12:00a.m. 11th September 2007

Australian Kookaburra Liam de Young coaches some young stars of the future during a visit to Sunshine Coast Grammar School. Photo: Brett Wortman

Australian hockey player Liam de Young can’t recall the exact thoughts and emotions that prevailed the moment he became an Olympic gold medallist.

But one thing he knows is it was a great feeling when team-mate Jamie Dwyer scored that golden goal against the Netherlands at Athens three years ago. And he wants to experience it again.

“It was such an intense game and the fact it went to extra time just added to it,” the pacy defender said. “The great thing about it was it was instant; as soon as that goal went through we’d won.

“The emotions hit you all at once.” On the Coast with the Kookaburras for the Oceania Cup Olympic qualifiers beginning today, de Young took time out from training to fulfil his role as a Hook In 2 Hockey ambassador at Sunshine Coast Grammar School yesterday.

He joined team-mates Nathan Burgers and Matthew Naylor for the clinic, where 34 children from a handful of Coast schools participated. The 25-year-old, who played some school-level representative hockey for the Coast when growing up at Pine Rivers, is confident the squad has left no stone unturned as they face the first hurdle of their Olympic title defence.

“The Oceania qualifiers have been our focus and we’ll put everything we learnt into this week.

“Germany are ranked number one in the world and they got knocked off in the European Cup, so there’s no complacency.

“We’re well aware of how tight the level of competition is at the top of world hockey and we can’t afford to be off our game this week.”

Australia begins its campaign against Papua New Guinea tonight, while the Hockeyroos take on Fiji this afternoon.

The Kookaburras need to win the Oceania Cup final on Sunday night, which barring a miracle will be against New Zealand, to advance directly to the Olympic draw.

Lose, and they will need to contest a future tournament to qualify.

Because Fiji will also contest the women’s draw of the Oceania Cup, Australian women’s hockey team the Hockeyroos need only make the final to book their Beijing tickets.