Hockey in the Community

The World Class Players holiday camps have continued to prove popular with camps taking place at Christmas, February half-term and the Easter holidays.

Great Britain Elite Development Programme men’s squad trained once again at the hockey centre in February. 

Beeston HC have submitted an application to England Hockey to become one of the new Talent Centres and Talent Academies. There will be 15-20 Talent Academies across the country and England Hockey are due to announce the list of successful applicants shortly. As part of the process of applying the club have been awarded ‘Clubmark’ status. 

The hockey centre have continued to host a number of sessions for Belong. Belong is a charity which support migrants living in Nottingham from all backgrounds and from a large number of countries. 

The number of participants attending the Beeston HC Flyerz sessions on Monday evenings has continued to grow. There are now over 30 members who regularly attend the weekly training sessions. 

A U13 boys UK Lions camp took place at February half-term. The two-day camp was cut short to one day only due to Storm Eunice. The group is selected from the U13 boy’s teams who took part in the tournament at the hockey centre in June 2021. 

Beeston’s goalkeeper coach, Gareth Ikin, ran a number of 1-1 goalkeeper sessions during half-term. Unfortunately, these sessions were also cut short due to the storms. 

The England LX masters teams (over 60, 65, 70 and 75) had a training camp at the hockey centre in March. The group are hoping to arrange some international fixtures at the hockey centre in the summer.  

A number of new World Class Players schools’ masterclasses have taken place at the start of the Easter holidays with Town Close Prep, Eltham College and Thirsk School all attending. The sessions have been led by a number of Beeston men’s and ladies’ first team players and coaching staff.

Following the huge popularity of last year’s summer leagues, the hockey centre is planning another 20-week programme of 6 / 7 & 11 a side competitions for men, ladies, masters and mixed. To date, 111 team entries have been received. The competitions are due to start on the week commencing 25th April and will run until the end of August. 

Events

The number of people attending the Christmas parties in 2021 was limited due to the pandemic. The events were organised by Best Parties Ever and eight events took place.

The hockey centre played host to the England Hockey girls and boys schools finals in February and March. There were 24 schools from across the country who took part in each of the events. At each event there were finals of the U14 Tier 2, U16 Tier 3 and U18 Tier 4 competitions. 

BUCS Big Wednesday was hosted at the University of Nottingham once again with the centre hosting the hockey competitions. The event was ticketed and sold out prior to the day with 1600 attendees. There were 6 hockey finals which took place on pitch 1 and pitch 4 throughout the day. 

Following a two year break due to the pandemic the Varsity hockey finals between the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University are due to return on Tuesday 3rd May. The Varsity finals will also be ticketed and sales are already looking strong. 

The AOC (Association of Colleges) Games also return to the hockey centre in April along with the DRET (David Ross Educational Trust) Spring Cup and the Civil Service men’s and ladies’ tournaments.

The County minis for U10 and U12 boys and girls took place on the 6th February followed by the Midlands minis on the 20th March for U12’s and the 3rd April for U10’s. The winners of the U12’s will progress to the England Hockey In2Hockey finals which are also being hosted at the hockey centre on the 7th May. The Beeston U12 girls qualified to take part in the finals. The England Hockey U13 schools In2Hockey finals are also being hosted at the centre on the 6th May. 

The annual HMRC rounders event is scheduled to return to the centre once again in May. There are a number of Regional Masters Tournaments also scheduled to take place throughout May and June and the England Hockey Men’s County Championships A and B divisions are due to take place on the 28th May.

The annual U13 UK Lions boys and girls tournaments will take place in June and July respectively. This year is the 25th anniversary of the tournament and the number of team entries has been expanded to celebrate the landmark. Beeston are organising East Midlands Lions teams for the boys and girls Championship and Trophy competitions. A number of training sessions and preparation camps are being planned in April, May, June and July ahead of these competitions.

Following the success of the Masters home nations event last summer, the Women’s Masters home nations event will once again be hosted in June. 

England Hockey are introducing a new U15 and U17 boys and girls competition which will replace the Futures Cup. The Performance Centre Challenge Cup will take place from 26th July – 31st July on four 11 a side pitches.  Teams will be staying at the University of Nottingham in the halls of residence. 

The University of Nottingham are hosting the European Touch Rugby championships on the grass playing fields nextdoor to the hockey centre from the 2nd – 6th August. The event will use the car parking facilities at the hockey centre and an end of competition social is being planned at the club. 

The World Masters Hockey over 35 and over 40 men’s and ladies World Cups are finally due to take place in August after being postponed in 2020 and subsequently cancelled in 2021 due to the pandemic. Over 50 teams and over 1000 participants will compete in the 10 day event at the hockey centre. 

The will be two pre-season tournaments being hosted at the start of September, an U19 girls schools tournament hosted by Nottingham High School and National League clubs tournament hosted by Beeston HC.

Repairs and improvements

At the time of writing, Pitch 1 is currently being resurfaced with a brand new FIH globally certified carpet by Nottingham based pitch resurfacing specialists, AS Systems. The new electric blue surface is due to be completed by Friday 22nd April. As part of the project the path around the pitch has been replaced by Woodholme construction with the macadam being supplied by Tarmac.

Whilst pitch 1 is being resurfaced work is being carried out on the flat roof of the clubhouse. The old decking has been removed and the roof is repaired and modernised with a fiberglass and astroturf finish. As part of the project new outdoor furniture is being installed.

The front entrance and hallway to changing rooms 5-8 has been redecorated and repairs to the flooring by the front door have been made. The corridor and toilets upstairs in the clubhouse will also be redecorated and the flooring has been deep cleaned. 

New push button taps and LED motion sensor light fittings have been installed in the men’s and ladies toilets.

Fifteen new LED bollard lights have been installed alongside the new footpath from the front entrance into the car park. 

Several goals around the site have been repaired and the work to upgrade the dugouts on pitch 2 have been completed. A number of further repairs have also been carried out to the AstroTurf on Pitch 4.