The club is saddened to hear of the sudden passing of David ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins who passed away the evening of Thursday 5 March, after a short illness en route to his dream holiday, an Antarctica Cruise.

Hoppy joined Camberwell Hockey Club in 1993 moving from Perth and was a powerhouse player on the field, and super coach off it, coaching our Women’s State League 1 team to a premiership in 2002. He and his family then moved to Canberra before heading back to Perth a few years ago.

He had a lasting impact on those at the club that played with him or under him when he coached. His mantra of man or ball but never both sounded a warning to those going up against him through the left half position. Many a SL1 player still talk about the sand dunes and preseason training at Black Rock as the hardest they’ve ever done before going on to win the premiership that year.

The club send our condolences to the Hopkins family, his mother Christine and her husband Martin, his wife Jandy and children, Jeremy and Ray. Also to his brothers and sisters Lara, Nick, Soula and Manoli, with special mention to Cam his brother, sister in law Mindy (CHC SL1 Premiership player), and their son Max.

Find below some wonderful words from just some of those who knew him at the club.

David Hoppy Hopkins came across to CHC from a very successful club in Perth called Cricketers where he played alongside some of the greats in the game like Ric Charlesworth, Peter Haselhurst and Craig Davies amongst many others
Hoppy fitted into Camberwell so well when he arrived having played against many of us in the Perth competition and for WA in many rep teams including indoor where he excelled with his low to the ground tackling skills
He was intelligent, loyal, funny, and universally liked in the hockey world despite an extremely competitive win at all costs streak.
He achieved plenty of success on the playing field mainly as an impassable left half representing the Australian u21 team and with multiple premierships in Perth. One of his proudest achievements was coaching the CHC ladies to a premiership in 2002 where he cleverly balanced his notable intensity with a good dose of strategic and emotional intelligence .
Hoppy and his smiling face will be sorely missed by all those he met in hockey and fondly remembered as one of the greats to have passed through the Camberwell Hockey Club
David Wansbrough

Hoppy was the best coach I ever had. The great person that he was made him that. He was incredibly fair and didn’t bother about reputations, but purely assessed his players on effort, attitude and talent. His passion for fitness set Camberwell apart from the rest in our premiership year of 2002. I will always remember the pre-season trainings on the beach followed by a great breakfast spread at his Black Rock home. So incredibly generous and somehow made these gruelling sessions fun. He will be greatly missed.
Fi Johnson

In the period after hearing of the sad passing of our teammate and friend David (Hoppy) Hopkins, I, with many of his old teammates have reflected on his contribution and time at the Wellers, and the profound impact he had in that period. I have the honour to share a small snapshot of his legacy.
“Hoppy” transferred with his role as an air traffic controller with his family ( Wife Jandy and children Jeremy and Ray) to Melbourne in 1993 and remained at the club for the next 10 years before relocating to Canberra. He quickly settled into his new surroundings by joining us at CHC through his connection with Wanzy, Pointer and Wally, who he shared a junior World Cup campaign together.
Very quickly he made his mark both at training and matches as a competitor of the highest order, who just loved the contest and prided himself on the old adage, either the player or the ball, but never both.
Short in stature, but with the heart of a lion, his teammates were his training props for refining his art of making people AIRBORNE when in a tackling contest, with the scars still present to this day. With the short man syndrome ( lower centre of gravity joke he loved) this allowed him to place his body very low to the ground that meant when you ran into him, the momentum with the top half of your body then acted as a pendulum, tipping you head over a….. and airborne. However, he left the best for the opposition who quickly found out he was never a push over and he built a respected reputation for his competitive nature, always with that cheeky smile and tongue in cheek apology whilst he helped them off the ground. He also had the umpires fooled by his cheeky grin and the face of innocence, that went along way for him getting away with it many times over.
When reflecting on our time together, there are many words to describe our mate Hoppy, however I hope you get a quick snapshot reflecting on the following
Tough, every time you went on the pitch, you stood tall ( not hard next to him LOL) knowing he would give everything for his team mates. Roy Carey and I marvelled at his high pain threshold, when after having a specially made glove developed by Roy, he played with a broken hand only a couple of weeks after having major surgery to the back of his hand that was smashed in a penalty corner trapping mishap.
Tenacious, loved and was always up for the contest
Reliable, played every moment with a purpose, and would step up in the key moments doing the one percenters that always made the biggest difference.
Fun to be around, always had time for people, loved a beer, the banter and plenty of laughs
Loyal, always reaching out to check in and offer any support that may have been needed
After his playing days finished, he progressed into coaching the Camberwell Womens SLI ( WPL) where he led the team to a premiership in 2002, this was the last premiership prior to the recent one in 2023 and one I know he was immensely proud of the role he played pulling this group together and the legacy he has left behind.
Sending our love and condolences to the Hopkins family, with special mention to Cam his brother, sister in law Mindy (CHC SL1 premiership player, yes Hoppy was also match maker) and their son Max who shared many of the special moments of his life.
RIP Hoppy
Andrew ( Rosie) Henderson

Hoppy… can only be remembered as a great guy and super coach. He brought discipline and agony to every training session along with fun and laughs. He built our premiership team over many years and created a special bond between players. Preseason fitness with sand running and bbqs at his house in Black Rock were a special memory and running suicides at training was always his favourite discipline. It was great to relive those memories with Hoppy a few years ago at our 20 year premiership reunion.
Nic Schneller

David Hopkins or as he was affectionately known, “Hoppy” sadly passed away on 5th March.
He came to the Camberwell HC from WA as a young man and played in the Men’s PL team where he was known for his loyalty, competitive nature, selflessness and humour.
After long discussions with many of the women’s team, he was recruited to the prestigious role of coaching the CHC State League 1 Women’s team. During his tenure he managed to get the best out of his players and in 2002 CHC women won the WSL1 premiership, in extra time, golden goal against our nemesis, Waverley.
Over the past week, Mindy Simpson (WSL1 captain of premiership team) and later to marry Hoppy’s brother (Cam), set up a chat group with the team to share the sad news. In the chat, fond memories were shared. The common themes were that Hoppy was kind, open, determined, fair, fun and competitive. Other memories included Sunday morning fitness at Black rock. Hoppy and Jandy opened up their home on Sundays for a wonderful brunch after Hoppy had taken us all on a gruelling running session around Black Rock. There were hills, sand dunes, tyres and recovery swims. This pre-season regime put us in good stead throughout the season as we were by far the fittest team in the League. This became a crucial factor in the GF win!
We will all miss Hoppy and thank him for his contribution to our lives. #Sundays
Suzanne Henderson

Vale David 'Hoppy' Hopkins