Dear Parent.
May I congratulate you on your child being selected for South West Conference team trials.
For those of you who don’t know I will attempt to explain what it’s all about.
Great Britain, excluding Ireland and Scotland is split into four conference area’s, North, Midlands,
South East and us the South West, each year invites to all the clubs within their particular conference
area are sent a mail requesting them to send their best players for trial with the sole purpose of
formulating a select team to compete in one inter conference tournament held in Hull at the beginning
of May, this tournament has been organised to concentrate English ice hockey talent in one arena, one
competition so that the scouts for England and GB national sides can view potential players.
Ice hockey is not a cheap sport, you’ll not be surprised to learn that if you opt to get involved in the
South West Conference team selection process it will not be cheap and there are NO guarantees of
selection you may get cut after any session along the way, so participation in any pre tournament games
is again NO guarantee of team selection for Conference weekend.
I am writing this letter to warn you now before you spend too much money of the expected outlay,
please read carefully and calculate the costs to you, if you feel that it is not for you please drop out
early! It will make the selection process much easier for the team if we know the players trialling are
fully committed.
Costs.
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Expect every Conference training session to cost you £10 per player, we will try to get at least
one training session per month if we can get two or more we will.
Expect at least one foreign trip with an estimated cost of £400. (not every player will be
selected to attend a foreign tournament if it takes place, attending a foreign tournament is NO
guarantee of team selection for the Conference weekend).
You will be required to purchase conference team shirt and socks estimate £45 (Not
optional!!)
You will be required to purchase conference team tracksuit estimate £45 (Not optional!!)
Conference weekend itself will cost an estimated £300 for hotel entrance and food.
How does it work?
There are NO hidden agenda’s in South West Ice Hockey, the coaches remit is to formulate a team
consisting of the best players registered with club’s in the South West Conference region, players that
will gel and play as a team that will out perform the opposing conference’s. Their goal is to show off
and champion players from the South West with the objective of getting our players recognised by the
national team selectors; and yes of course there is also a desire to win the Hull Conference
Tournament.
At the start of trials there are NO restrictions on the number of players clubs can put forward for trial,
merely a request to all club head coaches that they only put forward players that are of conference
standard.
There are NO politics in choosing players, if a club cannot produce a player of conference standard
they will not be represented! If a clubs head coach feels that his club has 15 of the best players in the
country then they could all trial; further if they all prove to be the best in trials they will all be
selected! No bias. A club shirt has NO influence on selection.
It is a fact that every player put forward is the cream of their respective clubs and it is the South West
coaches job to assess and evaluate each and every player for skating ability, puck handling, game
sense, coach ability, teamwork and more.
Remember if you child is cut he/she has still done very well to be considered as one of the best at
his/her age in the country, maintain you support and encouragement for next year; use rejection as a
springboard to work harder and be determined to prove us all wrong. Players that have not made
conference team selections have gone on to represent their country and play ice hockey at the highest
level so don’t be disheartened , work harder to gain your place in next seasons squad.
This year’s team will have two coaches from different originating clubs to aid unbiased selection, the
teams manager may offer an opinion but cannot make a decision on team selection, unlike in football.
Thanks for reading this letter, I hope I’ve not put you off but just set your expectations, please feel free
to ask any questions you may have.
Regards