Following some reflective discussions between the Director of Hockey, M1’s coach, club captain and the co-chair, we felt it was important to provide some information to this group in relation to the various friendly summer leagues & training games in the mens section this summer, leading into preseason. Detail that possibly could have been communicated sooner.

The club is running Thursday evening sessions & matches at College Meadow. These are open to all members of the club, both senior and junior, who will be looking to play men’s hockey next season, to enjoy some summer hockey at a senior level. Please do get in touch with Paul Whitney (co chair) if keen to be involved.

In addition there is a Men’s team playing in a friendly league at the Lee Valley Hockey centre. This team will have a number of regular 1st XI players involved due to the standard but is not an official selected men’s 1st XI. It is an opportunity for Edd Thorogood (M1 Head Coach) to watch some new players, returning players, players from the senior 2nd XI and some juniors playing a good standard of hockey. This is so he can see how those players may fit into the senior plans for this season, especially those senior & junior players who have not featured much for the senior section or club before. Any involvement of juniors in these games is with a view to them being considered for the mens 1’s, 2’s & 3’s for the 23/24 season. In this context, any junior is only likely to be invited to play 1 or 2 games at most of the 8 week summer league friendly programme.

Please be aware that there is no set selection process for this team. Those invited will be contacted directly at the discretion of the coach and captain. Furthermore, a wider group of junior & senior players will be officially selected to attend senior preseason in August where a greater number of players can be involved.

All potential men’s senior section players should watch out for the late July announcement of preseason invitations for the 23/24 season. This will be the selection of 1’s, 2’s, 3’s and club squads for preseason, early season training & matches.

We hope that this explains the current situation with men’s hockey over the summer. We are already making plans for the season ahead and are looking forward to getting our talented juniors involved at all levels of the senior section.

Please do contact any of us if you have any further questions,

Best wishes

Edd Thorogood (M1’s Head Coach)
Jules Halls (Director of Hockey)
Derwyn Baillie (Mens Club Captain)
Paul Whitney (Co Chair)