MiniHoc have had another busy season with 155 children registered and 20 volunteer coaches/managers supporting the development of our young players. Managers and coaches have sought an increased number of fixtures to cater for all abilities, allowing the appropriate development of players within squads in a competitive environment.
See all the squad photos here in the Photo Gallery
Little Stars
Our U8 section, known as Little Stars, have been fantastic this season. We have had 45 children aged between 4 and 8 down at training each week whatever the weather. We have seen a huge improvement in all players throughout the season and they have all worked incredibly hard. Their Stick Skills award week at the end of the season demonstrated how far they have all come.
We were fortunate this season to have fixtures against Repton and Foremarke, and we were able to field 2 squads of players. The season was completed at the Ashby tournament where the team finished 2nd, they had a fantastic day and played some brilliant hockey.
We are really excited for the coming season and look forward to welcoming new players keen to give hockey a go!
Little Stars
U10 Boys
What an amazing season the U10 boys have had. The boys had some early success in the Shobnall tournaments beating Foremarke in a friendly fixture. Our first big test came at the Foremarke tournament. Despite a cold day we made it through to the final against Solihull School. It was a tight game ending in a 0 – 0 draw. Suddenly Josh, our goalie, was under the spotlight for flicks. We won 3-2! The dads really enjoyed the tea and cake that day.
At the county championships, the games were very close – especially against the Belper Steelers – who only allowed us to win 1-0. We were crowned County Champions after going on to beat both Chesterfield and Repton.
At the Regional finals the boys won their group, beating all 3 team. We then went on to win the quarter final and semi final, finding ourselves the final against Rugby. They were a very good team and we lost 2-0. But to be the 2nd best team in the Midlands Region is fantastic!
U10 Boys Nailers
The Steelers team have had a lot of fixtures this season. They have played regular tournaments at Foremarke school and braved many early wet, cold and windy mornings made better by the delicious crisps and chocolate after the match. Tournaments have followed at Lichfield and Shobnall, with games against Beeston, Sutton Coldfield and Burton.
Lots of match play has helped them get used to playing together as a team and the experience of playing different teams has given them confidence. Their score lines have improved dramatically since the start of the season!
In our last tournament at Shobnall everything seemed to come together for the Steelers. it proved to be a great team performance and even without a goalkeeper they defended hard against Beeston and didn’t concede a goal. They managed to secure convincing wins against Burton and Sutton. A great end to the season. We are all looking forward to next year!
U12 Boys
The U12 Boys played in the Midlands regional tournament playing 6 matches in total winning 4, 1 draw and 1 loss coming a very creditable 9th out of 16! Well done to the boys and special thanks to the parents for yet another early start to get them to Wolverhampton!
Well done to the U12 Nailers team runners up to Repton in the county final and conceding only one goal all tournament.
Big congratulations to the U12 Boys Steelers team, without the determination and drive of these boys the u12 Nailers team would not have been as well prepared for today enabling them to come runners up overall and progress to the regionals.
U12 Boys Nailers
For many of the Steelers team this was the was their first year of playing at u12’s level against boys that where a whole year older. They played incredibly well growing in confidence as a group and I have no doubt that next year they will be pushing for top spot. Well done boys.
U10 Girls
We’re really pleased with the excellent season all our under 10 girls have had this year. We welcomed many new faces who came for the first time to our club, a large number who stepped up from little stars, and several who stayed with the age group from last year. Managing nearly 30 at times couldn’t have been possible without the coordination behind the scenes and from those on the pitch, all of whom we are extremely grateful to. We were so very proud to field a record of three excited girls teams in the county championship having set another record on participation in friendly tournaments and fixtures in the lead up towards it. With Nailers, Steelers and Blaze teams all performing admirably, it was the Nailers team who secured the county winners title for the second year in a row, winning on penalty flicks in the final. So many of the girls have taken a tremendous leap forwards in their individual skills, game play and camaraderie, evident from a terrific performance at a challenging regional tournament and fantastic scores in stick skills within the closing weeks.
U10 Girls Nailers
U12 Girls
With 30 girls registered and 25 plus girls training each week, the future is looking bright for girls hockey at Belper. Add to that four coaches on the pitch each session, 23 fixtures in and out of the county, and a number of inter club matches, the girls individual skills as well as they’re understanding of 7 aside team play have come developed since the start of the season.
We’ve retained players, attracted new ones including two additional goal-keepers, this allowed us to enter 3 teams in the Derbyshire Tournament for the first time. This caused us a few kit issues, but our fantastic manager Dave Saxton certainly stepped up to the challenge to make sure everyone had the opportunity to play across the season and braved the brown container to put together goal keeping kits, and ensuring we had 3 sets of playing shirts.
Nailers, Steelers and Blaze all did themselves and the club proud in the Derbyshire tournament. They grew in confidence through the experience and bonded within their teams putting into practice what they’ve learned on the training pitch. All teams finding the net throughout the tournament, setting themselves targets and showing resilience on the pitch.
U12 Girls Nailers
The Nailers squad went on to secure overall victory with a 26 goal tally. This took them through to the regional round where they finished top of their group, beating Newark 5-0, Ashby 4-0, Northampton 4-0. We played our Derbyshire rivals Repton in the cross-over match. This was a sticky game, which saw us with the majority of the possession but unable to find the goal in the 12 minute game, due to a stacked Repton defence and robust defending. Our fate was to be decided on flicks. The girls professional as ever, well drilled and used to the pressure, slotted home all 3, with Repton scoring only 2. On to the semi’s against Rugby where we scored early and retained the majority of possession until the final whistle. One more hurdle, Leicester in the final. The girls took control early and the score ended with an impressive 4-1 victory. The girls were delighted to make it to National finals on the 18th May.
