The recent EHB Roadshows that culminated with a meeting
at the Connaught Rooms in London on Monday, October 17th were aimed at
passing on to us, the “Hockey Family”, what the EHB has planned to make use
of the Olympics in 2012 to further the interests of our sport .
The meeting started with a lot of facts and figures about the Games and
hockey in particular. These included:
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Hockey will run from Day 2 to Day 15 , from 8.30am to
10.45pm (that is 27/8 to 11/8) |
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The stadium will hold 16k and there are 630k tickets –
making it the 3rd biggest sport in terms of tickets. |
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Every match will be on the BBC – that is games not just
the GB ones! |
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The pitch has been laid, and last week the GB team
practised on it
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The next section of the event dealt with what the EHB had
been doing in preparation off-the-field.. The infrastructure for the game is
in place with:
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Single system now well-established (praise was given to
The Counties for their work in making this happen) |
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The Clubs First programme established; and |
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The start made on the Coaching pathway
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Sally Mundy The EHB Chief Executive, then went to talk
about the “new games”:
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Quicksticks – aimed at primary school children – mention
was made of the number of Quicksticks festivals that had been organised
by School Sports Partnerships |
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The rebadging of Mini Hockey as In2Hockey for 7-a-side
aimed at 13 to14 year olds and new 6 a –side version aimed at 11 to12
year olds to act as a transition from Quicksticks to the full game.
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Rush Hockey aimed at adults who don’t want to commit to
the rigours of club hockey and only want an occasional game.
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The other initiative that was in place for adults was the
“Back to Hockey” programme aimed at getting back into the game ladies.
She then talked about the thorny issue of ticketing, explaining that there
were restrictions on the numbers that could be made available to the Hockey
Family covered by Olympic regulations.20K tickets were made available
associations to clubs and county associations. The EHB are currently
negotiating for an extra 7.5k tickets that can be made available to “the
Hockey Family”.
The test event will be on May 2nd to 5th and it is hoped that tickets will
be able to made available to “the Hockey Family” with a priority.
David Faulkner, The EHB Performance Director, gave an overview of what was
happening on-the field with the International teams. He talked about the
following topics:
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Central program at Bisham and what it had meant |
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Team culture and behaviour development |
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Sports Science and in particular the importance of the
strength and conditioning programme.
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The last part of the formal meeting was Sally Mundy and
Ian Wilson, the EHB Business & Finance Director, doing a double act to
explain what the “Hockey Nation” programme involved. This started with the
EHB pledge to the Hockey Nation is two-fold:
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We pledge to the Hockey Nation to give our best on the
pitch for the nation and our sport; and |
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We pledge to the Hockey Nation to provide opportunities
for everyone to enjoy our sport and feel part of the Hockey Nation in
2012
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Sally and Ian then went to talk about the series of
events that have been organised leading to and following the Olympics:
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Come and Meet Event: The aim is to get to
600 schools and to introduce In2Hockey (as part of the roll-out of the
game). The offer includes the presence of an International at the event.
There is an online registration process if any Herts schools are
interested. If you get accepted, please let me know (Simon.
Holloway), so that a member of the Herts HA can be present on the
day. |
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The Big Dribble. This involves an enormous
hockey ball that looks to be as high as a single storey building! During
April and May, this Ball will travel the whole of GB to about 50
destinations (not the same as where the Olympic torch may be seen). The
aim is to gain local publicity for the sport. There will a be dribbling
competition which will form part of a challenge to beat the world record
for the longest dribble of 2012km. Money will be raised for the NSPCC,
which will allow the EHB to have access to the NSPCC celebrities to help
publicise the event. (NB: the Olympic torch is likely to come to the
University of Hertfordshire on the date of the Herts Schools Games in
July). If any clubs would like to offer their area as one of the 50
venues, then approach the EHB and let
Tom Godfrey know so that we can co-ordinate across the County.
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Roadshows.: The aim is to help clubs
promote themselves locally by running a come and have a go day for all
age groups. They can be linked to a Big Dribble event. The Herts HA
thinks this is a really god idea and we would encourage all clubs to
organise an event. Please let
Tom Godfrey know if you are going to organise an event so that he
can post the details on the Herts Hockey web site. If you organise an
event you may get an International to visit on the day. |
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Hockey Houses. You may have seen that the
EHB has gained M&B Harvester restaurants as a sponsor. 35 M&B pubs (4 in
London) have been designated as Hockey Houses where you can go an watch
GB matches. Clubs can apparently obtain bunting and other pieces for
their own club house. |
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Coach Engagement Day: This is aimed at
Qualified Coaches (and Young Leaders) to come a n witness a GB training
session either at Bisham or on the Olympic ground. It will initially be
offered to coaches and then if their any spare spaces it will be offered
to non-coaches.
• Send Off Gala Dinner. This will be held at the Grange Hotel in London
on July 12th. So any of you who have access to a corporate budget and
would like to buy a table, get in touch with the EHB. |
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The 5 week frenzy. This will run from the
end of July to early September. It is here that the EHB would like clubs
to make pledges to help in running events to get new people into the
event - anything from Quicksticks, In2Hockey, Rush, Hockey, Masters
Hockey. It could be a way of recruiting volunteers as well as new
players. To register you will need to go to a new web portal to enter
your details. Herts HA feel it would be good if we could co-ordinate
these events if clubs go for them across the county so that as a County
we can offer a co-ordinated view to the general public. Please contact
me (Simon
Holloway) if you decide to register so that we can put the details
onto the Herts web site.
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Hertfordshire Hockey Association
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