Warren Truscott and Bronwyn Morris are the kind of people who make a sporting club run—the ones who live and breathe the club—who spend their time rounding up players, filling in for an umpire, whose cars are full of spare sticks and strapping tape.

Bronwyn is a coach, a player, an umpire and secretary at Norths Hockey Club, while Warren has just celebrated 42 years of coaching girls and women. His dodgy knees put an end to his playing days.

Norths Hockey Club is based at Ashgrove, a stone’s throw away from the Enoggera Army Barracks, and they’re proud of their long history of defence personnel playing at the club. Top-grade teams wear a commemorative ANZAC Day jersey each year to pay tribute to Australian Defence Force members.

For Warren and Bronwyn, that connection between military service and hockey is personal.

Warren and Bronwyn both joined the Australian Army Signals Corps as 16-year-old apprentices in the 1980s and served for around a decade. On leaving, they both said they found the civilian world quite different to what they had known.

“Military is not just a job, it’s a life. And when you get out, especially people who pull the pin completely, especially if they have to pull the pin completely because of health issues—it’s like you’ve lost your life. You get cut off from all your support services. And you might have only been in for a couple of years, but it really does become your lifestyle,” Warren said.

“If you don’t have something to replace that… then suddenly it’s just you,” he said.

“Military is very much based on a team culture—working not as an individual, but as part of a team. You don’t necessarily get that in the workplace,” Bronwyn said.

“I’ve worked with a lot of ex-military people, and I think one of the things that people miss when they get out is—they don’t have a team anymore. The camaraderie—you lose that,” she said.

The concept of helping military veterans find what they lost when they left service, of finding a new team, is at the heart of research being undertaken by Gallipoli Medical Research.

The Friends of Gallipoli Medical Research initiative brings together sporting and veteran organisations to explore how sport can support veterans transitioning into civilian life.

Gallipoli Medical Research CEO Miriam Kent said that while there was no silver bullet, sport can be a powerful bridge between military life and civilian belonging.

“Sport provides a practical and accessible way to rebuild those connections, creating communities where veterans and their families feel seen, valued and supported,” Miriam said.

Gallipoli Medical Research’s three-year program aims to establish the evidence around sport’s benefits for veterans and develop Australia’s first Veteran Sport Volunteering and Leadership Framework, establishing sport as a proven intervention.

At Norths, Warren and Bronwyn have found a place to belong, contribute, lead and mentor—the same sense of team and purpose they both valued in military life.

Warren says he can always tell a person had served in the military, or likewise, played in a team sport.

“It’s in the decision-making. They’re used to making a quick decision with the information in front of them. They’ve had to learn to adapt,” he said.

When asked when they started playing, it’s clear they can’t really remember a time when hockey wasn’t a part of their lives.

“I like turning individuals into a team and giving them that love of sport,” Bronwyn said.

“Give them that love of sport, so they’re still playing when they’re our age,” Warren said.

“We’ve got teams now where I’m playing alongside girls I coached—some of them are now playing alongside their mums too,” Bronwyn said.

“One thing I’d stress is that you don’t have to be a good player. My team has some handy little players and some that are, uh, mediocre like me. I just want them to be strong, confident, resilient.

“Don’t feel that because you weren’t a gun sportsperson or athlete that sport is closed to you.

“Don’t be afraid to go back to it. You just need to give it a go,” she said.