New Season Newsletter

A huge welcome back from Southampton Hockey Club after the summer break! We hope you are all as excited as we are to be preparing fo the new season. Here's a quick rundown of everything you need to know so far.

This year's pre-season club day will take place on Sunday 6th September from 10:30am. This will immediately follow the first junior training session so will be a good opportunity to showcase some sociable adult hockey to the new generation of hockey players. As always, a BBQ at The View will follow. Keep your eyes peeled for the event in Teamo over the next few days and let us know if you're planning to attend so we can order an appropriate amount of food!

There are a few members who still have small amounts of unpaid dues from last season. Please head to Teamo and settle these at your earliest opportunity. Members will not be selected for the upcoming season if there are outstanding charges on account. Please note that the committee will always sympathetically consider any requests made in writing with regard to payment of membership and match fees.

Membership fees have been updated for the new season, and players can now select their desired membership option from the payments section in the Teamo app. Note that early bird options will revert to full membership prices at the end of September, so get in early for the best deal!

We are delighted to announce that from Sepember both the Ladies' and Men's performance squads will avail of dedicated external coaching.

Rob Forrest has been appointed as Ladies' 1XI head coach, bringing his years of national league experience with Chichester Hockey Club, and adding much needed match day support as the Ladies' 1XI look to build upon last year's South Central Premier Div 1 season.

After several years with the Ladies' 1XI, and bringing a wealth of coaching experience to the men's section, Ally Birch has been appointed as Men's 1XI head coach, as they make a promotion push, supported by some excellent young talent.

We wish both coaches and 1XI teams the best of luck in the upcoming season!

To support the changes in 1XI coaching and in an attempt to improve the overall quality of coaching provision at the club, several changes have been made to training times and days. Men's Club training and Ladies' 2XI and 3XI will now take place on Thursdays 19:30-21:00, and Ladies' 1XI training will now move to Wednesdays 19:30-21:00. All other training will remain on last years' schedule, with some minor timing changes. Full details can be found below.

We are currently in the process of finalising fixtures for the upcoming season. They have been published on the South Central website, but note that times (and dates) may be subect to change until the league deadline of the first week of September. Once we have final confirmation, fixtures will be uploaded to Teamo so you can begin setting your availability.

Key dates:

First pre-season fixtures - 5th September

First league matches - 19th September

Christmas break - 26th December and 2nd January

Last league fixtures - 10th April

For those interested, we are running a 'just for fun' FPL league. Join league code bogii2 to get involved! Note, the first gameweek deadline is 18:30 21st August, so get in quick!

Fantasy hockey will return this season! The site is currently being set up and stats from last season being ported over, so keep your eyes peeled for a seperate announcement in the coming week as to how you can get involved!