Rob Short was born in 1972 in Maidstone, Kent, England. The family moved to Canada in 1973 and settled in Tsawwassen. Rob’s parents quickly decided that, despite Rob’s desire to play ice hockey, the culture of the sport was not quite what the English were used to and, instead, put Rob into field hockey with the Tsawwassen Falcons. (While field hockey was his main sport, Rob spent more time on street hockey, playing every day in his driveway with his brothers and friends. With two other very athletic brothers, the internal competition was fierce!)

Rob’s family had a huge impact on his life. Not only did they support his dreams financially, but with continued support and guidance he always felt motivated to impress his parents. Rob clearly knew when he had given his all. Now he has his own family, wife Rachel and sons Brek (two years) and Kaeden (2 months).

Rob moved to Victoria in 1991 to do his undergraduate degree at the University of Victoria, drawn by the UVic field hockey program. UVic had field hockey at a very competitive level and had Rob travelling extensively for training and matches.

Rob is the most decorated Canadian field hockey player in history. He was a member of the Men’s National Team from 1992 to 2013. His first Pan American Games was in 1995 and he made his first World Cup appearance in Utrecht, Netherlands in 1998. Upon his return to Canada, he received a phone call, asking if he wanted to play for HGC in The Hague. Rob went for one year, with the intention of returning to University to take up teaching. In the end, he spent 14 years playing professional field hockey. It really was his dream and it allowed him to continue playing for Canada until he was 39 years old.

Rob was Captain of the National Team from 2001 to 2008. In his career, he had 364 international caps, played for Canada at two Olympic Games (2000, 2008), two World Cups (1998, 2010), four Commonwealth Games, and five Pan American Games.

At the Pan American Games, in 1999 and 2007, the team won Gold, and in 1995, 2003 and 2011, they won the Silver medal. At the 2000 and 2008 Olympic Games, Rob was excited to be joined by his younger brother Peter who played forward for the team. In 2011, Rob played in the Euro Hockey League (with the top teams from across Europe challenging for the title) and was named the MVP of the tournament after his team HGC won.

In 2018, Rob returned to Canada as the Canadian National Team Assistant Coach. While in the Netherlands, he earned his Master’s degree in International Coaching, and subsequently founded the Rob Short Coaching Academy in Vancouver. His high performance programnow helps young athletes achieve their goals and dreams in field hockey, just as Rob himself once did.

SPONSORED BY FIELD HOCKEY BC

To say Ryan Cochrane made a splash would be one of the understatements of Canadian sport.The Victoria native is the most decorated Canadian swimmer in history.

On his retirement in 2017, Ryan finished his career with a Canadian record of 22 career international medals in the 400m, 800m and 1,500m freestyle events. That includes two medals in the Olympics, eight at the FINA World Championships, six at the Pan Pacific Championships, four Golds in the Commonwealth Games and two Golds in the Pan American Games. From 2008 through 2015, he was named Canadian Male Swimmer of the Year a startling eight times in a row.

The graduate of Claremont Secondary and the University of Victoria did plenty in his career to warrant his standing as an all-time Canadian great in the pool. Canada’s best current and future swimmers owe a debt of gratitude to Ryan Cochrane. On that point, there is little doubt. The two-time Olympic medallist had the willingness to put in the long, hard kilometre-after-kilometre training sessions in Saanich Commonwealth Place. That allowed him to perform with precision at all the big world events.

Ryan was among Canada's most reliable athletes, in any sport, during his 12-year international career. No small part of that was due to his coach and mentor Randy Bennett, who preceded Ryan into the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame in 2017. This coach-swimmer tandem was recognized by Swimming Canada in 2008/2009 with the Dr. JenoTihanyi Memorial Bursary, awarded to aid in their further development towards excellence.

Before the six-medal outbreak for Canada in the pool at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, where he co-captained the team, it was Ryan Cochrane who almost singlehandedly kept Canadian swimming afloat through what were otherwise low years, representing Canada at three Olympic Games and six World Championships. His Bronze medal in the 1,500-metre freestyle was Canada's lone swimming medal at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and our first 1500-metre medal in 88 years. Ryan’s 1500-metre Silver at the London 2012 Olympics was one of only two Canadian pool medals.

In 2017, Swimming Canada honoured Ryan’s achievements by inducting him into the Circle of Excellence, where he joined such swimming legends as Alex Baumann and Mark Tewksbury. “At a time when Swimming Canada was rebuilding, it was Ryan Cochrane who stepped up and led by example, winning medals at multiple World Championships and Olympics,” says Tewksbury, a Canadian sport leader and 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics swimming Gold medallist.“There was much excitement by the performance of the Canadian swimming team at Rio 2016. But that momentum started with Ryan's medals at Beijing 2008 and London 2012.”

Ryan Cochrane’s legacy in pools around the world – which all started at Saanich Commonwealth Place – will not soon be forgotten.

SPONSORED BY SWIMMING CANADA