Karen is a former England and Great Britain International and has worked for the England Hockey Board since 2005. Having won 355 caps, she is Britain’s most capped hockey player of all time, competing in three Olympic Games and winning a bronze medal in 1992. Other playing highlights include a European gold medal, Commonwealth silver and numerous national titles with her club Slough.
Karen began coaching at Chelmsford in 2000, leading them to a silver medal in the European Cup Winners Cup in 2005, as well as the national indoor title that same year. Previously she has worked as either Assistant or Head Coach to the England U16, U18 and U21 and B programmes. She was Head Coach of the England U21 women’s team at the Junior World Cup in Chile in 2005 and joined England Hockey that same year as Junior Performance Manager, moving to Assistant Coach working alongside Danny Kerry in 2006.
Since then, she has been part of the coaching team that has led England to bronze medals at the World Cup, Champions Trophy, two Commonwealth Games and three European Championships. With Great Britain, she coached the side that finished sixth at the Beijing Olympic Games and, more recently, the side which won the silver medal at the Champions Trophy in February 2012.
Off the pitch, Brown was integral in setting up the centralised training programme that is widely credited as being one of the key catalysts for the senior women’s recent medal successes on the international stage. The programme saw the centralisation of the Great Britain women’s squad to Bisham Abbey resulting in improvements in coach-athlete contact time and the growth of a strong team culture.
In recent years, Brown has participated in the prestigious UK Sport Elite Coach Programme and in 2011 completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Elite Coaching from the University of Central Lancashire, as well as gaining her Level 4 Coach Award qualification.
Karen is the assistant coach for the GB women’s squad in Rio 2016.
