🔴 U8’s by Julie Rodriguez (Coach)
The U8s are off to a strong start after smashing the competition in the past two tournaments. Led by captains Lauren and Tommy, the A team is filled with promising talent and demonstrate both wisdom and skills beyond their years. Back at base camp, we’ve welcomed many new faces and continue to work with our rising U8s (such as Harriet who has settled into the B team after only a few weeks under the belt).
A special shoutout to Michelle and the hockey tots – the pipeline coming through has been impressive to say the least (with the likes of William showing us that 5 year olds can compete with the top group). Watch out U10’s!
As ever, thanks very much to Michelle, Lucy, Bhu, Neil and the Learner Coaches who give their time and energy week in and week out to support the future of hockey.
⚫ U10’s
U10 Girls A | 3 tournaments: 8 wins, 6 losses, 2 draws. Top scorer: Maya Michaels, 18 goals.
🔴 U12’s by Alex James (Coach)
The U12 coaching team have been hugely impressed by the fun loving and positive attitude demonstrated by the 55 children who we work with on Sundays and Thursdays. They are a joy to work with and having boys and girls integrated for many of these sessions has been hugely beneficial.
As a coaching team our aim is to ensure a safe and fun environment for the children to enjoy the game, whilst learning new skills and tactics. An agree content plan based on England Hockey’s golden thread gives us a weekly theme, where a carousel of exercises and games support the exploration of this theme in an enjoyable, fast paced fashion.
It has been fantastic to have a core coaching team which included first team stars Rohan B and Richmond L (as well as Matt R on some occasions), which in turn benefits the children by seeing some of the best in the country demonstrate and explain themes, and discuss hockey with them. This shows our one club approach where juniors are being supported by first team players, hopefully something the children will always remember fondly!
In addition we have taken advantage of Southgate’s geography and have been playing tournaments in both London and Hertfordshire. This gives more regular, match play opportunities to the children. A huge thanks to the management and coaching of both the girls and boys teams in making this development possible.
A very Merry Christmas to the U12’s, their parents and our coaching and management team!
⚫ U14 Boys
U14 Boys A : Won 4, Lost 2. Top scorers, Charlie Blomquist (10), Zack Michaels (4), Chris Bage (4).
U14 boys B : Lost 2, drawn 1. Top scorers Jasper Hollier and Sam Clements (1 each)
🔴 U14 Girls A by Matt McDonnell (Coach) & Georgie Castle (Manager)
From Matt McDonnell (Coach) – The team has come together well in the first half of the season, registering good results in both league and cup, both at home and on our travels. The group is hard working and keen to learn, which we are seeing in performances week in and week out. We hope to see further progress and competitive games in the second half of the season, including representation in the final 8 of our cup competition in February.
From Georgie Castle (Manager) – The U14A girls have had a brilliant start to the season. Matt had only 5 girls in last year’s supreme league winning squad remaining which meant the stakes were high! The girls have gone out week after week and won all their matches bar 1 (which they hope to rectify on the return leg) convincingly! They sit in second position in the league table and are through to the quarter finals of the cup. Come on girls you’ve got this.
⚫ U16 Boys A
Have won 4 matches and lost 2 (no draws). They are still in the plate competition. Their most recent win (Sunday) saw them win 5-4 against Eastcote HC …..with no GK!! Top goal scorers so far this season are Thomas Stannard and Alex Prior both on 4 (both having had hat tricks) and in a squad of 22 pitch players 11 players have scored 1 or more goals. Luke Ellis has played up from u14s as GK
🔴 U16 Girls A by Justine Matthews (Manager)
Unbeaten so far this season, the U16A girls are going from strength to strength in Tier 1.
Scores so far:
5-3 v Hampstead & Westminster
8-0 v Oxford Hawks
4-3 v Reading
3-1 v Amersham & Chalfont
4-1 v Marlow
They are playing well as a team, with secure passing, strong defending and many different goal scorers. Their short corners have been particularly successful to date. They are excited to have qualified to go through to the Tier 1 Supra league in February
⚫ U18 Boys
U18 Boys A by Joergen Jaehnig:
It has been a great start to the season – most notably kicking off the season with 2 wins against old foes Old Loughts not only winning the league match 5-3 after having been 0-3 down, but also kicking them out of the EH Tier 1 Cup. Since then the team has gone from (shootout)-win to (shootout)-win with only one narrow loss (0-1) in the league despite large superiority during the match. The boys have shown great resilience (mentally and physically) against teams stacked with NAGS players and sits Top of the table in the London, South-Central and South-East Tier 1 League. We have reached the Quarterfinal of the EH Tier 1 Cup and having dispatched heavyweights such as Old Loughts and Ham & West in previous rounds we have now been drawn against Guildford. Leading Goal Scorer of the squad at present is Will Biggins, however as this has truly been a team performance so far he is closely followed by Reggie Hopson, Kyle Shah, Leo Garner and Alex Christie.
U18 Boys B by Chris Pearce:
The boys have won 1 of their 5 games but this doesn’t tell the whole story. Every game, except one at the start of the season, has been highly competitive with some great hockey played. There have been some great goals scored in open play and they are a threat from short corners – they just need to win more of them! This season is proving a great learning curve and the quality of play is improving game by game. There will be more positive results in the second half of the season.