President's Mid-season Report

Men’s Teams : The 1st team although 6th are only 5 points off the top in what is clearly a tight race, whilst the 2nd team are 2nd only one point behind the leaders and the 3rd team are 6 points clear at the top of their league, with the 4th team mid-table in the same league. Out of our other Men’s sides the 5th and 7th teams are comfortably mid-table whilst our “social” 6th team is at the foot of their table. Our 8th team are now just playing friendlies but nonetheless providing hockey experience to some younger players.   Ladies Teams: Our 1st team have won all but one of their matches, are top of their league and are in the last 16 of the EHB Women’s Trophy, a fantastic start and we hope this continues. The 2nd team after an inconsistent start are showing excellent form and are now 3rd in their league whilst our young 3rd team are showing great progress and are joint top in their league. The Ladies 4th team are unlucky to be 9th (out of 12) but I’m sure they will pull to safety. It is a similar story for 5th and 6th teams who are playing quite well, improving all the time but only just off the bottom in their leagues. Also, it is also great to congratulate two girls who have been included in their respective England age group squads for the first time, Saskia Swatland(U18) and Natalie Stevens (U16), in addition to Lily Wolstenholme (U18) and Jenni Park (U16); well done, the club is very proud of your achievements and good luck. Juniors: Regular Sunday morning training is going well and it is great to see a new generation of coaches getting involved, critical for our future success. Our boys Badgers and Beavers are having tough seasons but getting experience which will stand them in good stead for the future and our Vixens (U13 Girls) continue to show great promise. In the EHB competitions our U16 and U14 girls have already qualified for the North finals and if the U16 and U14 boys are successful in their final group matches they will join them. Both our U18 boys and girls had very narrow defeats in the EHB Cup but are subsequently through to the last 16 of the Plate competition, with every chance of progressing a long way. Our final (Christmas) Hockey camp of the year has been another great success and our thanks to Kelvin for such a fantastic effort. Which brings me onto the important job of thanking all our volunteers, from the Executive Committee, Coaches, Umpires , Managers, who all do such a great job – thank you, your efforts are really appreciated. So I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you in January, fit and raring to go to finish off this season in style!   Graham Bryant President AEHC