Northern Suburbs Junior Men's Hockey Newsletter

2004 #16

Thursday 24^th of June 2004

Events Calender

Last Weekend Results (19^th and 20^th of May)

Next Games (26^th and 27^th of June)

Match Reports

Norths Under 11s Report Saturday 19^th of June

We played the top team in South West United this week. Before the game I asked the kids what was the one thing they wanted to achieve today, and they all responded “to score a goal”.

Our start to the game was very good and we competed well with our opposition. This resulted in a number of penalty corners and half chances on goal. Our midfield of Luke, James and Drew all dominated their opponents. We let them score a few soft goals, but Anthony was up to the challenge as usual. He was well supported by Tom and Mitchy T.

Our attack was the best yet with their keeper making a couple of saves and us hitting the post once (again). Alexe, Cosmo and Matty all had a go and with our midfield we at times outnumbered our opposition when we took quick hits.

Best on ground for us were:

3 – Anthony (made some excellent saves in goal).

2 – Mitchell D (made some strong tackles and ran hard).

1 – Josh (played a good defensive game and fought hard).

Sadly Josh is going on holidays and will be away for 6 weeks. At least he will be back for our last game of the year and I expect he will see a lot of improvement in our team when he returns.

Thanks again to George and Callum for filling in from the under 9 team. Both had a chance to score goals for us, maybe next time fellas.

I look forward to this performance fuelling the fire in our bellies so we can move onto bigger and better things. We are on the number 1 turf at 9:15am this Saturday 26 June 2004 against Saint Andrews, which will be a great experience for us all. The more parents in the grandstand cheering for our team the better.

Things for us to work on this week: quick strong hits to our forwards, passing the ball in attack, and marking in defence. Remember last game how quick the ball ran on the turf and how easy it was to hit, pass and tackle.

Another improved performance kids, keep at it and get that fire going inside during the cold weeks ahead. Let’s all continue to improve together.

Wayne Tucker

Under 11 Coach

Norths Under 13s Report Saturday 19th of June

With the services of our regular under 11 Drew we had 11 for the game – at least I didn't have to worry about reserves.

Pretty scrappy match this one with a little bit of panic in amongst the backs which went towards some more grey hairs on their coach – I was getting a little animated in the dugout.

When we stuck to our game plan we penetrated their defences quite well. They marked very closely and our boys haven't quiet yet developed the skill to get the .5 second break you need to to get the ball. Of course this relies on the pass being firm and straight which is another skill that is coming along, but on some days is a little more present than on others.

We dropped behind in this game but fought hard to get all square and with a little luck could have gone into the lead in the last few minutes. We struggled to contain a couple of their more talented players and nearly payed the price on several occassions when we failed to mark or tackle and they went on long penetrating runs, these runs would have been better if they'd passed the ball and thankfully they didn't most times – Nicks good keeping and Andrews cool head saw us out of trouble.

To the boys credit, they knew they weren't playing well and they kept trying to do what their now very animated coach was asking of them, and I often ask far too much. They kept in the competition and we came out with 1 point which is a good result.

Better effort at training can see us rectify some issues – mostly it's just a traning, training, training problem. We do need some more running from our strike forwards so Micheal is on a 6m sprinting program – I need some short sprints from the centre forward and the wingers can join him I think we also need to revisit the 'go around the backstick side of the opponent'. We protected the ball much better though and the beginnings of back passes were spotted.

Graeme Higgins

Under 11's coach.

Thanks

Many thanks to all who assisted in Canteen Duty at Shaw Park last Saturday. Everyone I approached was gracious enough to give of their time.We were able to raise just under $150 for the Junior Boys Club thanks to the very generous support of many people. Special thanks to Anne-Louise Martin for her excellent efforts in hounding the hockey supporters. It was great to see the older boys assisting with the canteen duty and even though it was a long afternoon, Isaac, Josh and Luke certainly worked hard enough collecting raffle dollars and keeping me entertained. It was unbelievable, but our very honestly run raffle was won mostly by Norths supporters. Thanks everyone for your support.

Robyn Burke

News

Levies

A turf levy for all teams that play and train on artificial turf (Colmslie and Kedron Wavell/ Burringbah) will be imposed this year. The cost of the levy will be finalised and the players in the teams that play on this surface will be required to pay this levy by the commencement of the games.

Electrician Needed

We need the services of an electrician at the club house to help install a hand dryer. Please contact Sally Willington.

Norths Website

The website for the club is www.gjames.com.au/norths. Add it to your favourites. The newsletters will be posted on the site each week. Also the club is celebrating it's 30^th year and there is a lot of history and information contained in the site. Feel free to browse. There are also shortcuts to other hockey sites as well as wet weather details etc.Welcome once again to the 2004 hockey season.

Contact graeme_higgins@gjames.com.au by the Tuesday of the next week if you have any information to add to the newsletters – simply email the text or send an attachment.