Gooderham, 60, initially served as head coach of the ladies’ first team, but he also took on the coaching role of the equivalent men’s side three years ago. Under his leadership, the hockey team have won many accolades and represented the very best of sport at the university.

Having worked in various capacities for Cannock and the Welsh National Side, Gooderham arrived at Birmingham with a vast amount of coaching experience.

He achieved promotion to the England Hockey Premier Division with the women’s firsts in 2009 and the team has remained there ever since, becoming the longest-standing university side in the league.

During his time at Birmingham, Gooderham also led the women’s team to victory in BUCS Competitions year after year. In total, he has won six gold and five silver medals in the BUCS Women’s Championship and claimed the BUCS North Premier League title on nine occasions. Perhaps his greatest single accomplishment, however, was guiding the team to success in the Investec Women’s Cup in 2012, defeating Surbiton – one of the oldest and most successful clubs in England – 4-1 in the final.

His reign as Director of Hockey also saw both the men’s and women’s second teams securing promotion to the national league, meaning that the university now has four teams competing on the national stage.

Whilst bringing so much glory to the university in terms of trophies, his impact on individual players over the years cannot be underestimated. Gooderham has fostered a strong winning mentality and developed a warm and friendly culture that has catered for the growth of his players. Many have gone on to represent senior or under-21 international sides and have attained major success, such as Olympic gold medalists Lily Owsley and Sophie Bray.

Owsley lead the tributes to the coach on the UB Sport website, calling Gooderham ‘one of the kindest, most inspiring coaches I’ve ever had.’

Also on the UB Sport website, Lauren Hunt, who has captained the women’s firsts since 2019, said, ‘His desire to win and passion as a coach, as well as a genuine fatherly nature, is something I have been extremely grateful for during my time at Birmingham.’

Her male counterpart, Men’s firsts captain Matthew Simonds, recognised his ‘enthusiasm, knowledge and good-heartedness.’

Gooderham’s legacy will be that the club is now firmly established as one of the leading university hockey teams in the country. The university is, now more than ever, an excellent place for players to come and ply their trade, and this is largely thanks to Gooderham’s remarkable work over the last 15 years.