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Under 16s crowned Indoor Champions at National Finals!
It’s been an exhausting weekend, with six hours of travelling and six 24 minute games of hockey, but Havant Hockey Club is now the proud owner of a trophy engraved with “Boys U16 Clubs National Hockey Indoor Championships Winners 2012”
A brief summary: Played 6, won 6. We were the only team in the two pools to win all our pool matches. The first was against Ashmoor Hockey Club (4-2) – exactly the same boys who last weekend won the National Schools Indoor Championships under their other name of South Dartmoor College. Next came City of Peterborough (2-6), then after a night in a hotel in Wonderful Wolverhampton, Beeston (4-1) and Ben Rhydding (5-1). The semi-final was a repeat of the South final, against Canterbury who are the reigning National Champions. Havant went 2-0 down within the first few minutes, but then woke up and won 5-3. The final was a repeat of our first match on Saturday – against Ashmoor who had benefitted from our training in the first game and won their remaining pool matches and beaten Bath in their semi-final. A very tense match saw Havant come out 2-1 winners.
Thank you very much to David Faulkner for coaching the team, to the families for taking the boys to Wolverhampton and supporting them, and to the boys for making all the work worth while. Well done.
Team: Laurie Bowden, JJ Brown, Joe Budgen, Josh Darlington, Piers Eveleigh, David Jones, Tom Lavery, Ethan Levy, Robbie Mansell, Ollie Nail, Tom Penlington
Thanks Emlyn Jones.
U18's do Havant proud in National Finals.
What a weekend of Indoor Hockey!! The U18 boys were in action in the National U18 Boys Finals held at Whitgift School, Croydon.
Havant started the weekend fixtures well with a solid win 4-1 win against Peterborough followed by a convincing 7-0 win against Doncaster. In both games Havant played classic indoor hockey with excellent movement and interchange between all players on the pitch (this was commented on by a number of umpires). As evidenced by the fact that at the close on Saturday 6 of our 9 member team had featured on the score sheet.
Our second two pool games on the Sunday proved to be closer contests, firstly against Cannock who having already lost a game needed to win to keep their chances alive. Havant did not perform to the standards of the previous two matches losing 4-1. After a back to basics talk from the coach, Peter Nail the team came out against Isca with renewed vigour, controlling the game from start to finish with a 5-2 victory, booking their place in the semi finals as pool winners. Their opponents were a strong Taunton Vale team, with Wycombe and Cannock making up the other semi final.
Havant's Semi Final followed Wycombe versus Cannock, with Wycombe comming out eventual winners 2-1 after a keenly contested match. Our match aganist Taunton Vale showed great character and determination with all squad members stepping up and delivering a great performance, at times producing one touch hockey that ripped the opposition apart. Taunton Vale were worthy opponents requiring Aaron Hoare to make some excellent saves, however, our quality and maturity was clearly demonstrated during the tense final with Havant coming out 4-3 winners.
The final against Wycombe did not start well for Havant going behind after 30 seconds to a well worked goal. The remainder of the half was well contested with both sides playing high quality hockey ending 0-1 to Wycombe. Wycombe extended their lead 4 minutes into the second half, this had the effect of boosting Havant's resolve having a couple of very close chances just going wide of the goal. With 3 minutes to go Havant took off their keeper with Lee wake putting on the kicking back vest. Within 30 seconds Wycombe had one man sent off with a Yellow card Havant then pressed further scoring from a well worked penalty corner. With 30 seconds left on the clock Havant worked the ball around the court at pace allowing Sam Hatherley to drive into the opponents D and deliver a pass to the waiting Jack Culmer to score (19 seconds on the clock). The match finally ending all square 2-2, flicks then followed.
The final scene of this epic saw Wycombe come out victors on flicks, however, every member of the Havant team should hold their heads high as they have played super hockey over this weekend. They have listened to Peter Nail's sound advice and applied this effectively in the matches. Disappointing we could not put the cherry on the cake but an excellent performance from all involved.
Under 18 Squad: Sam Hatherley, Daniel Faulkner, Ben Mackey, Charlie Stubbings, Josh Gibbard, Lee Wake, Aaron Hoare, Jack Culmer, Matt Boote
Thanks Peter Hatherley
President hails Juniors’ successes!
As President of this great club I speak personally and I am sure on behalf of the whole membership when I say how proud we are to hear about the successes of our under 18 and under 16 boys after their recent performances in the National Indoor Championship Finals.
To have both age groups in the finals was a tremendous achievement and for our under 16's to be National Champions winning all their games, it does not get any better. To all the boys many congratulations for the way you played and conducted yourselves last weekend, you have brought great pride to your club. To the coaches, managers and support staff you must be immensely proud of these achievements, which are hopefully a just reward for your expertise, guidance and commitment, that you have freely given to the squads and to Havant Hockey Club.
To the parents thank you for the support that you not only give to your children traveling and staying to be part of the party, but also to the overall success of our club. Together as a team as we saw last weekend you are a winning formula.
To all sponsors and patrons who give so generously to the club, I hope this success is gratifying to you as we continue to invest in the youth of today with great success. As is so often the case, we have provided the opportunity and our boys have excelled.
Well done to all. The above, is one of the reasons why we are such a great club.
Chris Pickett
President.
