Lisa Jacob has been appointed as the new Irish women’s hockey team manager, taking over from Arlene Boyles in the role to work with head coach Sean Dancer for the remainder of the 2021 Olympic campaign.
Like Boyles, Jacob is a former international with 139 caps earned between 2006 and 2014, a bronze medal at the 2012 Champions Challenge a stand-out highlight.
The Enniscorthy woman subsequently became a dual international, taking up an 18-month contract to play with the Irish women’s rugby sevens team.
Since then, Jacob has been heavily involved in a variety of coaching roles with the Irish Under-16 and 18 teams while she led Old Alex to promotion to the EY Hockey League a couple of seasons ago. Most recently, she was appointed as assistant coach to the Glenanne men’s team.
Off the pitch, she has been similarly influential. Jacob has been a member of the Hockey Ireland board while she also played a role in the 20x20 campaign, setting up a female coaching mentoring network.
Her skills running the Hidden Strength project are also well matched to the management role, offering a “high-performance toolbox” for self-improvement.
“I hope in my role I can support the players and staff to prepare, perform and fulfil their ambitious goals,” she said of her new role.
The legendary Boyles stepped back from the role in the summer following 30 years involvement in Irish hockey as either a player, assistant coach, and, latterly, as manager for the World Cup silver medal and Olympic qualifying campaigns.
