Representative News

Many congratulations to Rory Jack and Tom Nolan who have been selected for the final England U16 squad for this season. The selection route has been rigorous, with an initial assessment squad chosen primarily from the summer TA Cup whittled down over the course of several training camps. We are delighted that Rory and Tom have achieved this milestone in their ongoing development and wish them the best for the forthcoming programme of international fixtures.

Also a huge congratulations to Winchester Hockey Club alumni, Rory Penrose, who has been selected for the senior England squad for the forthcoming Pro League fixtures in Argentina. Matches against Argentina and Ireland kick off England’s 2024-25 Pro league programme. Selection at this level is a tremendous achievement and follows Rory’s starring roles in England junior age groups over the last few years.

In his time at Winchester, Rory was part of an extremely successful group that won the England Hockey outdoor national U14 and indoor national U16 titles.

Kings’ School News

Kings’ U16 boys have qualified for the schools’ indoor national finals having won local and regional rounds over the last few weeks. The finals take place on Friday 6th December as an 8-team tournament at Whitgift School. The majority of the team are members of the Winchester U16 team, and the Kings’ coach is Ally Birch, our highly respected U10 & TDG lead coach and Men’s goalkeeper.

We wish Ally and the boys the best for Friday.

U16 Boys

Vs Old Georgians - 10-1

Scorers: Lamb 3, Jack 3, Lander, Nolan, Gately, Champion

Winchester bounced back in style from the disappointment of the previous game to finish off their phase 1 Supra League campaign in style.

The weather was appalling as they made their way up the M3 to Weybridge, but fortunately there was a break in the rain long enough to complete the game in reasonable conditions. The OGs goalkeeper misread the match logistics instructions and made his way to Winchester, resulting in a delay to push back as the Winchester players sportingly suggested we wait for his arrival. We could only wait so long though, and the game started without him. Winchester took full advantage, racing into a three goal lead in no time.

The arrival of the goalkeeper made little difference to the flow of the game and the goals kept coming. One of the pleasing aspects was Winchester’s discipline to keep their shape despite the flood of goals, with the ball moving quickly from player to player. As the coaches rotated the team, players experienced different positions and supported each other to experiment in new roles.

The second half turned into the Will Lamb show, with a quick fire hattrick to delight the travelling supporters.

U14 Boys

vs Southampton - 3-1

The boys U14B headed down the M3 to Southampton for their Tier 3 South league match. Although Southampton started strongly, the Winchester boys grew in confidence throughout the first half following some excellent quick and unselfish passing moves which opened up the Southampton defence. Sustained pressure led to a torrent of penalty corners for Winchester and Sam converted one before half time with the Winchester defence remaining strong to take a well-deserved lead into the half-time break.

The second half continued strongly for Winchester with some excellent team play throughout, using the full width of the pitch. A couple of excellent saves, followed by quick play, resulted in Winchester taking a two goal lead with some excellent team play enabling Zac to score.

Southampton's boys found some form, with a couple of stand out drives from defence and were able to grab one back to set up a good final quarter.

Hard work in attack and defence, running to the corners and passing into the D resulted in a great back post goal by Harry to give a well deserved third goal, and a 1-3 win away from home.

U12s

Girls vs Boys - 1-0

This year’s U12 boys v girls match was a full-pitch hour-long game of four quarters. The first of December was very wet but thankfully mild enough to make the game worthwhile. The boys, determined to add to their 2023 narrow victory, brought a full squad of 17 players, while the girls were a bit tardy on arrival times and with a few very late drop-outs suddenly had very few subs.

The first half was an attritional match with a few fast breaks for the girls. Stout goalkeeping and defending from the boys kept them at bay, including withstanding a barrage of penalty corners.

With space at a premium, players learnt the importance of line breaking, fast restarts and committing a player before passing.

The girls took the lead in the last third of the game with Millie Clark scoring deservedly following up on a saved shot (well done Millie for answering a call up ten minutes before the start of the match!) Several other chances came and went for the girls but it was the lads who dominated the last ten minutes. An equaliser looked very likely but a cracking double save from Eleanor repelled them.

So a close game with a different test on a bigger pitch. Who will take the U12 cup next year?? Thanks all for braving the weather.