Eastern Blades Hockey Club
Newsletter #1 January 2006
Letter From The Editor………
Welcome all Eastern Bladers and interested parties(??!) to the first newsletter of the
2006 season. Yes………I know you have all eagerly awaited the return of the
Bully………with promises of match results, interesting tid bits about anyone and
everyone……profiles of interesting personalities around our club (and I’ve been told
there are many!) and any other gossip I can get my hands on. My names ‘Ed’ (of
course – would you have expected anything different!) and if you have any news that
you would like put into the newsletter, please contact anyone on the committee with
your info, as they can pass it on to me with the utmost of discretion!
So you know who they are, the 2006 Committee is as follows:
Patron:
President:
Senior Vice President:
Junior Vice President:
Treasurer:
Secretary:
Junior Coordinator:
Club Captain:
Senior Men’s Coach:
Senior Women’s Coach:
Committee:
Stephen Smith
Peter Aylmore
Nathan Dent
Graeme Moore
Lyall Fairlie
Paul Sicluna
Debbie Moore
Ceri Writer
Dave Gerrans
Pam Wood
Peta Anderson
Sue Lawson
Brent Burgess
Daniel Blackford
Alan Uhe
Tony Freeman
Nick Seddon
Anne Serafini
Wendy Farmer
So don’t forget………anything that’s worth knowing about Hockey and Eastern
Blades……you’ll read it first here, in ‘The Bully’. I wish you all an enjoyable and
successful season, doing what you love doing……Playing the Game!
Cheers
‘Ed’
President’s Message…..
Welcome to season 2006.
This newsletter is the first of 3 to be posted to members during the season. This is to
provide you with a tangible link to the club. Other newsletters will be emailed or
handed out at training & games.
New Committee
The committee elected at the end of season 2005 has been busy over the summer. We
are organised into sub-committees with clear goals & responsibilities aimed at
delivering a successful season to you both on & off the field. We will continue the good
work of last years committee with a special emphasis on improving our minkey
programme & club social life.
Coaches
Dave Gerrans has been appointed mens coach for this season. Pam Wood is womens
coach again. I wish both a rewarding & successful season & ask you to support them in
the always challenging task of coaching.
See the messages from the coaches below.
Season 2006
WAHA has decided to try the concept of a 22 week season this year as follows :22 April
Round 1
3 June
Bye
15 July
Bye
2 September End Round 2
21 September Grand Final
This is for all mens & womens grades & all juniors
It is possible that some grade play unequal rounds as the season is shortened to include
18 home & away games.
Promotion & relegation rules have been altered for the Classic league, 2A, 1B & 2B.
Promotion & relegation is not automatic & playoff games will incorporated into the
final series to determine a result. An interesting experiment that we did not support so
we’ll see what happens.
Hockey Grounds to be Renamed
Following the tragic traffic accident involving club legend Roger Mac, Goldie
suggested an appropriate memorial would be to rename the grounds “Roger Macliver
Field”. This was taken up by committees lead by Peter Mcdowell & then Tony Freeman
with the help of club patron Stephan Smith MP. Smithy approached the Cities of
Bayswater & Swan. We have received notification that the Geographic Names Dept of
Land Information has approved the naming of the hockey fields at Altone Park as
“Roger Macliver Field. I will keep you posted on a possible naming ceremony. Thanks
to all involved in this worthy endeavour.
Social
As stated earlier, an emphasis this year will be to improve the opportunities for club
members to get together socially. We have planned four events during the season which
is one about every 5 to 6 weeks. A lot of ideas were thrown around but we settled on
these four as most likely to attract interest. Dates will be published when fixturing is
known:
Car Rally & fun day
Mouse racing & dish night ( this will be interesting)
Quiz night
Windup
We will concentrate on “selling” these events to ensure a good turn out of members.
The assumption is that club members want more out of belonging to a club so your
response will be a test of that Vote with your feet.
Minkey
The club will embark on a big push to increase our Minkey numbers. If you, you spouse
kids etc has a relationship with a primary school in our area, please let me know.
Personal contact is the best way to get our minkey message out through primary
schools. Your involvement will be as simple as getting our notice in the school
newsletter so don’t hold back.
If your kids are into minkey, we will be looking for guides (training provided) so please
volunteer when the time comes.
Moving from U17 to Seniors
The step from U17 to seniors can be daunting for some players, to the extent that far
too many choose not to make it. We will be contacting our juniors to encourage them to
carry on to seniors. The message can be reinforced by the seniors adopting a friendly
& encouraging approach, make the young one feel welcome & hopefully they’ll
continue. Do your bit.
Peter Aylmore
President
Senior Men’s Coach:
Yes it is that time of year again, where all hockey players dust off their
running shoes, look forlornly at their hockey sticks (hoping that skills
sessions will begin early), and start the dreaded Pre Season hockey
training.
As you probably guessed we are starting later this year. Apparently some
sort of international event in Melbourne does not allow for the average
club hockey player to go about their hockey in a normal fashion. As a
consequence to our season starting in late April, the powers to be, namely
me, decided that there was no need to start pre season until February. Given this it is
proposed that the first session will be a social drink/information session on the 9
February 2006 6pm at the Civic Hotel, Beaufort Street. As this is an important
introduction to the new season, all players are required to attend. Absenteeism will
only be accepted should the said person be able to supply a written note from their
maternal great grandmother. A training program for the first 4 weeks will
be supplied at this session.
Dave Gerrans
Senior Women’s Coach:
Hi to Everyone,
Happy New Year to you and your families. I hope that you enjoyed your festive
season. For those of us that have gained unwanted extra kilo’s over Christmas, we will
look forward to disposing of it with pre season training!!
Full training will commence on Thursday 9th March from 6-8pm at Altone Park.
For those who would like to edge into it with a little less running, this will commence
on Thursday 9th February for approximately 1 hour at Altone Park.
Match games have been organized against Melville and Hale. Those who attend
training will be rewarded with more game time. Dates and times are as follows:
Hale Turf:
1st April 9 – 11am. All grade players will be considered.
Melville Turf: There will be 2 Selection Trial Matches. Details TBA at training.
I look forward to catching up with you all again, and facing new challenges and the
start of the season.
Regards
Pam Wood