Joshua Simmonds (born 4 October 1995) is a

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

player from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Personal life

Joshua Simmonds was born and raised in

Ringwood, Victoria Ringwood is an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Maroondah A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different mean ...

. He is a member of the

Victorian Institute of Sport The Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) is the government-funded sporting institute of the Australian state of Victoria. It provides high performance sports programs for talented athletes, enabling them to achieve national and international succ ...

, and has referenced

Floyd Mayweather Floyd may refer to: As a name * Floyd (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Floyd (surname), a list of people and fictional characters Places in the United States * Floyd, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Floyd, I ...

as his sporting hero.

Career

Club level

At club level, Joshua Simmonds plays hockey for KBH Brumbies in the

Victorian Premier League The Victorian Premier League (VPL) is an Australian soccer league based in Victoria that was founded in 2023 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of two divisions that were named after the VPL's breakaway of the National Premier L ...

. He has also played for YMCA Coastal City Hockey Club in the

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

Premier Competition.

State level

Throughout his youth, Joshua Simmonds represented his home state,

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, in all domestic competitions. In 2014, Simmonds was recruited by the

NT Stingers The NT Stingers are an Australian professional field hockey club based in Darwin, Northern Territory. The club was established in 1993, as part of the Australian Hockey League.

in the

Australian Hockey League The Australian Hockey League (AHL) was Australia's premier national domestic field hockey competition.AHL Webpage
D ...

as an import player. Following his AHL debut for the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

, Simmonds returned to play for the VIC Vikings from 2015 onwards. This included winning the championship at the 2016 edition. Following the overhaul of the AHL in 2018, Simmonds was selected to represent HC Melbourne in

Hockey Australia Hockey Australia is an organisation that formed from the merger of the Australian Hockey Association and Women's Hockey Australia in 2000. It is the national body responsible for the promotion, development and administration of field hockey in ...

's new domestic league,

Hockey One The Liberty Hockey One is a field hockey competition organised by Hockey Australia, which replaced the Australian Hockey League. Dual competitions are conducted for both men's and women's teams, with parallel fixtures for both competitions thro ...

, in 2019.

National teams

Under–21

Joshua Simmonds made his junior international debut for the Australia U–21 side in 2015, at the Sultan of Johor Cup, where the team finished fifth. In 2016, Simmonds went on to represent the side again; at the Sultan of Johor Cup and Junior World Cup.

Kookaburras

Following two years in the national development squad, Simmonds made his senior international debut for the

Kookaburras Kookaburras (pronounced ) are terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus ''Dacelo'' native to Australia and New Guinea, which grow to between in length and weigh around . The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri ''guuguubarra'', onomatopoeic o ...

in 2018 during a test match against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin ( Larrakia: ') is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. The city has nearly 53% of the Northern Territory's population, with 139,902 at the 2021 census. It is the smallest, wettest, and most northerly of the Australi ...

. He then went on the represent the team during the International Hockey Open. In November 2018, Simmonds was named in the Kookaburras squad for the 2019 calendar year. Simmonds started 2019 in the Kookaburras team during the FIH Pro League in

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. Simmonds continued to represent the team during the Pro League, culminating with a gold medal in

Amstelveen Amstelveen () is a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, with a population of 95,996 as of 202 ...

, following a 3–2 win over

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. Simmonds was selected in the

Olympics squad for the

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. The team reached the final for the first time since 2004 but couldn't achieve gold, beaten by Belgium in a shootout.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simmonds, Joshua 1995 births Living people Australian male field hockey players Sportsmen from Victoria (state) Field hockey players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic field hockey players for Australia Male field hockey defenders Olympic silver medalists for Australia Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in field hockey 21st-century Australian sportsmen Field hockey players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games field hockey players for Australia Commonwealth Games gold medallists in field hockey Field hockey players from Melbourne People from Ringwood, Victoria Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games