What a fantastic event on Sunday 24th April as over 250 Junior members and their families descended upon College Meadow for some fun games, Adults vs Kids matches, presentations including medals, trophies and certificates and a vast feast fit for a king. It was a terrific day with the youngsters enjoying the chance to take on their parents, grandparents, siblings and family is some special matches before some special awards and then tucking into a fine spread of food. Huge thanks to Kyoko & Charlie Leadlay (Boys U10 Managers) for organising & coordinating the magnificent buffet.

Lots of pictures on the website for you to enjoy!

BOEHC Junior Section Season Review

It’s been another fantastic year for our Junior Section as it continues to develop and expand. It has become the true heart of the club brought to life by a team of special volunteers and made possible by the vital generosity of our sponsors Grand Cru Co and KFH. Under the visionary leadership of Chairman Matt Wilde, the fantastic organisational skills of Secretary Amanda Hutchings and the energy of charismatic Head Coach Sam Djavit BOEHC Juniors are firmly back on the map and participating successfully in competitions all over the South East. We now Coach over 200 youngsters on a Sunday morning and at numerous ‘satellite clubs’ in schools in the surrounding area. The membership is now an equal mix of boys and girls who attend a range of schools from across several boroughs. This season we welcomed invaluable Parent Managers to each age group and a number of new coaches and assistants. In addition a host of Young Leaders joined the team assisting with Coaching across the section.

The Men’s 1st XI volunteered 1 or 2 players on a weekly basis before Christmas to assist with coaching and these duties were taken on by two young South African Gap Year sportsman from Eltham College thereafter.

Weekly coaching sessions have been supplemented every 2 or 3 weeks by a series of Competitions and tournaments home and away. We had 3 x Mixed U8 teams playing successfully in their first tournament this season with some impressive talent for the future in their ranks. Our U10 Boys and U10 Girls made huge progress from the first tournaments of the season to the last. Dedication and self-belief drove them on to turnaround initial results and both teams finished strongly. The U12 Boys and U12 Girls are bursting with talent all across the pitch and made significant strides in some tournaments taking the scalps of many well established club teams. A new influx of Girls into our U14 and U16 group swelled their numbers and they made their debuts in competitive competitions with great success and confidence. The Boys U14, U16 and U18 made the progressive switch from the Kent Boys League into the very competitive and prestigious Mercian Home Counties Colts Hockey League. This is a higher standard of competition based across the region against some of the country’s top teams. All the boys did the club proud with a good mix of results. Their performances were always fully committed and brave. The Eltham College 1st Team (U18) that brilliantly won the esteemed Kent Schools Cup 2016 featured 12 out of 16 boys who play for the Club.

The Club has numerous Juniors players involved with the National England Hockey Player Pathway programme who are attending County and Regional JDC, JAC & JRPC training centres. A good number of boys also represent the County at various age levels and some are part of the Regional Squads. These numbers increase every year as our Juniors benefit at an early age from coaching and competition at the club. It’s enormously important for the Club’s sustainability and continued success that our Juniors progress into the Senior teams. It’s therefore hugely satisfying to see so many ‘graduates’ and ‘current students’ from our Junior Academy now competing positively in Senior Men’s and Ladies Teams up and down the Club.

BOEHC Junior Awards Winners 2015/2016
Coaches Player of the Season & Most Improved Player

U16 Boys
CPOTS Gabriel Downer
Most improved Bertie Page

U16/14 Girls
CPOTS Amber Dirrane
Most Improved Georgia Davies

U14 Boys
CPOTS Will Leverton
Runner Up Will Grabham, James Elliot
Most Improved Josh Clark
Runner Up Ben Kelpie

U12 Girls
CPOTS Emma Huxley & Betrys Galloni
Most Improved Evie Camp

U12 Boys
CPOTS Fergus Nisbet
Runners Up Tom Buckle, Theo Austin
Most improved Sam Botha
Runners Up Max Glegg, Stefano Bertero, Niall Gill

U10 Boys
CPOTS: Charlie Dykes
Runners Up Michael Crabbe, Issac Gill
Most Improved: Charlie Corp
Runners Up Shea Hutchins, Daniel Miles Kingston

Special awards to GKs: Pieter Mitchell, Ben Blaber

U10 Girls
CPOTS: Nina Bowles
Most improved: Sumi Kanapathippillai

U8 Boys
CPOTS William Galloni
Runners Up Syun Patel
Most Improved Christopher Squire
Runner Up Kit McPherson

U8 Girls
CPOTS Millicent Wright
Runner Up Charlotte Blaber
Most Improved Sybelle Welensky

U7 Boys
CPOTS Noah Wilde
Runner Up Ivan Li-Thomson
Most Improved Herbie Halliday
Runner Up Miles Bennett

U7 Girls
CPOTS Betty Barber
Runner Up Lia Raggi
Most Improved Mya Bowles
Runner Up Lyra Couper

U6 Boys
CPOTS Kit Hardy
Runner Up Peter Squire
Most Improved Theo Gray

U6 Girls
CPOTS Samantha Viol-Petrie
Most Improved Anna McLeod

We are indebted to the following volunteers for their dedication, input, generosity and selflessness. Without you our Junior Section would not exist. An enormous thank you to all of you:

Junior Chair Matt Wilde
Junior Treasurer Ravi Wickramasuriya
Junior Secretary Amanda Hutchings

U6 & U8 Mixed Coaches: Matt Wilde & Becks Ward
U10 Boys Coach: Matt Wilde Manager: Kyoko Leadlay
U10 Girls Coaches: Steve Bowles, Karen Stevenson & Sarah Bancroft Manager: Neil Arklie
U12 Boys Coach: Ravi Wickramasuriya Manager: Kirstie Nisbet
U12 Girls Coaches: Jeanette Grabham & Fenno Outen Manager: Phil Kinch
U14 Boys Coach: Chris Brown Manager: Nicola Kelpie
U14/U16 Girls Coaches: Jeanette Grabham & Fenno Outen Manager: Amanda Hutchings
U16 Boys Coaches: Sam Djavit & Paul Sexton Manager: Amanda Hutchings

Coaching Assistants: Phil Kinch, Colin Couves, Sacha DeMarigny, Tristan Lacon-Allin & Jake Lamplough.
Young Leaders Coaching Assistants: Henry Baines, Sam Hutchings, Tom Farrant, Harry Southgate & Louis Brown

Junior Committee
The Junior Section is operating at full capacity and desperately needs more Coaches, Assistants and help so please get involved – be part of the legacy and the future.
We also need some parents to help set-up and take positions on a designated Juniors Committee. Please h=get in touch if you'd like to be involved.

Sunday 1st May EH trophy Final Sunday 1st May @ Lee Valley Hockey Centre 3:30pm start (gates open from 8:30am for day of competition finals)

Tickets are now on sale. Adults £10 U18s £6 It's unreserved seating so look for the BOE Massive occupying an area and join us for the party. Wear your club shirts or something red and bring red/navy flags, banners and stuff to make a noise.

PITCH 1 - Main Stadium Pitch
09:30 Men's O50s Cup – Ben Rhydding v Richmond
11:30 Men's O40s Cup – Robinsons v Rugby and East Warwickshire
13:30 Men's Vase - Ludlow vs Haselmere
15:30 Men's Trophy – Blackheath & OEs v Guernsey
17:30 Men's Cup – Beeston v Chichester

Transport: Please note there is NO parking on site during the event except for teams vehicles.

Junior Summer Coaching: starts Sunday 15th May for 8 weeks
Summer hockey begins at College Meadow - eight week programme - must sign up beforehand please - contact Amanda: juniors@blackheath.co.uk

Sunday 22nd May
Special Junior coaching session at Lee Valley - open to all members - secure your child's place with Amanda : juniors@blackheath.co.uk

Kit
New stock and personnel in place. Order your kit now.Please see website for more details and/or contact Kit Secretary Tim Walters kit@blackheath.co.uk for more information.