Hockey in the Community
An introduction to hockey coaching course took place in June and was led by Colin Booth attended by 15 club members.
The men’s masters 6 a side summer leagues finished in July with Sikh Union winning the league. The men’s 6 a side summer league also finished in July with Boots 1st team emerging as winners. The Syd Baylis Trophy and Arthur Sandford Cup again took place in July and August. Beeston won the Syd Baylis Trophy and Burton won the Arthur Sandford cup. These leagues once again assisted with umpire development and are very useful for pre-season build up for all the clubs. Thanks to Andy Barnes for organising the umpires. 50 teams took part in these leagues and over 600 people played hockey – once again an increased in participation from previous years.
The ladies 7 a side summer league took place in July and August organised by Beeston Hockey Club. Nottingham Players Hockey Club ran their annual mixed league on Friday evenings in July.
Major Oak Coaching run a 5 day summer camp in August for 5-11 year olds.
Beeston Hockey Club set up a new subsidiary company called ‘World Class Players’. World Class Players provide elite coaching for junior players. The coaching takes place in the school holidays and is led by Beeston’s senior international players. The first camp took place in August with over 100 children participating. The next camp is in October half-term.
The new season is now underway. Beeston have entered a new men’s 7th team in to the Midlands Regional Hockey League. There is a new Badgers league which has been formed and fixtures take place on Saturday’s at the Hockey Centre.
The Centre hosted a Quicksticks school’s tournament on 28th September. Over 120 children took part from local city schools.
The centre also hosted an U16 girl’s schools competition on the 2nd October with 6 schools taking part.
The hockey in the community schools league on Thursday evenings is being run again by Kay Bond for local schools. The league for year’s 9 & 10 runs in November and the league for year’s 7 & 8 takes place in March 2018.
Following the success of the mixed hockey Sunday league last season we have extended the league to run over the whole season with an extra team taking part.
Events
The Hockey Centre hosted the hockey competition for the UK Corporate Games which was held in Nottingham for the first time in July. Over 4500 people took part in the multi sport event across the city. Lloyds of London won the hockey competition and were presented with their winners medals by Olympic Gold medallist, Helen Richardson-Walsh.
In July, an U16 and U18 boys 6 nations competition was held at the Hockey Centre over 8 days. Teams from England, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Ireland took part and stayed in the accommodation at the University of Nottingham. Free invitations were sent to over 250 local schools and over the competition over a 1000 children attended to watch a very high standard of hockey.
Repairs and improvements
Repairs to the irrigation system on pitch 1. The valves on cannons 1-3 were all replaced and solenoid switches on cannons 4 and 5 were also replaced.
New hanging baskets, picnic benches and outdoor furniture were purchased in July prior to the 6 nations event. The Perspex on the dugouts on pitch 1 were replaced as they had become damaged over the years.
The scoreboard on pitch 1 has been given a face lift with new sponsors logos applied. The scoreboard on pitch 4 was repaired by the University of Nottingham prior to the start of the 6 nations event.
Also on pitch 1 a new video tower was built on the half-way line. An innovative live streaming of hockey matches has been set up at the club and all the Beeston men’s 1st team home games will be broadcast live over the internet. Beeston are the only hockey club in the country to do this.
A new 300 metre wooden knee rail has been installed between the car park and grass field replacing the old wooden ‘teeth’ which had become damaged over the years.
A new wooden fence between the council yard and pitch 2 has also been built to screen off the yard from the pitch.
Categories: Beeston Hockey Club
