent’s weaknesses.
An accomplished linguist Hoad studied at a post graduate level in 1963 and 1965 in Italy, Germany and Hungary. It was here that he adopted the training and playing techniques which prepared him for his national coaching career.
As national coach Hoad was principally required to be a teacher because of the lack of international experience of his team. He rightly concentrated on technique and skill acquisition which he mixed with original set play ideas designed to combat accomplished European teams. Australia’s consistent rise up the international rankings ladder to top ten status was largely due to Hoad’s dedicated approach.
Hoad coached the national team for four Olympic Games from 1976 to 1988 including Australia’s best ever placing of fifth in Los Angeles in 1984. His eighth and final Olympics in Seoul saw Australia placed eighth.