Winchester Hockey Club Oracle Edition 9

Last Hurrah!

Half term camps were attended by over 50 children on each day

The writing was on the wall before the weekend matches kicked off, and it seemed like the children were determined to finish the first part of the season in style before the enforced winter break.

The under 16 groups led the charge, both playing their first fixtures in this season’s EH Cup. The girls made the short trip to Trojans and came away with a hard fought 2-1 victory. The strength of the under 16 boys group this season has encouraged us to enter 2 teams into the EH Cup, and this decision was truly vindicated by the younger of the 2 groups, playing in tier 2, with a resounding 7-0 victory over Woking.

Elsewhere, the younger teams had a block fixture against Havant, with comfortable victories for the under 12 boys and the Team Summit under 14 girls. Havant took the spoils in the under 14 boys and under 12 girls matches.

During half term, Richard Penrose, our junior section director of coaching, ran two half day camps which were enthusiastically attended by over 50 children on each day.

Congratulations to Tommy Finney and Joe Jenkinson for their recent selection to the England Under 16 phase 2 assessment. That’s a great achievement, well done boys!

We hope you all stay safe and sane during the next 4 weeks. We all hope for a resumption as soon as possible after 4th December, to build on the tremendous start to the season that all the players have made.

Weekend Results

U12 Girls A’s 1-5 Havant

U12 Boys A’s 8-1 Havant

Team Summit U14 Girls A’s 5-0 Havant

U14 Boys A’s 1-10 Havant

U16 Boys B’s 7-0 Woking

Anthony Munden Architect U16 Girls 2-1 Trojans

England Hockey announcement: Club Hockey in England suspended until after 4 December

England Hockey are disappointed to have to confirm that the national lockdown announced on Saturday will mean no club or community hockey from 5 November until after 4 December at the earliest.

The latest government announcement orders all sports facilities to close and therefore club and other community hockey activity is suspended until the game is in a position to resume.

For more details on the latest EH announcement, click here.

We hope to be in a position to update you with further information as soon as possible.

Are you missing a hooded jumper?

Several hoodies have been left behind after matches.

If your child has a hoodie, can you please ensure it does have a surname in it - to ease future returns!

Current Stock !!

a) New Masuri style, size 13-14 years with initials on front MS

b) Old style (inner hood yellow) size XS - no name

c) Old style (inner hood yellow) size XS - no name (left earlier in the year, before the March Covid lockdown).

d) Another old style (inner hood grey) with number 15 on one sleeve - no name and has been unclaimed for a long while, size L

Please contact Richard Macer (richard.macer@btinternet.com) to claim any of the above and the return can be arranged.

Bobble hats and socks - now available

Winchester HC bobble hats are now available, again. Price this batch: £12 (N.B. “One size fits all” !)

As ever club socks also available. Price: all sizes £10.

Please contact Stuart Swift stuart@swiftyboy.co.uk or Richard Macer richard.macer@btinternet.com to order yours now.

Anthony Munden Architect Under 16 Girls

v trojans - Score 2-1

(Scorers: Finney & Clegg)

Our anonymous report writes:

Beginning of the month, beginning of the league. On the 1st of November the U16 girls kicked off the EH cup with a game against Trojans. They came out fighting from the start and dominated possession throughout the first half. Despite many attacks on goal, Winchester were unsuccessful on scoring the first goal and Trojans penetrated Winchester’s strong defence mid-way through the first half and scored. Winchester didn’t get let their heads down and pushed on to win a short corner which led to the ball being hammered into the back of the goal by Jazzy. In the second half, the defence dealt well with the pressure of the Trojans attack and many spectacular saves were made by Chloe. Meanwhile the attackers were working hard to penetrate the Trojans defence. Georgie was successful in doing so and made a skilful drive resulting in a short corner for Winchester. A strong hit from Amelie and great positioning for a deflection from Alice Clegg put a second goal on the score board for Winchester. The full time score was a well deserved 2-1 win and players of the match went to Mel and Jazzy.

Under 12 Boys

v Havant - Score 8-1

(Scorers: Nolan 3, Richman 3, Jack, Skipwith)

The U12 boys made the long trip to Havant knowing this was likely to be the last fixture for a while. Most of the team were there in good time, and the coaching team was in good spirits with a full, well warmed up team at push back. Frankly, the game turned out to be a gentle loosener for the Winchester boys, with goals scored pretty much at will in the early stages. The coaches took the opportunity to move players around and to encourage a passing game in which the first option considered is to use the wide players. Later in the game, Havant improved and Riley was forced into decent saves on more than one occasion. As the urge to join the scoresheet got the better of the back four, Havant found themselves clean through, with no defender in sight and their striker finished for a well earned consolation goal.

As we take our enforced mid season break, we can reflect on a team developing into a solid outfit. Not quite the finished article yet, but if core skills can be steadily improved, this can be a star team of the future.

Team Summit Under 14 Girls

v Havant - Score 5 - 0

(Poppy White 3, Eva Akerman 1, Arabella Crompton 1)

On Sunday, our under 14 girls hosted a fantastic match against Havant. The game started with two early Winchester attempts at goal. We dominated the first third spending lots of time in our attacking quarter and doing some great running up the wings. When required, our defence stayed strong - with some great saves from Imogen. Then an interception from a Havant forward was followed by a strong strike at their goal that went slightly wide.

The second third began with two shots at goal from Rosie and Esther, both of which unfortunately just missed. However, we redeemed ourselves with two fantastic goals from Poppy. Soon after, she scored her third goal with a beautiful strike.

After a final regroup, Eva increased the score to 4 with a perfectly angled hit. With just minutes left, Bella deflected a fantastic ball into the left corner of the goal.

Under 14 Boys

a team V havant - Score 1-10

The under 14A boys squad was formed for the first time for this season to play a match, sadly with 7 x Yr. 9’s not available (largely away for half-term), against a Havant squad having had several games already this season and containing several huge, strong running Yr. 9 players! Definitely a David and Goliath situation.

The first half was very much a procession with Havant scoring at will, despite some heroic tackling from Will Leyland, Charlie Long, Oscar Kipps and Will Graydon. When back in possession the young Winchester team generally created poor patterns of play mostly getting trapped on the left-hand touchline and thus setting up an excellent platform for multiple Havant right wing attacks.

At half-time, good tactical advice from Harry Trussler together with a shuffle of positions made a huge difference. The emphasis on constructing possession into play down the right wing paid good dividends and this very young Winchester side battled very well against their physically bigger and much stronger opponents. James Kitson exploited the right-side attack very well with great support from Billy Jones and Raffi Organ. That all gave Ben Hughes and Bertie Lander much more space to work in the centre, to regularly cut out the main Havant supply line.

The home side did get away to score the odd goal from some quality, strong and fast team play but with Dylan in goal working his angles much better plus Oscar Sadler and Johnny Jones tackling well, the score was tamed somewhat. Winchester did create some good, strong moves themselves to pressure the home keeper much more, and towards the end a well worked penalty corner (worked on at the previous coaching session) – came good and enabled Freddie Collins to score, which gave the whole team a great lift.

Lots to work on at the coaching sessions but after a shell-shocked opening period the young lads recovered well and stuck to trying hard to combine as a team, right to the end.

Sponsorship Opportunities

As we look to invest in the coaching programme and resources, we are giving local business an opportunity to sponsor individual teams or the entire junior section.

For a modest contribution, sponsors will have:

Their name associated with specific teams
Bespoke coverage in newsletters and social media
Recognition of their sponsorship in local press coverage

We would very much like to hear from you if you are interested, or have contacts at local business which may be prepared to get involved. Please do get in touch.