Wirral Schools and Youth Hockey Association

Annual Report 2006/07

1. Development Activities

The Primary Schools Initiative has continued to progress this season, with ongoing support from the Wirral Hockey Development Group. The finals of the competition were held at Oldershaw on 10 June 2006, with 9 schools participating. The winners were Kingsmead, runners up Our Lady of Lourdes.

A new and important feature last year was the Emerging Schools League, involving secondary Schools at year 7. Again, coaching support is being made available, and a 7 – a – side competition for participating schools has been held for U14’s and U16’s girls and boys. The winners were:

U14 Girls Wallasey; Boys Hilbre                             U16 Girls Rock Ferry; Boys South Wirral

It is intended that the initiative should be rolled out to a wider range of schools, and this is dependent on future Local Network Fund grant aid. Andy Bennion of Oldershaw has organised the current competition, which has been extended to U12’s as well.

A key objective this year has been to try to involve more players at U13 level, and to establish a County team for this age group. Accordingly, we have encouraged progression of hockey playing between Primary and Secondary schools. and an inaugural year 7 tournament was arranged on 12 March, with 4 schools participating.  In addition, an U13’s coaching camp took place on 24/25 October, supported by sponsorship from the North West Hockey League. The idea was to establish a Wirral County U13 development squad, to involve players in representative hockey earlier and act as a feeder for the U14 NCC competition squad. This of course requires new team management (thanks to John Ride and Roy Parry) and additional coaches coming forward. There were a number of coaching and development sessions, and friendly fixtures were arranged for the U13’s, “A” and “B” against Cheshire on 25 March. Further work and more sponsorship  will be needed to embed this important initiative next year.

The Wirral representatives at the Merseyside Youth Games (U13) were Plessington (Boys) and Upton Hall (Girls).

The Association is involved in supporting Schools who wish to participate in the Euronations Legacy Championships to be held at Belle Vue in August 07, particularly through the provision of qualified coaching in the schools.

It is very pleasing to be able to report that 14 secondary schools are now playing hockey in our area.

2. Competitions

There was a full entry for the Schools County Competition, which was completed in accordance with the agreed schedule. The Finals took place at Oxton HC on 14 January 2007, with the following results:

U14 Calday Grange GS 7  St Anselm’s College 1

U16 Calday Grange GS 2  St Anselm’s College 1

U18 Calday Grange GS 0 Neston HS 3

The Calday U14 team made it through to the North West Finals, which were once again organised by Wirral on behalf of the NWSYHA at Oxton HC on 4 February 2007. The results were:

U14 Calday Grange GS 1 Kings Chester 4

U16 Birkenhead School 4 Merchant Taylors College 3

U18 Birkenhead School 3 Cockermouth School 0

Birkenhead School went on to contest the North Regional finals against the North East Winners, with the result that their U16’s lost, but the U18’s won and played in the national quarter finals on 18 March, losing 7 – 1 to Repton.

The winners of the Wirral Schools League Competition were Calday Grange at all three age groups.

In the North County Championship, Wirral again fielded teams at U14, U15 and U17 age groups. All three squads were very ably managed and coached and were fully prepared through numerous training sessions as well as friendly games against other counties and local Clubs. The Managers and Coaches were:

Managers: Geoff Knight (U17), Kev Smith (U15), and Roy Parry  (U14).

Coaches: Pete McInulty / Chris Flynn (U17), Richard James (U15), Laurence McKneight, Steve Cookson / Nic Heyes (U14).

In addition, John Ride is the U13 Manager, with coaches Leigh Kelly, Jules Armstrong and Nic Heyes.

All concerned must be congratulated on their sterling work in bringing together and developing their squads.

The U14 Competition was played at Leeds on 27 November 2006, and 11 February 2007. Although our team played very creditably and were not wanting for effort their results were two losses and two draws, finishing fourth out of five. It is intended that the U13 initiative referred to above will provide an earlier entry to competitive County hockey, so that the U14’s may progressively play in the NCC with some previous experience at this level. The U15 and U17 Competition was played over three rounds at Belle Vue, Manchester on 25 February, 11 and 25 March 2007.  The U17’s finished fifth with 6 points (winning against Cumbria and Northumberland), and the U15’s also fifth with 3 points (winning against Cumbria), which gives plenty of scope for improvement next year, whilst recognising the strength of the larger counties. Both Age Groups were won by Lancashire.

3. Honours

Representative North West Honours achieved this season were Chris Scott (U17), Ollie Jones and Will Green (U15 and U14), and Joe Hillyer, Alex Lamb, Tom McCurdy and Callum McDougall (U14). Alex Lamb and Callum McDougall also achieved U13 Honours.

The Wirral Player of the Year trophies for each age group were awarded at the Annual Awards Dinner to Alex Lamb (U14), Tom Smith (U15), and Chris Scott (U17).

One meritorious (but decidedly not junior!) honour this year was the Sports Lifetime Achievement Award conferred by Wirral Borough Council on Chris Todd our President for his contribution to hockey. The presentation was made at a ceremony held at Pensby Sports College in September, and Chris later went on to participate in the Merseyside Awards in the following month.

4. Administration

The business of the Association is conducted mainly through it’s Committee of seven plus the four Team Managers. We have met on 6 occasions this year, and the Annual General Meeting is held in May. In addition a great deal of business is conducted in other meetings and in liaison with other bodies such as EH, NWSYHA, Merseyside Hockey Development Group, County Associations, North West Hockey League, Local Authorities and Schools. We have been tested this year in managing the various priorities created by the hockey calendar and the many sometimes conflicting demands made on young players. We have made proposals to improve the identification and notification of squad representative selection to the NWSYHA which have been accepted. Through our President a junior hockey team manager person/job specification was prepared in which EH has taken an interest. These are but two examples of the less routine work of the Committee. As Chairman I would like to pay tribute once again to the huge amount of voluntary and discretionary effort which the whole Committee, and all the Managers and Coaches put in to these activities to enrich and develop the participation of young people in Hockey.

5. Finance

The audited accounts of the Association will be presented to the AGM on 10 May. It has been a further difficult year resulting in a loss of approaching £1000 over the period. This has been caused by a number of factors, particularly the relentless rise which we face in the fixed costs of our activities. Entry fees for the NCC tournaments now cost WS&YHA in excess of £500 a year, and our local pitch hire costs for training and squad development are running at approaching £2000 a year. Coach transport simply to the U15/17 NCC days is £1000. For a voluntary Association with limited income this is a difficult position, and we have no option but to reduce our entry fee and travel costs. We continue to charge players for both coaching and matches, but there is little scope to raise more from this as we must remain an inclusive organisation. We have been greatly helped by the ongoing generosity of individual Committee members, which for example has enabled new shirts to be purchased for the U14 and new U13 squads. However parents continue to provide some branded Wirral track suit tops and other clothing. The grants from Cheshire CHA and Wirral MBC are recognised as a vital source of income without which we would face significant difficulty. The funding made available this year by NWHL to support the U13 Training Camp was also especially appreciated.

6. Social Activities

We continue to promote the social as well as the playing side of hockey, and have organised events in the year to enable players, their families, schools and officials to meet together and network away from the pitch. Following on from last year’s successful inaugural event, the annual Player Awards were made for the second time at a Hotpot Supper at Oxton HC on 16 March, to which all players and their parents from the three age groups were invited. In addition to the “player of the year” trophies, every young person who represented Wirral this year received a signed certificate.

We were pleased to host lunches for participants in both the Wirral and North West Schools Finals. Our annual Committee Dinner took place on 20 April at Prenton Golf Club, with thanks to Graham Hurton.

The Association also organised and played host to a very special dinner held at the Manor on 7 July, to mark Chris Todd’s 60th birthday and retirement from teaching (and nearly 40 years of hockey umpiring!). Over 60 guests attended to help Chris with his celebrations.

7. Conclusion

Once more this year the Association has launched some important new initiatives, and faced an expansion of both playing and development activities, with the usual challenges on the financial front to make it all happen. However we are seeing ever more young people becoming involved at an earlier age and succeeding in the sport of hockey, which at the end of the day is our primary objective. We see our role very much in partnership with schools and local authorities, and the Merseyside Hockey Development Group.

It is right to conclude with three further expressions of thanks. First to the North West Hockey Umpiring Association, whose members willingly officiate in all of our competitions and therefore enable the whole thing to happen at all! Second to Oxton HC for the ongoing use of their facilities, particularly to Lynn Clarke for her excellent catering! Lastly to St John Ambulance for their valued attendance at both Finals days.

Mike Flynn

Chairman