Richard Christopher Michael Wijtenburg-Smith (born 28 September 1987) is an English

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 ...

coach and former player and former head coach of Dutch Hoofdklasse club HDM. He played for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

and competed at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Biography

Smith played club hockey for City of Portsmouth and

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

before joining Loughborough Students in the

Men's England Hockey League The Men's England Hockey League is a field hockey league organised by England Hockey that features men's teams from England and Wales. Format Regular season There are 62 teams in the league, the top tier consists of a Premier Division of ...

for the 2006/07 season. While at Loughborough he made his international debut in 2009. He also won gold at the

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

EuroHockey Championship with England and played in the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...

in Delhi. He competed for

at the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Summer Olympics. After the Olympics he spent a year playing in Belgium for

Racing Club de Bruxelles Koninklijke Football Club Rhodienne-De Hoek is a Belgian association football club based in Sint-Genesius-Rode, Flemish Brabant. The club was created in 1894 as Racing Football Club. It became a member of the Royal Belgian Football Associatio ...

before returning to England to play for Hampstead & Westminster until 2020. On 16 June 2020, it was announced he joined Klein Zwitserland in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

for the 2020–21 season as he moved to the Netherlands. After one season in The Hague he retired from playing top-level hockey. After his retirement, he became the assistant coach of his former team at Klein Zwitserland. In 2024 he was appointed as the head coach of HDM but on 14 March 2025, it was announced that Richard Smith and HDM had parted.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Richard 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Portsmouth English male field hockey players Male field hockey defenders 2010 Men's Hockey World Cup players Field hockey players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Field hockey players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic field hockey players for Great Britain British male field hockey players Alumni of Loughborough University Loughborough Students field hockey players Hampstead & Westminster Hockey Club players Guildford Hockey Club players Men's England Hockey League players Men's Belgian Hockey League players Men's Hoofdklasse Hockey players HC Klein Zwitserland players English expatriate field hockey players Commonwealth Games field hockey players for England English male indoor hockey players 2011 FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup players Royal Racing Club Bruxelles players English field hockey coaches 21st-century English sportsmen