Following England Hockey’s announcement on Friday 29th May regarding the phased return to playing hockey, a plan has been developed to start to introduce some hockey activity and small group coaching at Nottingham Hockey Centre.
England Hockey have issued the following 5 steps to resuming full competitive match play.
Training phase |
| Step 1: Training One-to-one / household group |
| Step 2: Socially Distanced Training Small groups but with social distancing in place |
| Step 3: Small Group Training Small group training allowed with some closer contact allowed. Allowing for tackling/marking etc. (some age groups may be allowed to start this stage earlier) |
| Play phase |
| Step 4: Local Match Play Intra club / local matches can happen but restrictions prevent leagues / main competitions resuming (e.g. if travel is still an issue due to car sharing or local lockdowns are in place) |
| Step 5: Full Competitive Match Play Full leagues / competitions resume |
From Monday 1st June, we progressed to step 2 of the training phase which allows socially distanced training for up to 6 people to be permitted under the guidance issued by England Hockey.
Nottingham Hockey Centre will only begin a phased reopening if we progress to step 4 above in July or August. This will involve opening the facility on weekday evenings for the following friendly local match activities on pitch 1 and pitch 2: –
Monday – Men’s Masters 6 a side
Tuesday – Men’s 11 a side
Wednesday – Ladies’ 7 a side
Thursday – Men’s 11 a side
Friday – Mixed 7 a side
As we do not know when we will reach step 4, the activities above will not be summer leagues with a winner at the end but will instead be a series of pre-planned and confirmed friendly fixtures between local clubs which can be introduced at short notice. There may be 8 weeks of friendly fixtures if restrictions are lifted at the start of July. If restrictions are lifted during July or August we will begin to play the fixtures from the point we are allowed to.
We will also be organising 1-1 and small group coaching sessions on pitch 3 on these evenings as well. These will only be available to pre book if the friendly fixtures are also taking place as it is not financially viable to only run these sessions. Further details about these sessions will be published in due course.
We are inviting local clubs to take part in the friendly fixtures. The cost for the 6 a side and 7 a side friendlies will be £30 per team per week and the 11 a side friendlies will be £50 per team per week. The total cost of weekly fees will be due to Nottingham Hockey Centre upon completion of the final week of friendly fixtures. The exact format, times and details will depend on the number of teams who are interested in taking part.
If you would like to take part in these friendlies please follow this link and complete your club’s details before Sunday 14th June.
https://www.nottinghamhockeycentre.com/summer-league-entry/
The clubhouse bar and toilets will hopefully be open during these friendly fixtures in line with the recommendations and guidance from the government.
