TWC HOCKEY BY BEN MARSDEN DIRECTOR OF HOCKEY

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TWC HOCKEY BY BEN MARSDEN DIRECTOR OF HOCKEY WIMBLEDON HOCKEY REACHED NEW HEIGHTS IN 2016/17 SEASON WITH THE MEN S AND LADIES 1 ST TEAMS AND JUNIORS BREAKING CLUB RECORDS!

In the last 8 they faced UHC Hamburg, the German side with the greatest record in European club history.

1 TWC HOCKEY BY BEN MARSDEN DIRECTOR OF HOCKEY WIMBLEDON HOCKEY REACHED NEW HEIGHTS IN 2016/17 SEASON WITH THE MEN S AND LADIES 1 ST TEAMS AND JUNIORS BREAKING CLUB RECORDS! The Men s 1s were run away winners of the Premier League and represented England in the Televised European Club Championship. In the last 8 they faced UHC Hamburg, the German side with the greatest record in European club history. In a game played at the superb Eindhoven Hockey Stadium in front of a packed house, Wimbledon triumphed with a 3-1 victory. This meant that they had to beat Germany s Mannheim in the play-off final to go into the last four. A thrilling game ended 2-2 but in a penalty shoot-out, they scored all five of their goals to go through and become the first British club to achieve a last four European finish since Reading, seven years earlier. This victory is a culmination of hard work and investment from so many people and sponsors. Captain Johnny Kinder summed it up when he said that it was an all-round team effort. It is also important to acknowledge the contribution of the backup staff and the two Olympic Bens (Hawes and Marsden), who have steered the team over the previous years, plus a salute to the old guard of Richard Holliday, Ben Rea and Richard Creed, who, over 10 years ago, put all this in motion. The move in 10 years from Surrey/Hampshire South League 2, five leagues below the Premier League, to the top four in Europe, is an incredible story. Congratulations to all who have been, and continue to be, a part of it. The Ladies 1s broke club records by winning the Investec East Conference League for the first time. This meant that they went through the qualifying rounds for promotion to the National Premier League. With early success, they sailed into the National Finals and in the end were narrowly beaten, but learnt a lot. It was a great achievement. To have stars such as GB Olympic gold medallist, Crista Cullen, playing for the team, reflects how far our club has come and with young talent coming through, we look forward to the future with optimism. u 17

2 The move in 10 years from Surrey/Hampshire South League 2, five leagues below the Premier League, to the top four in Europe, is an incredible story. TWC Men s 1st XI Hockey team - first English club to reach final four in the Euro Hockey League since THE WIMBLEDON CLUB / ANNUAL REVIEW / 2017

JUNIOR HOCKEY the best year in THE CLUB S HISTORY We have two major aims for junior hockey: firstly to ensure that every player has a good experience, whatever their level and secondly, to provide a

3 JUNIOR HOCKEY the best year in THE CLUB S HISTORY We have two major aims for junior hockey: firstly to ensure that every player has a good experience, whatever their level and secondly, to provide a pathway that supports players from their first day trying the sport through to having the coaching and pitch-time required to reach national representative standard. WITH THESE AIMS IN MIND, 2017 HAS BEEN THE MOST SUCCESSFUL YEAR IN THE CLUB S HISTORY: We have provided hockey to a record number of boys and girls, with junior membership now pushing towards 700. We have an extra 100 fixtures to provide our players with the competitive matches they love. This has been a huge undertaking, with some age groups fielding 7 teams with every member of the squad representing the Club. A big thank you to the increasing numbers of parent helpers who have been vital in making this possible. Competition and quality at our Academy is reaching new heights thanks to an array of world-class JUNIOR HOCKEY SURREY REPRESENTATIVES / / /18 players and Performance Coaches pushing the players to improve. We have over a dozen international players coaching on a weekly basis, including 5 current GB male internationals and an increasing number of female stars, including GB international Suzy Petty and Scottish star Fiona Bruce. The hard work from the professional coaching team and parent helpers resulted in fantastic outcomes in For the first time we have had 2 junior teams qualify for the South of England Finals where our U10 Boys came third and our U10 Girls came second, making Wimbledon the highest performing club in the South of England in this age group. We were also delighted with our Surrey representations announced in November 2017, with 53 players making it into the Surrey squad, an increase of nearly 100% on last year. Not content with the 24-week season, for the first time in 2017 the juniors also enjoyed the opportunity to play summer hockey at the Ricards Lodge pitch a site we are now expanding our use of. We also kicked-off a new Friday Night Academy aimed at providing more opportunity for some of our high-potential players. With 9 Olympians and 20 international players in our ranks, we have been keen to inspire young players beyond the Club. The result has been a schools outreach programme called Quick Start Hockey aimed at encouraging junior state school children who don t have much opportunity to play hockey, to give it a try and learn from some of the best in the business. The assemblies, taster sessions and after-school clubs are already in full swing with several hundred local boys and girls getting involved. Crista Cullen (MBE and Olympic gold medallist), Ben Marsden (Olympian and UK clubcoach of the year), and Phil Roper (GB Men s Hockey Captain) make up a stellar cast of ambassadors leading the charge. Planning for the 2018/19 season is now underway with a host of exciting projects being reviewed including: introduction of Sunday hockey for U7s and U8s (currently Sunday hockey starts at U9) additional mid-week sessions for a broader group of players beyond the current Academy group one-to-one coaching with our international stars, additional pitch-time for high-performance athletes further increased number and frequency of Sunday matches to ensure all our boys and girls get the opportunity to represent the Club on a regular basis. U14 EUROPEAN HOCKEY LEAGUE For the U14 Boys EHL squad the first major excitement was in Eindhoven watching the WHC men competing in the European last16, mingling with the Wimbledon crowd and witnessing an amazing game of hockey. It was a very special experience sharing coaching and the same hotel as the Senior team with a WHC 1s player or a GB star supporting the boys and cheering them on at every turn. u 19

The new generation: U10 boys team after winning the Surrey Cup and quicksticks in training The campaign began against Real Club Polo from Barcelona.

The Dutch champions, Kampong, came next. WHC took an early lead against a well-organised team of amazing skill (the only goal Kampong conceded in the whole tournament).

The U14s were given the exciting opportunity to play on the main pitch and comprehensively outplayed the Dragons from Belgium resulting in a 0-0 draw out losing the shoot-out.

A great weekend and a huge thank you to the Club for their support, coaching from Ben, Henry and Johnny, before we left and in Eindhoven, and from parents throughout the weekend.

4 The new generation: U10 boys team after winning the Surrey Cup and quicksticks in training The campaign began against Real Club Polo from Barcelona. An even first half saw the U14s lose an early goal then equalise. The game was tight but after much Polo pressure, and a succession of amazing saves by Mango, the 2nd goal went in and we lost 2-1. The Dutch champions, Kampong, came next. WHC took an early lead against a well-organised team of amazing skill (the only goal Kampong conceded in the whole tournament). Wave after wave of Dutch pressure ended with their 3-1 victory. The U14s were given the exciting opportunity to play on the main pitch and comprehensively outplayed the Dragons from Belgium resulting in a 0-0 draw out losing the shoot-out. The day was not over though, as all boys and their families saw the Men 1s clinch their shoot-out against Mannheim. What a game! A great weekend and a huge thank you to the Club for their support, coaching from Ben, Henry and Johnny, before we left and in Eindhoven, and from parents throughout the weekend. What a great learning experience for the boys. U14 at the EHL and TWC supporters in Barcelona MEN & LADIES reaching new heights MENS 2S After getting 4 points from a challenging first few games against last season s top three, the 2s have gone on to have one of their strongest starts to the season in recent memory and currently sit 2nd in the table having won 7 of 11 games. Particular on-pitch highlights were the away 3-0 win against Southgate in the very first game and beating Spencer 3-1 to lift the Earl of Wandsworth trophy. Both victories were of course celebrated emphatically, but unfortunately the trophy was mislaid on its first outing. The bulk of the team is not much changed from last year but big name signings include the Gaffer (Callum Close), who excelled himself at the first fines meeting of the year, and James Kitcherside. We also welcome our new player/coach Tom McCarthy from Australia/USA/Germany/England, complete with bizarre hybrid accent. All are big assets to the side and have been strong contributors to our successes so far this year. As well as some new players, we ve unfortunately lost some old teammates. Infernos said goodbye to long-standing patron Tom Irons, who moved to Sydney in September, and the biggest back four in world hockey took a major hit with the loss of Luke Martin, who now plays at Old Loughts. Luke is replaced at left back by Callum, who is certainly less lippy with the umpires, even if he lacks the chest circumference. The social highlight so far was undoubtedly Ou est le poulet?, which adds to the team s ever increasing list of annual events, and we look forward to a second Magical Mystery Tour in the second half of the season. The team continues to improve and we hope to build on our early form to be real title contenders. MENS 3S Finishing 5th last season, the obvious aim for the team is to finish in the play-off places. The season started slowly and despite losing only one game, five drawn games reduced the points total. However, having hit a winning streak including a big win against Tulse Hill and Dulwich 2 s away (2-1), the team are now sitting in 5th place in the table. Difficult to beat, the team are now working on scoring goals. Jamie Caulfied is still captain, with Gareth Bint the new Social Secretary. The arrivals of Tom Pickersgill, Chris Allison, Callum Brown, Ben Spencer & Gary Breitenstein have added depth to the team and the squad is improving week on week. MENS 4S The 2016/17 season saw the 4s return to form and gain promotion. Highlights have included the cup victory, with a resounding win in the final and Nick Burt being the top scorer for the entire 20 THE WIMBLEDON CLUB / ANNUAL REVIEW / 2017

The season looks set to boil down to the Richmond return leg to decide who gets the coveted top spot. Sights are firmly set on securing back-to-back promotion.

5 Above: TWC Hockey Mens 2s team Left: Mens 4s team WHC with 31 goals. The 2017/18 season has started with a bang and at the halfway point the 4s are sitting at the top of the league with 9 wins, 1 loss and an impressive goal difference. The season looks set to boil down to the Richmond return leg to decide who gets the coveted top spot. Sights are firmly set on securing back-to-back promotion. The team has been bolstered with a few new arrivals, namely Scott, Dan Coombs and Phil. Together with ever solid performances from the 4s stalwarts and Rich fulfilling coach duties while injured. This leaves the squad in a great position to chase the big victories. MENS 5S The season has been a bit of a roller coaster. After a solid start in the beginning, they found themselves floundering. There has been a turnaround, however, with a solid commitment from the players and a determination to win. Now mid-table, the team is picking up new players, playing for each other, and has great expectations. In other team news, Richard Boddington is expecting an addition to the family any day now! We look forward to seeing another supporter on the side lines. There is a strong team culture developing and joined the 3s and 4s for a Christmas Jumper Social. It was great to show off our festive colours and have a laugh at the club house. Onwards and upwards for the 5s! The next half of the season is ours. MASTERS 1S After shocking the world of hockey by winning the Masters London League last season for the first time (after just gaining promotion the season before) the Masters 1s section have benefitted from an injection of (relatively) young talent. Over the last two years we have seen 10 players with a long history playing 1s, 2s, 3s at the club make their way to the heady heights of our Masters section, and this season, after an overhaul aimed at strengthening our 2nd team, we have one of the largest group of players in the country hovering at the wrong side of 40. The most pleasing part of it is that both masters teams are playing so well this season, and are really enjoying their hockey. Many a supporter regularly tell us how the standard of hockey played is more akin to a top EHL match, which seems about right to us. Seriously though, the team is on the up, and while we ve lost two matches we should have won this season (Georgians, Reading), not helped by injuries, we can realistically aim to be top 3. That, alongside a top-3 finish for our Masters 2s, would be a big achievement for the group. Congratulations to Kyle (last year s player of the year) and Chris (man of steel). MASTERS 2S The Masters 2s are enjoying success. Last season, the 1s won the League but perhaps at the expense of the 2s. This season the Masters 2s, with the strong support of the Masters 1s, have had a much better time of it and are currently in 3rd place thanks to some close results. Dale Vearncombe scored a winning goal with the last shot of the game against Richmond, and there was a one-goal victory against a very strong London Wayfarers Centurions. However, other victories have been more convincing with the only defeat against top club Old Cranleighans, when a draw might have better reflected the performance. The Masters 2s have been bolstered by new talent, Maurice, Darren, Mitch and Pete becoming regular players and combining with the old stalwarts. Daryl has commanded the back and Wilbur s distribution in midfield is peerless. Overall, the season has been highly enjoyable. WIMBLEDONIANS HALF-TERM REPORT Record as at 24 th November 2017 Played 7, Won 5, Drawn 1, Lost 1. A great start to the season. We have benefitted from a larger squad, in the main due to the increased strength of the Masters squads with some of their players being available to us full time. u 21

6 We have seen an increase in supporters at the side of the pitch, and this has been a massive confidence boost for the whole team. Apart from a glitch at Tunbridge Wells, we have had full squads of 14 players and in some cases have had to stand players down. Spirits are high, despite varying standards of ability and fitness, and it has been enjoyable both on and off the field. Anthony s hot teas are popular and appreciated by away teams as well as ourselves. Unfortunately, we have only managed one grass game at home to date whilst grass is not popular with some of our opponents, when they do encounter our grass they are very complimentary. The groundsmen continue to work hard to rebuff the effects of our weather and the high water table. This year the squad, led by Paddy Bowes and Ed Cole, is a great cocktail of age, skill and wit, and the atmosphere on the pitch is a joy to behold. Howard Slatter, our regular goalkeeper, kept us on our toes and the most conspicuous goalscorers were Phil Kemball, Tom Worner and Peter Pitt-Brown with contributions from seven other players. LADIES 1S At the break the Ladies 1s team are sitting 3rd having lost only 2 games and scoring 43 goals and only conceding 5. This season we welcomed new faces and we are really gelling as a team. Highlights have been so many clean sheets, and beating Southgate 9-0 and 6-0 in the return fixture. We have also seen an increase in supporters at the side of the pitch and this has been a massive confidence boost for the whole team. As always, our coaches, management and physio have been so professional and supportive, plus the ball patrol have been fantastic. We are looking forward to a strong second half of the season as we once again chase the League title. LADIES 1AS 2017 got off to a very challenging start for the Ladies 1As, having been docked 12 points by the league before the starting whistle was blown! Luckily the squad of remarkable ladies took the bad news in their stride, getting more excited to celebrate a zero points party than winning the League. We are very fortunate to have landed Nate Stewart, a talented Aussie u21 international, as our coach. After a quiet start with a bunch of noisy ladies he has fast become one of the gang. The 1As have consistently produced a fantastic level of hockey and quickly reached positive points. We are now happily mid table and looking forward to how high we can climb! Many thanks to an amazing team for their incredible positive attitude, which has made the first half of the season a pleasure! LADIES 2S It s been a bit of a tough first half of the season for the Ladies 2s but there is no doubt in the squad that there are some big wins just around the corner for us. Despite narrowly losing out, the team have put in strong performances against all of the top clubs in the League, including Guildford, Teddington and the Wanderers, with a promising win recorded against Aldershot and Farnham. A few players have made the jump up from the 2As this season and are proving to be pivotal members of the squad, which is great to see, along with their growing confidence. LADIES 2AS Last year we finished mid-table. We had several self-motivated girls that made the effort to get fitter to try and push us ahead. We have lost those girls to the 2s this year. Jenny, Gaia, Megan and Phoebe have all taken their brilliant season and continued working hard for the 2s. Maddie has now also been rewarded by being pulled up. We have therefore lost a big part of our core players from last season. We are currently 8th. This is quite a tough league this year with very strong teams. LADIES 3S The start of the 2017/18 season saw a new Captain/Coach combination for the Ladies 3s in Georgina Headley and Annie Breslin, as well as the welcome return of key players such as Sophie Farrow and our fifth graduate from the Back to Hockey program, Lizby Sharpe. The 3s have got into their stride much quicker this season and Georgina has given the team a renewed desire to play well, win games and above all enjoy our hockey. And enjoying it we are. With some great wins, already in the first half of the season we will be looking to challenge for promotion in what is a very open Division 6 this season. LADIES 4S The first half of the season has gone very well. We have eight players who remain part of the team from the promotion winning squad of last year, so it s been a period of settling in. The ages of the squad ranges from 16 to 25 years. As a group we have lots of other commitments during the week and at weekends, including school hockey, plus GCSEs and A levels. 22 THE WIMBLEDON CLUB / ANNUAL REVIEW / 2017

So, with limited spare time, we choose not to have training during the week.

We sit a comfortable 4th in the Ladies Surrey Division 8, having scored 29 goals and won over 50% of our games. We look forward to the rest of the season.

Draws that so easily should have gone our way we hope to convert into wins going forward.

7 So, with limited spare time, we choose not to have training during the week. Despite this, we all love playing hockey and the commitment on the pitch is obvious to the opposition, who often outnumber us with players on the pitch and subs. We sit a comfortable 4th in the Ladies Surrey Division 8, having scored 29 goals and won over 50% of our games. We look forward to the rest of the season. LADIES DEVELOPMENT TEAM As we reached the halfway stage of the season the Development team sits in 8th position in Surrey League 3, with a mixed bag of results. Draws that so easily should have gone our way we hope to convert into wins going forward. Our close-fought matches have been against teams that now also choose to use this League to play promising juniors, as we have been doing for a few seasons now. So far this season we have added two new juniors to the squad. Josie Keey and Lily Mercier have seamlessly settled in, showing confidence and much ability. We have also picked up some more youthful adults of a high calibre with Jo Hayter and Abi Fincher-Jones returning to hockey after having had children. Jo Fowler and Penny Stern have been positive additions for the girls to learn from. We have already been in a position to promote a couple of our juniors to the team above. BACK TO HOCKEY PROGRAM Whether it s picking up a stick for the first time, improving your fitness, so you can discuss the rules with your children or simply a reminder of your school days, Back to Hockey could be the place for you. Wimbledon s Back to Hockey program has just finished its winter term and the ladies marked it off with a victorious 1-0 win against Old Cranleighans. The victorious Wimbledon team was made up of new joiners and some old faces returning for the Monday night sessions. This game served to demonstrate the progression of our program alumni and the level of player joining us. As a club, we should take great heart from the platform we have created for new and old lovers of the game to enjoy. SOCIAL MEDIA: WIMBLEDONHC TWC HOCKEY is proudly sponsored by: 23

NEWSLETTER. Club Announcements

NEWSLETTER. Club Announcements NEWSLETTER Sunday 22 nd -29 th March 2015 Club Announcements Welcome back to Marden Russets Junior Section s newsletter, which is emailed to members, families and friends every week. Photos of matches