The Lincolnshire County Umpiring Association has organised a Young Umpires day at Surfleet on Sunday 17th October 2010 from 9.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. The course, which will be run by some of the County's top senior umpiring coaches is intended to be a fun day for boys and girls aged 8 to under 13 years old where they will learn the basic requirements of umpiring in a friendly environment. If they wish, youngsters may progress from this course to higher umpiring levels in both junior and senior hockey.

PLEASE NOTE - the course has a maximum of 32 places which will be allocated on a first come first served basis.  If you wish to take part, please contact Matthew Pilgrim sandmpilgrim@yahoo.co.uk as soon as possible. The course cost is £10 which includes rule book, whistle and certification.

UNDER 12 BOYS -  Please note that this date has unfortunately clashed with the under 12 boys' tournament at Perse School, Cambridge. This is a high quality tournament and we will need to send our best available team.

The successful Summer Sixes programme, which has enjoyed a regular attendance of over 60 members since the pitch re-opened at the end of June, will give way to pre-season training after next week.

The arrangements for team training from Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th August are as follows;

Tuesday evenings 7.00 to 8.30pm 

All 3 Ladies teams plus Men's 1st and 2nd team squads

Wednesday evenings 7.00 to 8.30pm

Men's 3rd, 4th and 5th team squads plus all goalkeepers

PLEASE NOTE THAT TRAINING WILL START PROMPTLY AT 7.00PM SO PLEASE ARRIVE BY 6.45PM AT THE LATEST.

Spalding Hockey Club hosted the England Hockey Leadership Course last weekend, with an excellent eighteen youngsters, from thirteen to eighteen years of age, in attendance. The restructured Leadership Course was only launched in the early Summer, and it is believed that Spalding are one of the first clubs in the country to have run one. The course, designed to teach young players the different roles within hockey – management, coaching, umpiring and organising – involves ten hours of theory and practical work followed by some ‘community involvement’ which will see them helping out with the Summer School hockey, organised by the club, Junior coaching through the season, and organising and officiating at local junior matches and tournaments. Once the attendees have completed this part of the course, they will be issued with their qualification -  which will lead them towards their Level 1 Umpiring and Coaching badges.  

Seventeen of the group are Spalding players, and it was good to see that they are looking to repay back some of the help they have received in the past from the club, by helping to work with the club and in particular the junior section. Course tutor, Michael Morris, said that as a result of the course, several have asked to take on management roles of junior teams for the forthcoming season, and others have enquired about the adult umpiring and coaching courses. The club are currently organising a Level One umpiring, and a junior umpiring course, and talks are in progress with England Hockey to hold a level one coaching course at the club next summer.

Eighteen of the Club's young players took part in the England Hockey Leadership Award course held at Surfleet over the weekend. The course, which included elements of playing, umpiring, team managing and event organisation, was excellently tutored by the Club's Head Junior Coach Michael Morris and proved to be extremely enjoyable for all. 

Dramatic end see's spalding runners up!! 

Spalding Hockey Club is delighted that Surfleet has been chosen as the venue for the South Lincolnshire Junior Development Centre. All junior members should receive an e-mail giving details of these sessions and the Club's coaches strongly advise all junior players to register for their appropriate age groups - under 13, under 15 and under 17 boys and girls.

Dates are September 12th and 26th, October 10th, November 7th and 21st and December 5th.All at Surfleet.

Application Forms are attached to the e-mails but please let Fred fredricmorris@yahoo.co.uk know if anyone has not received a copy.

 Closing Date for Applications is 16th July 

England Hockey has recently introduced a new Leadership Course which covers Principles of Leadership with Foundation Studies in Coaching, Umpiring and Team Management. The Club plans to run this course for its members at Surfleet on Friday 16th July (6.00 to 9.00pm) and Saturday 17th July (9.00am to 4.00pm) Although the course is intended primarily for younger members, minimum age is 13, adults will be welcome. The cost of the course material from England Hockey is £30 per candidate and with the extra costs of pitch and hall hire, this figure would normally rise to about £50 each. However, thanks to generous sponsorship from Wells Sports Foundation, the Club is able to offer this course at just £20 per candidate.

In covering 60%of the course costs, the Club hopes that participants will be willing to assist with junior hockey coaching on some dates during August (Tuesdays and Thursday 9.30 to 11.00am) and Saturday mornings (9.30 to 11.00am) from September onwards.

To register for the course, pleas contact Michael Morris mike@magic-hands.co.uk as soon as possible. 

Team Manager Adrian Bettinson was delighted with the performance of the under 12s at the Lincolnshire Finals held at Boston on Saturday. The Spalding A team won the competition with 4 wins and two draws. The team scored a total of 9 goals with Joe Higgins (4), Dominic Ibrahim (2) Harry Bettinson, James Scott and Sam Sly finding the target.

Excellent defensive and midfield work from Maisie Dobbs, Carlos Ortiz-Jimenez and Oliver Hull with some outstanding goalkeeeping from Luke Barkworth ensured that the season ended on a high.

The Club is delighted that the Lincolnshire Community Foundation in conjunction with Comic and Sport Relief has given a grant towards the cost of ten places on a Level 1 coaching course.

The club has asked England Hockey to put on a course at Surfleet at the earliest opportunity but this looks like being in spring 2011.

Lincolnshire Hockey has decided to select Glen Park, Surfleet as the venue for the  Lincs Junior Development Centre (south) for next season. The JDC, which caters for boys and girls aged 13 to 17 will hold sessions on 12th and 26th September, 10th and 24th October and 7th and 21st November between 9.30am and 5.00pm.

The next step up, the Junior Academy Centres, will be shared between Surfleet and Louth and run in spring 2011.

As a result of an increase in the number of ladies wishing to play league hockey, the Club has entered three teams in leagues for next season. The first team will compete in the Cambridgeshire Premier division and the Club will also have teams playing in the Lincolnshire Green League and Cambridgeshire league division 2.

Any ladies wishing to play, umpire or be involved in any way are invited to contact a committee member.

The D and M Sports sponsored young player of the month award was won by Evie Smith. Possibly the smallest and youngest member of Spalding Hockey, she has made fantastic progress over the last for months. Well done Evie.

ClubsFirst ReAccredited until 2013

The Club has received the following from England Hockey

It is our great pleasure to inform you that, following an independent Nominated Officer visit, and subsequent verification of your  club assessment file, Spalding Hockey Club has been recognised as working towards providing a Safe, Effective and Child friendly club environment, and as such has been re-awarded  the England Hockey ClubsFirst Accreditation.

Congratulations and well done for all of your hard work in submitting the application. 

Many thanks to Michael Morris for all his efforts on the Club's behalf.

A record 145 members and guests had a brilliant time at the Club's Annual Dinner and Presentation Evening held at the South Holland Centre in Spalding on Saturday 10th April.

A big thank you to Matt and Sally Pilgrim and all their assistants for organising the event once again. 

At the Club's Annual General Meeting held at the Surfleet Village Hall on Monday 12th April, all the available committee posts were filled. This ahs got to be the first time this has ever happened in the Club's history and augers well for the season ahead.

The sub committees have the power to co-opt members for specific tasks and help is always welcome. If you have not been elected to a specific post but would like to be involved, please contact the chairman or a committee member. 

After all the good news recently, it was disappointing that our bid for some funding for a much need clubhouse was turned down by England Hockey. The reasons given were;

1. The project does not offer value for money in comparion to other applications.

2. There is not a clear need for the project in relation to the England Hockey Board strategy and key criteria over other applications.

The second point is particularly baffling. If Surfleet was not considered part of England Hockey's strategy now, what has changed since we first applied last autumn?

If nothing, then why were we encouraged to waste so much time and effort?

Charlie Farrow of England Hockey is visiting the Club on Monday 10th May and doubtless he will be able to enlighten us. 

The Club has formed a working party to look at alternatives for next season and if you consider that you can make a contribution in any way, please contact the Chairman.

Keiron Ibrahim is awarded 1st team players player of the year for the second year in a row. Awarded by Fred Morris on the touch line after the final game of the season.

Spalding 1st finish season in STYLE