“It’s a different type of pressure” - An Interview with Ben Walker

Considering at the age of seventeen he represented his country playing hockey, it is difficult to understand that up until the age of thirteen, hockey wasn’t even Ben Walker’s number one choice of sport. It was merely something to do with his time, but regularly took second place behind his main passion which was football. However, it was a move to St Andrew’s College at the age of twelve which provided the catalyst for change. A change that has quickly proved to be successful.

During Ben Walker’s primary school life at St Brigids in Stillorgan, he confesses that he “preferred football”. It was an easier option to pursue, with it being on the television all the time and a generic interest in the game ‘Fifa’. In these days, Walker played hockey but was often quite keen to skip trainings, with Saturday morning football matches always taking precedence. However he said that: “I knew I was always going to play hockey for longer than I was football.” This turned out to be true, with a switch to the Secondary School of St Andrews a helpful push in the hockey direction.

In St Andrews in first year, it can be quite a cutthroat atmosphere, with trials taking place immediately after induction to sort the men from the boys. Walker was more prepared than many though, relying on elder brother James for valuable experience. When recollecting his thoughts at the start of first year, Walker seemed very ambitious “I had this vision of winning all these trophies.” It would be fair to say Walker has lived up to his own ambitions, if not surpassed them.

First Year was a very fruitful time for Walker, captaining his first year side to win a cup and league double. Yet, it was a late and quite surprising call up to the Second Year All-Ireland winning team that showed a sign of things to come. Walker stressed the importance of having to “adapt in that environment, you go from being one of the best players on the team, to not knowing where you’re going to play.” Just for good measure, Walker completed the Cup, League and All-Ireland treble while captaining his Second Year team the following season.

Third year was the hardest year for Ben Walker in St Andrews, as he expressed how difficult it was “to train with the Seniors but not play for them, and then have to play with a completely different team.” He went on to describe third year as a year “which finds out which players really want it.” Although, training with the Senior team was noted as “good exposure” for Ben and fellow young aspiring talents.

Throughout all of his years in St Andrews, Walker has been a stalwart in interprovincial hockey also. Having received his first trial after First Year, Walker went on to represent Leinster and Ireland at under sixteen and under eighteen levels. Despite playing in four interpros from second year to fifth year, an interpro title eluded Walker. “Those interpros test how much you like the game, you’re going up and training for so many weeks before and then getting beat.”

Although Walker has had a very hectic school and interprovincial hockey career, he is quick to thank and appreciate how much his club Three Rock Rovers have done for him. In Fourth Year, Walker was playing regularly for the club’s second team, but a few injuries and suspensions got him some vital first team experience at a young age. “The club training and exposure progresses you the most as a player” was Walker’s take on the events. Also assisting him in both club and school hockey in Fourth year, was the chance to play alongside older brother, James.

It was in Fifth year that things changed for Ben Walker. On the way home from a School League Semi-Final, his Dad received the news that Ben had been called up to go to Malaga with the Irish Mens side. There wasn’t much time to think about it before travelling, which was probably for the best for the young man. “I wasn’t really scared going over but I was thinking, how much better are these guys going to be than me?” was Walker’s thoughts on the situation.

Ben Walker’s first cap came during that trip, against France. Despite it being an international, “it was probably one of the smallest crowds I’ve played in front of” confessed Walker. Once coming off the bench, he recollects that “you don’t really have time to take it all in, you just have to start running around trying to get on the ball.” Walker left that trip with two caps under his belt, but it was getting picked again for the World League Two up in Stormont which was of great satisfaction. Getting a last minute call-up due to an injury, Walker was unable to answer Craig Fulton’s call due to being consumed in French class at the time. He managed to get up that evening to Belfast for the series starting the next day.

That tournament was a completely different proposition to the Malaga series, “It’s a different type of pressure, we were favourites to win.” Walker is not a stranger to big crowds, with St Andrews usually bringing big support to crucial All-Ireland games. Wesley and High School do similar. Walker is one who believes in “feeding off the crowd”. He confesses that school hockey must be the most fun he gets from the sport, with big crowds and competitive games leading to big atmospheres and rivalries. “International hockey gives you the most pride no doubt but the fun of school hockey is unbelievable.”

The Senior All-Ireland is the pinnacle of schoolboy hockey in the country. Walker first experienced playing in this was when losing on strokes to Wesley in the Semi-Final. That was while Walker was in Fourth Year and he has subsequently put that right by recording back to back titles. “I preferred winning the first one, I was a bigger part of the team and it was great putting the wrongs from the previous year right.” Yet, this year was also more than satisfactory, captaining the school he has become such a flag-bearer for, to their fifth All-Ireland in six years.

In fifth year, the Andrew’s senior side completed a clean sweep of four titles, culminating in a victory on strokes against long time rivals Wesley in the final of the cup. This year, with Walker captaining, they have already completed fifty percent of the same task, winning two out of two already. A League semi-final vs High School and a cup semi-final against Newpark both await, with probable rivals Wesley meeting them in the final if they win both.

He is quite quick to recognise the help that all of his coaches have given him in his development. “I’ve had Niall Denham in Three Rock, ‘Ovo’ (Ivan Ovington) in schools and Mick Styles in school too”, it is a who’s who of youth hockey coaches in Ireland. Add to that Craig Fulton, possibly one of the best things to ever happen to Irish hockey, and you have a pretty good base. Ben Walker is a well known name around the Irish hockey circuit and there is a lot to suggest his reputation will continue to grow in coming seasons.