Did you realise that the Hockey Wales Club of the Year 2014 is on your doorstep? Did you realise that the Youth Section of the Year 2014, is also on your doorstep? The National Governing body for the sport of Hockey in Wales awarded both these prestigious awards to Abergavenny Hockey Club at their event in October 2014 at the Vale Hotel.
The awards acknowledge that Abergavenny is a well run club with numerous volunteers giving their time to develop the sport they love, opening up the opportunity for individuals of any age or gender, to give the sport a go.
Hockey is an Olympic sport, with separate competitions for Men and Ladies. International competitions also occur from various youth ages right up to veterans hockey with Over 70s competing in their own World cup! Few team sports can match this variety.
At the club, playing achievements have been notable in the recent past. The Men’s team were crowned league champions in 2013-14 and look set to finish in the top half of Division 1 following that promotion. The Ladies section fields 2 teams in the South Wales league, the 1st XI currently sit top of their division and promotion is in their hands. The Youth section in recent years have produced cup final appearances for the U9, U13 Girls, U15 Boys sections, and the U13 Boys are current Welsh champions.
The sport of hockey battles with a common perception that it is a “Girl’s game”. Nothing could be farther from the truth; recent rule changes have increased the pace of the game and simplified things considerably. Formation and style of play is comparable to that in football, the only difference being that you hit a small ball with your stick – oh, and there’s no offside rule!
Recent years have seen participation levels within the club grow, particularly in the Youth and Ladies sections. The club has identified a priority area to be to grow the Men’s section. With outstanding talent coming through from the youth section, more senior men are required to help grow the club and take advantage of this talent. We hope to run some specific sessions for men over the summer to really try and attract men into the game.
The club would like to invite any players (aged 15+) to come to some friendly evening games after Easter. The format will be a simple one – 7 a side mixed matches played across the pitch. Teams will be split up fairly on the night and we just play. No drills. No fitness. No commitment. Just play and see if you like it. These will be taking place on the Astroturf at the back of the Leisure Centre on Thursday evenings between 8pm and 9:30pm, 16th April – 21st May. Come along, give it a go, we’ll lend you some equipment!
Keep your eye on our website www.abergavennyhockey.co.uk, like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/abergavennyhockey and follow us on Twitter @AHCOFFICIAL