01 Jul President’s Mid-Season Wrap
Teams
Our 9 women’s teams are performing strongly across the two competitions. After years of petitioning, we now have 6 teams in the Metro competition, the only club in Sydney to be able to say this. Participation rates are high (although we are coming into the dreaded uni holidays and representative season). Results are great across the teams. Metro League can be followed here: www.swhl.com.au. The Sydney North information is a little trickier to come by. Our three teams there are playing some great hockey and having a great time doing so.
Our 7 teams across the men’s competition are generally mid-table. You can check them out at www.sydneyhockey.com.au. The powers-that-be unfortunately decided to move our 5th and 6th grade teams up this year despite our requests and previous season results; results have subsequently been pretty tough but with a great group of guys we’re doing what we can to keep morale up. There are indications that SHA will move to a three team premier format next season, so results across the higher grades will continue to be important.
The juniors are such an important part of the succession story of our club, but we compete in a tough environment. A few dedicated individuals are keeping the teams going (two U/11s and an U/17s team) and we are hopeful of continuing to tap into the traditionally soccer-focused local region around the Bruce Pryor field. It is nonetheless fantastic to see some of the younger students running around in their uniforms and watching the higher grades play to hopefully inspire them to stay on with our sport.
The four teams in the Masters comp are going well. Results are here. www.sydneymastershockey.com.au. A few entertaining match reports have come through, so keep an eye on our website. I know the 1st div guys are keep for Mr Hardy to continue to miss games, as the cheese platter after the games as a make-up has been a great addition to the mid-strength beers.
The Club
Website – The new site is live, with new content continually being added. I hope you’ve taken the chance to click around it. Please feel free to provide any feedback you might have. Webmaster Dave Hewish is currently working on the next phase of development, including a unique coaching resource portal filled with drills, strategies and videos.
Social media – Some people may resist it, but a presence on social media is crucial for the communication of information and the interaction with our club members, past, present and future. Like and follow people!
Coaching development – Planning of development sessions for our coaches/managers are underway, to continually work on upskilling our wonderful volunteer coaches.
Social events – The refurbished Glebe Hotel looks fantastic. Zel and the team continue to help us host some of the best events on the calendar. New Player’s Night was overflowing and the Trivia Night was over capacity (who needs fire exits free hey?). Em T is doing a great job here. I encourage everyone to get to The Glebe Hotel to experience the new menu and some mulled wine over Winter.
Bequest
The master plan for the Cumberland campus has not yet been made public by the University. As a result, any possible planning on a second turf and supporting infrastructure is in a holding state. The extra-ordinarily generous funds from the Pryor bequest remain in short-dated term deposits, ready to be deployed if called upon. Any interest accrued is reinvested and ‘belongs’ to the club. We continue to use our resources to push for progress.
Coming Up
Providing opportunities for members of the club to help in large or small ways has been a major focus of the committee. There are always ways that our players can give back to the club; I truly believe this is the only way to fully appreciate the power of being a part of a sporting club. So please continue to ask if we need help cooking a BBQ, umpiring a game, attending a meeting, running the line as a ball person, helping coach a training session, being a part of the organisation of a social event, coordinating pub crawl shirt collection or one of the many other things that need to be done.
Thank you to everyone that continues to contribute to the club. As always, feel free to grab me for a chat anytime, either in person, email or phone.
Cheers,
Ant
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