Renée de la Motte co-captained a young and inexperienced SJHA U13/1 Girls team to the Grand Final at the recent HNSW Under 13 Half State Championships.

Renee demostrated great leadership skills on and off the field.  She coupled that with some fantastic play on the field as she constantly broke through the opposition.  Unfortunately Sydney lost the Grand Final 2-0 to Newcastle, but the players all put in a great effort.

Renée's outstanding performance saw her selected in the HNSW Under 13 Girls State Team. Congratulations Renee.

Due to high demand, a new order of Sydney University Hockey Club hoodies is being made.  The hoodies are navy blue with crest on left pocket and Sydney University Hockey in yellow on the back. Sizes available are XS, S, M, L, XL and XXL.  The design and sizing is the same as previous years.

At $40, they are an investment not to be missed and they will keep you warm and looking great at club days.

If you would like a hoodie, please contact Ian McMaster (equipment officer) at imcmaster@yahoo.com ASAP with your name, size and grade.

We want you all to have your hoodies for the end of the season so please order by 28th July.

 

Hey students,
 
Men's and Women's trials for Uni Games will be held this Wed 9:30pm-10:30pm at Cintra Park, Concord.
 
Any SU student is welcome to trial/attend AUGs. If you can't make it but are keen to attend please send me an email at clubcaptain@suhc.asn.au . There may be further trials the following week but at least we know your interest and don't miss you out.
 
Uni Games are in Perth this year and should be great. For further info visit the website - www.unigames.com.au, join the FB group (there is a men's and women's group) or see the SUSF website.
 
Thanks,
Andy Elton

Hey Students,

Uni Games is fast approaching. Since its inception in 1993, the Australian University Games (AUG) has grown to be Australia's largest annual multi-sport event. Held each September/October, the Games is renowned for providing a friendly but competitive environment for Australian university athletes. AUG is known as the flagship event on the national university sporting calendar. The Games are recognised as a perfect opportunity to provide university athletes, many of whom are of Olympic standard, to compete against each other in a national multi-sport event. Off the sporting field, an action-packed, week-long social program is held to complement sporting activities and enhance the event experience for all participants.'

As it is in Perth this year much needed organisation and I suspect some fundraising needs to happen fairly quickly. It is an awesome experience and without a doubt one of the best weeks of your lives. If you're interested in going, send me an email ASAP to clubcaptain@suhc.asn.au and I will let you know when trials are going to be held (in the next few, probably 2 weeks).

Our men's and women's teams are open to current Sydney Uni students only and this year we are sending both a men's and women's team. Yes, the men's team are going this year! Any student no matter which grade you play is welcome to trial. There's normally a mixture of abillity but both teams are highly competitive with a women's team in particular featuring very strongly over the past 10 years.

For more information visit: www.unigames.com.au

Andy

 

 Former SUHC Junior Alistair Johnston made his first grade debut on Saturday 10 July in our thrilling 3-3 draw with Ryde at Olympic.  Alistair joins a small but growing list of former juniors who have started in SUHC's most junior team - the Under 11Bs  - and progressed all the way to First Grade for either Men or Women.  It doesn't get better than that for a club that is focused on developing new players. There are now over 20 current and former juniors playing in our senior teams.

 

Alistair has played almost 200 games for SUHC. He started at 9 in the Under 11Bs in 2003, with coach Ben Chiarella.  Ben played with Alistair in 2nd grade on Saturday, along with Cameron Rowland, who was also in the 2003 Under 11Bs, and who debuted in 1st grade in 2009. The Under 11s' first game in 2003 was a 0-12 loss to Ryde, and two of the Ryde players from 2003 were also in Ryde's 1st grade team on Saturday... its a small community!

 

Congratulations to Alistair, and all those who have coached and played with him over the years in SUHC's juniors... particularly Ben and Cameron.

Bruce Pryor is one of SUHC's living legends. He was playing first grade when most of our parents weren't born, and is still one of the game's best analysts. He has followed SUHC through our many ups and downs without ever losing the faith.

Bruce recently sent Andy Andy Elton his very succinct summary of the keys to success. They are attached. As always, form comes and goes, but class is forever.

We are of course happy for our competitors to read this. They may think they know it already, and they may be right... but they will never have Bruce's spirit.

Former Hockeyroo Bianca Netzeler plays her first game for SUHC on Friday 2 July 2010 as she continues her return to top level hockey.

Bianca is one of the most experienced players in this year's NSW Arrows.  She has played 92 internationals since her debut for the Hockeyroos in 1996, including playing at the 2002 World Cup, Champions Trophies, 2002 Commonwealth Games and the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.  Bianca retired to focus on her career after Athens, but the spark lives on and she is now spending time back on the field.

Bianca joins SUHC's highly talented women's teams, who will all benefit from the opportunity to learn from one of hockey's legends. The teams include five up and coming stars who attended the recent HNSW U18 State Championships and were all selected in the NSW U18 Squad for 2011.  They are Jenaed Brodell, Mathilda Carmichael, Rhiannon Russell, Cara Simpson and Fiona Tout. In addition, Bianca and Hollie Webster have been selected for the 2011 Arrows squad.  Congratulations to all, and many thanks again to Aaron Oman for yet another inspirational initiative.

 

Congratulations to Hollie Webster, who has been selected in the Hockey Australia 2010 Development Team after a very successful season with the NSW Arrows. Next stop the Hockeyroos!

On Thursday 27 May SUHC held an open meeting to discuss the HNSW White Paper on reforming hockey administration in Sydney. The meeting was well attended, with players and administrators from our men's, women's, junior and veterans' teams involved. Comments were also submitted from people unable to attend.

 

The meeting was strongly supportive of the White Paper.

 

The meeting heard that the current maze of competitions and rules in Sydney is a serious issue for SUHC and other clubs. The White Paper proposes a path that can help all hockey participants, as well as being easier and better for the club.

 

HNSW was commended for its effort in seeking to improve hockey through this process.  SUHC wants a single, accountable entity to take responsibility for hockey in Sydney and address the serious issues that continue to harm the development of hockey in Sydney. These issues include lack of junior development, lack of co-ordination between competitions, excessive administrative demands, lack of volunteers and lack of co-ordinated marketing.

 

Areas of Focus

 

Specific areas that SUHC wants HNSW to focus on in structuring the new competitions include achieving common by-laws for men and women, creating a real nexus from an integrated comp to junior development, establishing transparent and workable rules on relegation/promotion within PL and between Pl and MHL and ensuring the "zone" competitions are strong and functional from the outset.

 

Considerations in Structuring The Ideal Competition

 

Points of detail that SUHC members would like to see developed in the new Sydney competitions include:

• premier games could be Friday night, Saturday afternoon or Sunday afternoon;
• strongly support pairing of teams;
• there should be a set of Premier 1st grade games scheduled at Homebush at the same time each Saturday or Sunday so there is a regular event for the entire hockey community each week at the same time and venue;
• men's and women's premier teams should whenever possible play at same place/time so clubs can be fully supported;
• club-friendly draws should flow through to the zones where possible;
• providing greater clarity on the likely size and role of MHL;
• potential for zone winners to play off, and for the top grade winners to be promoted to the elite comp;
• weightings for 1st and 2nd team must be clear and transparent so promotion/relegation in pairs is fully understood by clubs;
• selection for a Sydney rep team should depend on players playing in these competitions, and as a Sydney club comp it should not be open to players who will represent different regions;
• full commitment to junior development required for clubs to play in PL; and
• organisations in PL must be clubs;

 SUHC also suggests a separate, independent Committee of proven administrators be put in place to manage the preparatory work in the next months and the competitions once they are established.

 

Role of HNSW

 

The meeting supported HNSW as the developer and then manager of the new competition structure, particularly as there are no other realistic candidates.

 

HNSW's capacity to develop a good competition structure and manage the competitions was questioned, particularly by more experienced players. Other speakers noted that HNSW had previously run State-wide competitions that had worked well and been strongly supported. The meeting was confident that HNSW could call upon enough good administrators and volunteers to ensure the 2011 competition was at least as good as anything available in 2010, and with the real potential to be significantly better.

 

SUHC recommends that HNSW seek to involve the capable administrators currently helping run competitions for associations such as SNWHA, SJHA and SHA, as well as those in SWHL.

 

Path Forward

 

The meeting recognised that the White Paper is largely conceptual, and that detailed implementation issues have yet to be addressed. The lack of information today should not prevent HNSW proceeding with the plan. Details can be formulated in the coming months.

 

SUHC calls on everyone involved in the discussion to be transparent and objective. The focus must be on improving the future of hockey for all stakeholders, rather than entrenching current or past failings.

 

SUHC's Men's Vice President and winner of The Inner West "Rear of the Year 2006" reports that he has been named as the official Backstick and Tomahawk shooting training for the Australian Hockey Team.

This appointment was made following a senior Hockey official viewing Verdon's deadly "Tomahawk" vs UNSW at Sutherland on Sunday 16 May, which was described as "a thunderbolt from Zeus".  Verdon's backstick uses the most unorthodox technique ever seen ( described by former Club Captain Ben Chiarella as looking like Matt Dunning figure skating), but Hockey Australia feel that this can be used as a lethal weapon for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.

A source close to the Kookaburras commented "Imagine if the likes of Butterini and Dwyer could get into the most awkward upright position possible, before tripping over their boots and slicking their tomahawk way off target, only for it to hit a defenders stick and dribble in the Goal!!  Verdon is re-writing the rules of hockey as we know it"!

A disappointed Roderick "A-Rod" Bolhaar (a recent Dutch guest at SUCH) was upset to be overlooked for the position.  He had been in contention following a sting of over 20 backstick shots spraying over various fences & onto at least 4 different freeways in Greater Sydney.  "Verdon has nothing on me, in Holland the criteria for national selection is to have broken at least 8 car windows with you backstick shot!" Bolhaar commented.

Verdon has offered to run several masterclass workshops to help educate our future players. Response to date is equivocal.

Hockey is a virtuous circle. Current and past players get involved to recruit and train youngsters, and then to coach and manage them as they develop. They do this for the love of the sport. Their reward is the fun of doing it and making a difference, and the satisfaction of knowing that they are giving something back to the sport.

So this year, SUHC can proudly note that four of its current and former junior players are giving something back to the club and to the sport by coaching at SUHC. Liam Dixon and Ben Chiarella are former juniors, and are coaching Women's 1st and 2nd grade. Georgia Wettenhall is a former (just) junior and is coaching Men's 8th grade, which brings the added bonus of coaching her father, Alex. And current junior Jacqui Morbey has taken on the role of coaching our Under 11s, who have won their first two matches.

Great effort Ben, Georgia, Jacqui and Liam!

We should also recognise the efforts of Jess Blake, who has been the core junior coach for several years. Jess played in a variety of different clubs around the country as her family moved around when she was a junior. Now she is intent on giving something back to the sport, and we can only be thankful that she is playing Women's 1st grade with us.

The club is lucky to have a handful of other similarly dedicated people, like Damo, Phil Price and Doylo. But it's only a handful...Out of over 220 senior players who have learnt their skills from coaches and volunteers around the world in other clubs, very few seem to feel any responsibility for voluntarily giving anything back to their sport. Stefan Hese and Jimmy Bartlett umpire, Shiv and Dave Henderson coach, Katie Burgess is on a HNSW Committee, our Executive members devote time to making the Club work... and that's about it for over 220 players.  (Send the webmaster your details if you think you have been left out. We hope he gets lots of emails, but we aren't holding our breath).

Compared to other clubs, SUHC players are massive underperformers when it comes to helping the sport. This is not something to be proud of. Moving to a University sports club, and away from the people who developed you as a junior, is not an excuse for ignoring their legacy.  For the sake of the club and the sport, look at what Ben, Liam, Georgia, Jacqui, Jess and others can do, and get involved!

SUHC's new office bearers for 2010 were elected at the AGM held at the Arena Sports Centre on Dec 4th. Thanks to everyone who came along and played a part in this vital process. Congratulations to:

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Club Captain: Andy Andy Elton
Secretary: Katie Burgess
Treasurer: Bradley Cooke
Men's VP: Rob Verdon
Women's VP: Harriet Caterson
Junior's VP: Anne Simmons
Veteran's VP: Malcolm "Camel" Newman
President: vacant

GENERAL COMMITTEE

Communications Convener: Rowan Johnston
Equipment Convener: vacant
Fresher Convener: Elle Kershaw
Records Convener: Brett Radcliffe
Registrar Convener: Rishiv Rathore
Social Convener: Carly Church
Sponsorship/fundraising: vacant
Tours Convener: Rishiv Rathore

Many thanks to 2009 Committee who have all worked tirelessly and often beyond the call of duty to ensure the club progresses. In particular, thanks to Brownie, Bucko and Remo, who leave the Executive Committee this year and who have all poured a lot of sweat, time and effort into their various roles and the wider club. The entire Executive Committee took on a more responsibility than anticipated once Khev went back to the Windies, so they are to be congratulated for a very smooth transition.

Khev also should be thanked for his tireless efforts and service to the club as President in 2008 and the first half of 2009, along with his other many other committee and club roles during his time at SUHC. He was a key figure in guiding the new direction of the club. As we saw at Presentation Night, even from Barbados he follows the club quite closely.

The new executive committee has some new faces (Rob, Harriet, Camel) and some not so new (AAE) to work with the trusted and wise stewards of the SUHC ship (Brad, Katie, Anne). There are also some new members of the General committee, which is good to see. No doubt they will all rise to the challenges of 2010 with their usual mixture of tact, tenacity and flair.

Good luck to all involved.

For many years Brett Radcliffe has done a fantastic job as SUHC's unofficial statistician and archivist. He has just prepared a list of the men's SHA premiership winning teams list, but is still short a couple of team photos.

We are hoping that someone in the club past or present can help fill in the blanks.

The big gaps are the 1930 1^st grade team (may be in the SUSF archive), photos of the 1979 (4^th division) & the 1994 (7^th grade team, commonly referred to as the "vets") teams.

In addition, some of the photos (appendixes 6,7,8,9 & 10) are team photos taken sometime during the season and were not taken on grand final day. If anyone has any grand final or better quality team photos of the teams listed Brett would really appreciate a copy. He can be contatcted at brett.radcliffe@boc.com.