Interview with Beth Lyon

With our season cut short this year, it was the perfect time to sit down with some of our players and coaches and have a chat about their involvement with Camberwell, and get to know what makes them tick. In the first of the series our Premier League Women’s Coach, David Wansbrough, sits down with star striker and new(ish) recruit, Beth Lyon.

David Wansbrough (DW): Welcome to Camberwell—18 mths after joining the club it is a bit belated but it seems a good time after the amazing (half ) season you just had. Can you tell us how you found the transition from Waverley to Camberwell given you had spent most of your hockey life at one of Camberwell’s great rivals…and you and your family have been massive contributors there…as I understand you were junior coordinator before you left. I remember our chats before coming over from Waverley  and it was obviously a big decision which took plenty of courage …what was the positive driver to make the change?

Hockey has been something that my family has been into for as long as I can remember. My dad started playing at Waverley over 40 years ago and I followed in his footsteps when I was 6, after begging my parents to let me play in the U9s competition. Having a family so involved at the club meant that throughout my childhood, we spent many weekends at State League One (now Premier League) games where I learned of the intense rivalry between Camberwell and Waverley as I eagerly watched the Bert Batch Cup each year. 

My memories as a junior are often something I like to reflect on, when I first started hockey it was so fun and carefree. It’s really interesting how our perspective on the game can shift so significantly over time. At the end of 2019 and throughout 2020, I came to the conclusion that I mightn’t continue playing hockey. I had lost my “why” and to be honest, I wasn’t enjoying myself anymore, which is so crazy to me because as a junior I lived and breathed hockey and loved every minute of it.

When David and I were talking about the potential of me moving across I was still heavily involved at the club and pretty intimidated. After chatting with some of my mentors, I decided that this move was an opportunity to find my passion for playing hockey again, and whilst it would cause some external noise and upset some people, I needed to do what would make me happy and despite club involvements, I have plenty of years ahead of me to volunteer and become involved with the club.

It was a big weight off my shoulders to finally tell people I was moving and come across, but I’m not going to lie, I was still packing it for my first session at the club. I’m pretty sure I was the first one to arrive but one of the last ones to get out of my car and head inside. This seems so stupid to me now though, because the group (and the entire club) could not have been more welcoming.

DW: Leading goal scorer in 2021 with 14 goals in 10 games for Camberwell and you actually led the whole Premier League comp—quite amazing given the calibre of strikers around..and runner up in the Camberwell  Best and Fairest as voted by your peers so a great sign of their acceptance and admiration. Many of those goals came from your unique talent to score from the position one left of the main battery.. how did that happen and why does it work so well?

We were very lucky we had a few different corner variations that produced goals for our team. From dragflicks to 2v1s to tommas and the L1 shot, I’m genuinely not too sure how or why the L1 worked so well for our team this year, but I’m glad it did! On any of these short corners, before they were happening I was sucking in some big breaths to try and calm any nerves and then follow the process. 

DW: Could you feel the impact your regular scoring had on the team …did you feel any pressure to score each week and how did you handle that?

As a striker, our role is to set up and/ or score goals and that’s something I knew I would need to do to keep my place in the squad. I tried not to focus on scoring as an outcome of my personal game, and David and Geoff encouraged me to use other factors such as pressure or turnovers to measure success, and just enjoy myself instead of worrying about results which helped my headspace immensely.

DW: Apart from your goalscoring ability you have really had a big impact on immersing yourself into the group which you wouldn’t have known well —you became very popular very quickly—can you tell us about some of the characters in the team and the enjoyment of the last 18 months despite Covid?

We’ve said this as a group a few times, but our team really clicked this year and it was a culture unlike any other that I have ever experienced; competitive, yet super positive and friendly. I genuinely believe we all became so comfortable with each other because of how open and caring everyone was, which started with our preseason camp. I’m very grateful for my friendship with Darls, she has been someone who reached out to me from the beginning to check-in and see how I was going - I don’t know how I lived before her random life update text messages and online shopping habits. 

I could mention every single member of the group in this because I feel that we are all so well connected, but I would do an injustice to Millie if I didn’t give her a shoutout. I’m very grateful for our friendship.

DW: What about playing on field  at Camberwell---is there anything particularly new you have picked up or learnt with your game?

Must run on angles.

DW: Now we are in the clear to prepare for  2022 we hope what are your thoughts for next year and the Premier League squad

 The PL squad has continued to provide so much support to each other throughout some very difficult times and I’m excited to see where it will take us on the field in 2022. With such a positive team culture, even though we have a young side, we have an opportunity to challenge the top teams next year and establish ourselves as a side to beat.

DW: Can you tell us something about the business you have established around student tutors…and how Camberwell members could access if they wanted?

In 2020 I established Unleash Tutoring Co, which was at the time a "small mobile tutoring service" that consisted of myself and a few of my Uni friends. Thanks to COVID, we had to adapt to be a provider of online services and have since developed our own maths diagnostic platform. My philosophy with tutoring and the business is around empowering students and providing them with the tools they need to be successful in school and beyond. Whilst all of our tutor team have subject matter expertise and teach content, they’re also important mentors and role models for their students. If anyone from Camberwell was interested in tutoring, I would be more than happy to help out, they would just need to submit an enquiry through our website: www.unleashtutoring.com.au