Junior News - Summer 2023

Saturday Training Times - Awards - U8s Training - Coaches - Volunteering - Junior Club Day

We've just completed our first Junior season as Beacon Hockey Club (having previously been 2 clubs—Streetly HC and Aldridge/Walsall HC). We hope the children enjoyed it, but we know we can keep improving. Here's what's new for next season, together with our award-winners for this campaign:

Junior Awards for 2022-23 Season

A big well-done to the following award-winners, as voted for by the Junior Section coaches:

• Badgers Player of the Year – Leo Samuels
• Boys U10 Player – Jonah Wood
• Girls U10 Player – Gracie Green
• Boys U12 Player – Logan Wild
• Girls U12 Player – Hemali Mittal
• Boys U14 Player – Sam M Sharp
• Girls U14 Player – Libby Humpage
• Most Improved Player – Ellie Jackson

It was tough selecting winners in some categories. To those who missed out - don't be too disappointed, keep working hard and your turn may come next season

NEW Saturday Morning Training Times

• ❗️ 09:00-10:00       U8s (starts 23rd September)
• ❗️ 10:15-11:30       U10s, U12s*

*Older players who can't attend on Wednesdays can come on Saturdays instead.

The Wednesday timings of 7:00-8:15pm for U12-U16s are unchanged.

Tournament Fees and Entries for 2023-24

1. From September, we will charge £3 per child for U8, U10s and U12s at Sunday tournaments. This will help to cover pitch costs, equipment and team entry fees.
2. Sunday tournament fees for U14 and U16 players will remain at £5. Saturday (Badger Conference) match fees will also remain at £5 for all ages.
3. We will enter the following teams in Sunday tournaments next season:

• U8 Mixed, U10 Mixed, U12 Mixed, U14 Boys, U14 Mixed, U16 Boys, U16 Mixed

Any help managing these teams will be gratefully appreciated.

Girls 11-a-side Friendlies

We won't enter any all-Girl teams in Sunday events, but we will be arranging some mixed-age Girls friendlies with Sutton, Old Sils and other clubs, to prepare our Girls for moving up to 11-a-side hockey. All girls aged U12-U16 are welcome to play.

NEW U8 Coaching - Sign up now!

We are excited to announce that we will start coaching for Under-8s in the autumn, based around the Hockey Heroes programme.

What is Hockey Heroes?

• Hockey training for children aged 5-8 yrs
• Directly supported by England Hockey
• One 8-week course per term.
• First course starts 23rd Sept, 09:00-10:00 at Streetly Academy
• £40 for first course, discounts for second/third courses
• Equipment pack provided – includes stick, ball, T-shirt, stickers
• Sign up now via the ClubSpark platform (link below)
• Volunteer helpers (aged 14-adult) needed – no hockey experience required! Training provided. Message Gary or DaveC to enquire
• Find out more: https://play.englandhockey.co.uk/hockeyheroes

Sign up to Hockey Heroes by tapping the link below.

Extra U8 sessions: In between each Hockey Heroes course, we will keep running U8 sessions at £3 per session (pay-as-you-train), managed via Teamo. Same venue and training times. We will provide confirmation of these extra sessions at a later time.

Youth Coaches

We are delighted to welcome Dave O’Brien to the club as head youth coach. Dave is a Level 2 coach with 22 years’ experience coaching in 3 sports. He will combine the role with his job as head of men's hockey development at Warwick University, as well as lead coach with Warwickshire U17 Girls.

We are also grateful for the continued support of our youth coaches including EdT, DaveC, HelenJ, AmyP, JonC, SteveB, RichF, DaveC, GaryK (Wednesdays) and MarkL, LauraS, DaveC, GaryK (Saturdays)

Volunteers

Our club is heavily reliant on volunteers for coaching, umpiring, administration and organisation.

If you can help in any way, please get in touch.

• Assistant coaches/helpers on Weds evenings and/or Sat mornings
• Matchday managers on Saturdays/Sundays
• Collecting equipment after training and at tournaments
• Handing out player refreshments on Saturday matchdays
• Taking photos / keeping stats on matchdays
• Washing bibs

Junior Club Day - Sunday 3rd September

Our first event of the new season is a fun 2-hr session at Aston Uni Recreation Ground, which will include game-based hockey activities and possibly a mini-tournament.

• Junior Club Day 10am-12pm
• Adult Club Day 12pm-5:30pm
• £5 fee to cover pitch hire
• Non-members also welcome

Safety

Please make sure your child always comes to junior training and matches with at least 1 gumshield (ideally 2, they're easily misplaced) and wearing shinpads.

No other kit is essential (not even sticks, we have those to lend), just suitable loose clothing for the weather.

If you have any questions, worries or suggestions regarding junior hockey at Beacon HC, contact Gary, Dave, Andy or any of the coaches via Teamo or email.

Look forward to seeing you all at Junior Club Day or at training.

In the meantime here are some more photos of our juniors at Saturday training.