Hello Southend Hockey Club,
Well, I hope everyone has completed all their preparations for Christmas and are making the most of the downtime, now that we have reached the mid-season break.

The best place to start this Chairs Catch Up is on the field, where after a tough time last season it feels like we have taken a step forward with our teams being more competitive and performing well. The integration of a number of youth players across the men’s and ladies’ teams has gone smoothly and we should certainly be optimistic for the seasons to come based on their performances. From the games I have seen everyone continues to give their all and keep smiling so let’s keep it going for the remainder of the season.

Off the field the new Pitchero Club App seems to have made a significant improvement to the communications and admin around team management, but I still remain impressed with the effort and resilience of our Club Captains, Captains and the Fixture and Umpires Secretary in ensuring that games go ahead on a Saturday, for which I know you are all grateful.

I need to inform you of some changes to coaching for the second half of the season, as after a number of seasons a Head Coach Luke Danbrook has decided to step down from the role; however, he will continue to coach the men and the youths until the end of the season. The Committee are grateful to Jordan Danbrook for agreeing to take over as Head Coach on an interim basis until the end of the season and I know she is planning some changes to training, so please give her your support whether that be taking/assisting some training sessions or simply turning up on a Wednesday.

One unfortunate consequence of the change in Head Coach is that the proposed change in training times for the Men and Ladies 1/2s will now not being taking place due to need to rearrange the coaches for our ladies’ sides following Luke stepping down. The confirmed training sessions dates and times are available on the Club App and we hope to look again at training times in the future.

The Social and Fundraising Committee, formed at the last AGM, have been busy, and organised a number of events already this season the most recent being Eddie’s Bingo Christmas Quiz (many thanks Eddie always a learning experience). The date for end of season Dinner and Awards has already been confirmed as Saturday 10th May, and you can purchase your tickets via the Club App.

Lastly as the final games of the first half of the season have been played, please recover from any knocks and injuries you may have and comeback in the new year eager to go again. Enjoy the mid-season break, drink, and eat too much and have an amazing Christmas with your family and friends.

Seasonal Greetings

Peter Woodman
Chairperson