Click for full size/
Some pics of the Kobras tournament below, the U14s ones thanks to Tricia MacPherson.
Great pic, courtesy of Karen.
The potential M2s squad for next season is an excellent demonstration of hockey’s attraction as a family sport. Take a look at this:
Dads and lads both in the squad
Steven and Finlay
Eric and Robbie
Mike and Douglas
Brian and Joe
Used to have boys playing for the mens’ teams
Monty
Andy
Vince
Stuart
Mutt
With sons and daughters who will undoubtedly play for KHC teams
James
Iain
15 members of the squad with family connections.
It wasn’t meant to happen quite so early in the season, but with the L2s struggling for numbers, we took the plunge and put no fewer than four members of the girls’ development squad into the team to play the season’s opener, against reigning Midland 1 champions Madras.
Fair to say that the coaches were somewhat concerned about whether the girls would cope, particularly since three of the four were the wrong side of 14 years old and Madras are a tough team to play against.
We needn’t have worried though, as they adapted remarkably quickly and for the last 20 minutes we were starting to play some fast counterattacking hockey, with the girls adhering to the structure as if they’d been doing it for years. The result didn’t go our way, but the omens are good.
This season’s story is going to be about how we get all the talent we have at our disposal out onto the pitch on a regular basis. #problemsofsuccess
The annual Dunfermline City preseason tournament took place on Sunday and we sent a mixed a ability team down to try their luck against a host of other local sides. It's fair to say that we came second quite a lot, but for a team fielding several people who had only been playing for since the summer and three youngsters it wasn't bad at all, with performances improving throughout the day and we came away with a victory in our final game against the hosts.
And what a nice time we had too. It was just stress-free fun from beginning to end.
We should take note of the fearless performance of Finlay McColl, who got stuck into everything that moved, and to Ollie and Pete, who managed to floor each other in a spectacular wipeout that showed the opposition that we really meant business. Oh yes, and to Bart and William, who alternated in goal and kept us afloat until we remembered how to play.
Some pics below. Many thanks to Gerrold Kuijpers.
Congratulations to Rachel Leslie, who has been selected for the Midlands District U16 training squad.
There were another four former Kobras spread across the U16 and U18 squads.
One of the joys of the club having its own pitch is the opportunity for people to quietly pass on knowledge to others. So on Wednesday we had one of the ladies teaching one of the girls' development squad how to drag flick.
It's going to be an awesome season.
Two ladies ganging up on an old man...
Well we got away with it by the skin of our teeth in terms of the weather - threatening all day, but not actually raining until the last few minutes, but what a good time we had! There was hockey skittles, hockey bowling, hockey croquet, target shooting and the legendary "bash the ball at a rolling tyre" game. There were beefburgers, cheeseburgers, cakes, biscuits and assorted unhealthy stuff. There were mini games, medium games, and a big game when the dads and lads, lots of daughters, and quite few players from the adult sections just all got on the pitch and played some hockey.
This is the way it should be.
We raised just over £200 for club funds once all the costs were taken into account.
Thanks as ever to all those who helped organise, especially Vicky who ran the show like clockwork. And of course to all those who mucked in and cooked, baked, flipped burgers, ran activities, took photos, cheered everybody on, and generally helped the day run smoothly.
I was struck, when editing the photos, just how many people were smiling on the pitch.
That's the way it should be too.
The Madras tournament is traditionally the nice one - a summer's day in St Andrews should be balmy warm, the surroundings are nice, and Madras have been known to turn up with cakes from Fisher and Donaldson. It's well worth turning up for on the whole.
Not this time though. The U10s got away with it, but everyone else played in torrential rain from beginning to end. Your coaches were a couple of proverbial drowned rats at the end of it.
It was eventful stuff too. Fraser volunteered to play a couple of games for Carnegie and got a crack on the knee with a stick in return. He cheered up when he learned that the next game gave him a chance to play against (and humiliate) his sister though.
Jessica, just coming back from holidays, had to shake off her fatigue to play her first game at U12. "A bit nervous" we were told. That was before she started running rings round everyone. Fatigue did catch up with her after a couple of games, but normal service was restored with a generous supply of biscuits between games, and she came away with a goal to her credit.
Iona was on fire, going round, through and over anyone who dared to get in her way. One of the opposition goalies seemed to be a bit irritated by having to pick the ball out of his net quite so often.
Finlay was playing like a man possessed, and revealed a feisty side to his quiet demeanour when the opposition started to get a bit flashy. Quite right too.
Thanks to Dave and Dan and Stuart for helping with the team supervision, and well done to everyone who braved the rain to play, particularly those who doubled up to play at more than one age group. What would we do without you?!
Tonight saw the first of our summer skills workshops, with the focus on short corner skills. It's fair to say that everyone got a great deal out of it - it makes a big difference to be able to focus on one area for two hours solid, without having to worry about time or temperature. Top banter among the coachees and some really good progress on upping the short corner standards across the club.
Many thanks to David McIntyre for volunteering to do the coaching.
The workshops are open to adult members and to the older Kobras. For the next couple of weeks, we have advanced and basic skills workshops running in parallel. Details below. If you haven't signed up but are interested in coming along, just let us know via the club email.
12 Jul Advanced: Disguised passes, Basic: Indian dribble
19 Jul Advanced: Tomahawks, Basic: Slap
26 Jul Advanced: Aerials