This morning we were down at KGV bright and early to meet Jamie Blamire, the managing director of Ecosse Sports, who was to sign the contract for the pitch replacement. Jamie, as you can see, was dressed for action, and by this afternoon he had managed to turn our beloved beach at KGV into this:
Congratulations to Ollie Wilson, who has been selected for the Scotland U16 Development Squad. Which is quite impressive at the age of 11 and three quarters!
Remember Kobras, practice is what gets you to this level. Lots of practice!
A couple of days ago, we placed the order for the new pitch. The contract was awarded to Ecosse Sports Ltd, of Newbridge, Edinburgh.
The playing surface will be manufactured by TigerTurf, and is similar to the ones at Dollar and the High School of Dundee. The playing surface will be dark green, with run-off areas in blue. Ecosse will also replace the shockpad - the underlay underneath the playing surface.
We have also engaged International Sports Turf Engineering Consultants of Buxton, Derbyshire to advise us during the installation.
Congratulations to men's club captain Chris Robson who is now a daddy, and to Gillian too, and welcome to Georgie MacPherson Robson (7 lb 8oz), who has been pencilled in for her ladies debut in the 2029-30 season.
Rumours that Georgie has already explained to her parents that "It's a simple game" are said to be unfounded.
It was a big day at the KGV today, as we signed the lease that will pass control of the KGV hockey pitch over to Kinross Astro, our new charity.
The handover date is 1 January 2017.
The pitch is a mess, but it's ours now.
Last weekend, Pete, Libby and Gurdi were out helping the cycling club with the marshalling at the cyclocross. There should be a donation to club funds in return. Pictures below. Libby had already expired from hypothermia...
Congratulations to Kara Shiels who has been selected for the Scotland U16 girls squad.
I hope all you Kobras goalies are going be paying extra attention when she does goalie training now!
As you are no doubt aware, we have recently been running a survey to find out what members of the club and Kobras parents think about what we are doing. The survey closed last week, and we thought we'd give you a flavour of some of the themes that came out. We had something like 50 responses, so we have covered more than a quarter of the members of the club. Thanks to everyone who took the time to complete the form.
1. Marks out of ten for the club
| Responder | Average score |
|---|---|
| Kobras parents | 8.6 |
| Korinthians | 8.4 |
| Ladies | 7.8 |
| Men | 7.5 |
| Overall | 8.0 |
2. What do we do well?
Youth
Friendly and inclusive
Communications
3. What could we do better?
Better on the social front (mainly `more socials’ but some ‘be friendlier’; beer/teas after games)
Better hockey (coaching appropriate to skill level needed, goalie coaching)
Cohesion (1s and 2s mentality, adults and juniors. Also teams picked on merit.)
More hockey (for Kobras, alternative training opportunities, social team, mixed team)
4. Are you willing to help by becoming a...?
| Responder | Umpire | Coach | First aider |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kobras parents | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| Korinthians | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Ladies | 4 | 6 | 10 |
| Men | 8 | 7 | 9 |
| Total | 15 | 16 | 29 |
5. Should we provide teas at KGV?
| Response | Number |
|---|---|
| Yes | 48 |
| No | 2 |
| Total | 50 |
The committee is going to think about what we can do to respond in those areas where people think we are falling short. Watch this space.
Many thanks to the ladies (party) section of the club (and Andy Mac too!) for their efforts at last week's Halloween bash at the KGV clubhouse, which raised over £100 for club funds.
Thanks go out to the twenty-odd folk who turned out to scrape sludge off the pitch this morning. The pitch was looking rather lovely by the time we'd finished and the Young Farmers managed a game this afternoon too, so it looks as though our efforts will have been worth it.
Fingers crossed that it holds up better in the weeks ahead.
As most people probably now know, the pitch has started to flood again. We think this is because the algae has started growing again, as it does at this time of year. In previous years, the first freeze has killed the algae off again, and the pitch has started to drain (although there is then the matter of getting the playing surface clean). We are investigating what (if any) steps we can take to get the pitch playable in the meantime.
At this point, you are probably wondering what is happening with the pitch replacement project.
We are still working on finalising the terms of the lease for the land under the pitch. We think that we are now down to minor details, and so we hope to have final agreement with KGV soon.
Then we have to award the contract, which is simply a matter of saying who we want to do the work.
After that it's a matter of when the contractor can deliver. This is a function of many things - their workload, the lead time for getting the new playing surface manufactured, and most particularly the weather. The new shockpad needs to be installed when temperatures are above 5°C. This probably means in March at the earliest.
Chins up!
