Hockey Headlines 173 

 

Ladies 1’s Boss, Miranda Weeks shares her vision for the forthcoming season.

After an incredibly successful and positive season last year, the L1s have recruited players old and new to strengthen the squad.  The club and teams vision is to be a National League side once again, after having a few seasons out of the prestigious leagues.

 Having competed in these leagues as a player, L1s coach Miranda Baldwin, is only too familiar as to what is needed to return to this standard.

In an exclusive interview granted to HH this week, this is what Miranda had to say:

"Last season we saw the return of many talented uni graduates, who had previously played for the club as juniors.  Part of the club's identity and vision is to build a talented group that is passionate about wearing the purple and white shirt.  Retaining these gifted graduates is fantastic, and these women are the future of the club.  We have the ability to bounce back to the National League platform and having loyal and committed players with the same ambition for their club is a coaches dream."

In addition to the many 20 something's returning to the club, we also welcome back some very familiar and experienced faces.  Chloe Rogers, double Olympian and bronze medallist, returns to Luxborough Lane after a 2 year gap from the club. "Having Rogers back in the squad is a huge assist.  Not only for her obvious attacking flair and talent, but for our gifted juniors playing and learning from such an experienced mentor is priceless.  She's a real giver and I know some of our youngster's performances will develop hugely from playing with such a legend."

In addition to recruiting Olympians back to The Lane, Old Lought’s see the return of ex skipper, Sarah (Smithy) Pyke and Sorcha Porter.  With "Smithy" at one end of the age scale, we see Lucy Price return at the other!  "A fast, athletic, free spirit up front, I'm so excited to have Lucy back at the club, not only for her natural goal scoring talent, but the ability to make everyone around her smile!"

The ladies have a number of preseason friendlies over the coming weeks prior to the league, hopefully, starting on the 19th September.  "The girls have been training hard since the start of July, and it is so good to now be in a position to test ourselves with competitive friendlies.  This squad has exciting potential, brimming with young raw talent, experienced leaders and committed club players, all driving forward towards the same goal.  I can't wait for the season to start."

 

U16’s Squeeze Through

The U16’s had a fun and wet Team building event this week and needed that special bond, self-belief  and trust in each other to progress last Monday, against a very able Cambridge City side.

 

In a game that could easily have been won in the first half, with multiple opportunities left begging the packed terraces at Luxborough Lane began to wonder whether this might be “one of those days” . Cambridge took the lead against the run of play from a short corner in the first half and looked dangerous on the break, though nerves were eased when Walter equalised for us . 

Defending starts at the front and Harvey fully captured this stance by robbing a Cambridge defender on the edge of the opposition 22 before strolling round the keeper and scoring with a delightful flick, 3 minutes before the end, to ease the crowd’s worries and see them through to the Semi Finals.

News from an Old Boy .

This week we heard from one of our former player Steve Butler, that some of you may remember , reminiscing about his time at Loughts .

“I started playing hockey for Britannia at B of E printing works circa 1975. Our captain was Dave Maritndale. He introduced me to OLs. Derek H was our captain. 5ths. Meeting at the old blues and going to Stevenage, Thurrock and other exotic locations! Good memories”.

Nice to hear from you Steve, if you have any team photos from those days it would be great to see them.
 

What’s Coming Up ?

A packed Saturday program sees the Ladies 2’s and 3’s push off at 10 against Hertford and Waltham Forest , The Ladies 1’s then take over against Upminster as part of their pre- season warm up schedule, whilst the Ladies 4s travel to Hertford.

The Men’s 1’s travel to Cambridge City for one of their first outings and give Lee Ible food for thought on selection.

From 1:30 we will be hosting the Semi Finals and Finals of the U16 Boys National Tier 1 competition , hoping that our own U16’s can progress through and make us even more proud. Please come to support if you can .

Sunday we have further friendlies and a Coach Training morning.

 

Stop Press - welcome to James Morris, an experienced Umpire joining  Ian Padfield’s team of merry men and women . Don’t forget there are many incentives to help with Umpiring and training is easily available.

Big thanks to Men’s 3s Captain Mike McMahon for visiting the Club this week to check out a possible leak we had in the bar area, for those of you who don’t know who may one day need a plumber ,  Mike runs his own Plumbing business and comes highly recommended .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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