Footscray Hockey Club

With 5 out of 9 ladies teams sitting in finals contention – the finals series is sure to be very exciting in 2010. There are 3 teams that still have a chance to make the finals so we wish them luck in the last 3 rounds.

Wow Wow Wow!
At the mid season review the State League 2 ladies were sitting in relegation zone and then with 4 straight wins were sitting in the top 4 at 3rd! What an amazing turn around for the girls. Well done!

Contratulations
We had 2 remarkable milestone achievements this past month with Sue Papadakis and Marianne Fridell both reaching 500 club games! Both days were celebrated with a fine display of family, friends, banners, afternoon tea and of course lots of enjoyable hockey! Congratulations girls!

Milestones
Please count games from the start of the 2010 Winter Season
100 games
Nicole Ducret, Karen Johnstone, Catherine Hamm, Mel Corless
200 games
Fil Bruce, Sian Owen, Tess Torr
300 games
Giulia Virtuoso, Heather Shaw, Erin Tout
500
Marianne Fridell

Firstly I would like to thank Giulia Virtuoso for replacing me for 6 weeks! I am now fully back on board and thank all the members for their patience.

Farewell Fidz
The ladies section fare welled Fidz before our mid season weekend off and we wish him well over seas working for the Commonwealth and Asian games. Fidz has been a very difficult coach to replace as he coached 2 ladies sides – Metro 1 North (sitting 1st) and Metro 1 South (sitting 2nd).

Glenn Lloyd and Rod Lloyd will coach Metro 1 North on game days, and Geoff Peacock will coach Metro 1 South on game days. Training this group will be shared among the top 4 senior ladies coaches. Steve Pattie will continue his Tuesday training sessions with Metro
2, 3 and 4. Good luck to all teams for the last 8 games of the season! Please see FHC website for match reports for each team!

Thankyou
Firstly I would like to thank Giulia Virtuoso for taking on board most of the time consuming day to day running of the ladies section the weekly team list, umpires roster and canteen roster for the past 3 weeks. This support has ensured the ladies section has been able to keep running smoothly. The Umpiring Roster (up to round 14) and Canteen Roster have been e-mailed out – please ensure you do your duty or arrange a swap with someone else. Tracy Cordes has taken on board the Canteen Coordinator
Role – thank you!

Recent Coaching Appointments
Since the last Banter the Ladies Section has appointed Steve Pattie as the Metro 2 North training & game day coach – thank you Steve. We also had the privilege of the coaching services of Ian Jennings for one week who worked with the SL2 and PB coaches and teams. Ian brought a wealth of knowledge as he has coached the England U21 and U18s at Men’s level and been Senior Assistant coach to the England Women’s side.. He is the highest scorer in the history of the English Hockey League with more than 270 goals. Glenn Lloyd and Rod Lloyd have rated the one week experience as highly beneficial to not only the short term success of our top
2 sides, but the long term plans for the ladies section and how we train and play at a higher level. The training Ian provided has assi sted the ladies section in our drive to hold SL2 this year and strive for SL1.

Penny Mather – FHC’s State League 2 Ladies Goal Keeper (who arrived less than 2 weeks ago!) has just been announced in the U21′s Victorian Team after trialling last week.

Congratulations Penny!

Please – if you see Penny – please congratulate her – if you have not yet met Penny please introduce yourself and continue to make her feel very welcome at our club!

Here is the link to see the full team….

The 2010 year has started with…. well….. an explosion. An explosion of new recruits from SL2 to M4, explosion of attendance at training, an explosion on new junior talent and the increasing improvement of junior talent up the grades. With a challenging year ahead, no doubt is the importance of maintaining SL2 and the promotion of M1N in to Pennant D.

The club’s vision of reaching SL1 has meant there have been considerable changes to the way we do things. Our coaching team has taken up the challenges with enthusiasm and a new emphasis to achieve the club goals. A few things that spring to minds utilizing the services of Rachel Doody to plan our fitness program – thanks Rach, tougher selection policy, Pre-Season Camp to Torquay, GK training by VIS 2nds GK Ash Wells, the continuing success of the State League Sponsorship Program and a new level of intensity and vigor at training.

Our Metro grade teams have started strongly. We have had to enter a 9th team to cater for all the players – we are as at round 3 probably 6 players short to comfortably field these teams. If you or you know anyone who would like to play please contact me. After a long saga in securing coaches for all Metro Teams and the associated issues – all teams now have settled coaches/leadership teams and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel! A ladies committee has been set up so delegation can take place.

Good luck this year girls!

Congratulations to Flea Veitch on the safe afrrival of her baby boy on Sunday at 8.21pm. His name is Bentley Knox and he weighed 3.7kg and was 50cm long. Both baby and Mum and doing very well. There are photos on facebook if anyone can access this.

With 5 games to go we have 5 teams out of 7 in finals with 3 teams sitting 1st and looking at automatic promotion, 2 teams sitting 2nd and with a good run home – a chance at pinching top spot, and Metro 4 Red team just sneaking into the 4 for the first time for many years. Our PB and M2S sides, who both have been promoted to these grades in 2007 and 2008 respectively are holding their own and playing competitive hockey. If PB have a good run home, a finals chance.

The first 4 rounds have seen some mixed results across the ladies section, but pleasing to note that all grades have either dominated or been competitive. The attendance at training has been excellent—keep it up girls-we do not want it to drop off in the colder months!

Goal Keepers
Our main issue is contending with goal keeper shortages as two have sustained long term injury. We have been using the permit system, however recruitment is needed. If you know anyone wishing to put on the pads—please let me know!

State League Sponsorship
The success of the State League sponsorship program has resulted in Faber Castell winning the sponsor’s draw and having their logo on the front of the State League shirts. All West Auto Parts won the draw for Pennant B. We will soon see the top 28 girls dressed in new warm up tops, after match shirts and hopefully later this season tracksuits. The Match Day Programs will be on sale every home game for $2—they include ladies fixture, player/coaches profiles, sponsor’s details, venue melway refs and more! BUY YOURS TODAY!

Canteen & Umpiring
Rosters will be distributed after round 5—once HV release the entire season fixture for M4. Please ensure you complete your duty or arrange someone to cover you!

FHC are hoping to see many FHC supporters at the Ladies State League Pre-Season Tournament Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th March 2009. 12 Ladies teams will be competing across the weekend plus finals. A tournament helpers roster has been e-mailed out to all club members and if you are able to assist – please contact Nicole nicolevirtuoso@hotmail.com.
You can download the ladies pre-season fixture here: ladies-preseason-fixture.pdf