GDHC Junior Report 2009 - Glebe District Hockey Club

Junior Report 2009
U 11B Strikers
Back: Alison Cheong (Coach), Jonah Van Wachem, Sophie White, Renee Langenheim, Maddie Allen, George
Howard-White, Una Stevens, Nina Frissel-Thomas, Yasmine Boo Reddy, Frankie Howard-White, Dyson Davis, Bruce
Field (Manager)
Front: Thomas Keir, Virisilia Pineapple Taufa, Litiana Banana Field Missing: Larse Frissel-Thomas
To begin, I loved coaching the 2009 Strikers. I believe I had the privilege to coach the best group of
kids in all of Australia.
We started the season looking very hopeful for a premiership. I had coached Nina, Frankie,
Sophie and Tom the previous year, and was amazed at their level of improvement. Then we had
Renee, Larse, Pineapple and Banana coming up from Minkey. And also a few new kids who had
never picked up a hockey stick, Jonah, Maddie, George, Boo and Dyson. Finally we had Una who
had played for the Hornets the previous year. We had a champion team.
We were really unfortunate during the season not to come out with a win, but despite the
score each week the Strikers gave it their best each game. I think it’s sometimes hard to have
perspective when you’re losing each week by a few goals. However, the kids have really developed
their game since the beginning of the season.
I really enjoyed convincing the kids to tuck their shirts in at the beginning of the match and
reminding them at half time. I enjoyed the pre match war cry that started as a whisper and lead into
a scream, “strike, strike, STRIKE!” etc.
Most of all I enjoyed the camaraderie. Early in the season George was just finding his feet. He had a
hard time one game from some kids. On the Sunday he got a call from Una who was keen to go
down to the park and have a hit. This was the attitude of the team, everyone had a go rather than
putting the best players on for the whole game. I had a great season and I hope the team did too,
because we not only improved our game but we made friends for life.
I want to thank Bruce for all his help. I really couldn’t have organised a thing without him. He
padded up the kids, helped at training and had match cards each game. I also want to thank the
mums and dads for their support. Getting up on a Saturday is hard enough for me, but I can only
imagine the effort you all put in, so thank you. Finally thank you Strikers for all your time and love
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Glebe District Hockey Club 79th Year