Many thanks Edd for sending your good wishes for a successful season to me and the ladies’ teams. You have many supporters amongst us and we wish you and the men’s teams great success.

I would also like to thank Carole Elliot for her selfless devotion and management of the Ladies Club over so many decades. From player at inaugural matches to Club President, she has been a staunch supporter of all things hockey at Blackheath and Elthamians, an example of how a Club can get under skin and into the soul and how to remain calm when feeling otherwise.

The summer weather has been amazing (unless you like green grass). It has been a time for players to dip into Summer hockey matches, have babies or just relax without any injuries. The grass may have stopped growing due to atypical heat, but Club elves have kept working on many issues such as the final amalgamation of the Club, training protocols, Club surveys, increasing potential membership and a new bar (remedial and decorous purposes only).

Some of you who have played Summer hockey will have been introduced to a new playing system which, during one match gave instant results. I was interested to see how this change affected people, how some embraced it quickly, others required more evidence. This ‘Shock of the New’ reaction reminded me of how important coaches will be this season, how they will have to directly and indirectly introduce new game plans and skills to players with the support of team captains, so that each player will get the ethos and run with it in confidence during the Autumn season. The success of this will rely on your feedback more than ever before. I would like you to feel that your thoughts are important to me and constructive comments are welcome. So please come to training and start to get to know your coach’s.

This season will be about YOU!

Without YOU there is no Club!

This season will also be about effective feedback!

With your feedback we can tailor the club in all areas affecting the membership, a process that will be continuous and I feel, essential. This I hope will impart a sense of ownership and it is this I’d like to encourage. Your Club will require from you each Saturday and at training to bring an available, fit, flexible, eager self to hockey. The Club will supply you with as much hockey challenge you can handle, with some socials, conventional and alternative, thrown in for good measure, because playing together makes us operate as a cohesive unit which is always more powerful than working in isolation. This has been the glue that has kept Blackheath and Elthamians successful and enjoyable for decades so here’s to more decades to come.

Come back next month for an update!