Heading into the mid-season break, we take a look at the first half of the season of our senior teams. Today we delve into the Women’s 1st XI.
Season: 2022/2023
League: South East Hockey - Division 1 Invicta
Current position: 5th
Wins: 5
Draws: 1
Losses: 4
Points: 16
Becky Elgar - Women's 1st XI Captain
This season so far has seen a great improvement both on and off the pitch. Standards at training have vastly improved and this is having a positive impact when it comes to matches on a Saturday. It has been really encouraging to see new members joining this season who have already been huge assets to the team. We have also had several youngsters cement their places in matchday teams following strong performances in training. Performances on the whole have been positive and we have given ourselves a great platform to build upon as we go onwards into the second half of the season. The team spirit is great and it is clear to see - via attendance and feedback - that our group enjoy playing hockey together, which is an amazing place to be.
We have also really benefited from a new coaching setup this season with training sessions proving to be a welcome challenge, that only helps us to improve as a squad both tactically and in understanding game management further. Spectators frequently comment that they are enjoying seeing us playing much better hockey than we have done in recent years, so long may that continue! Off the pitch, the team have enjoyed several club socials together which have been a huge highlight and will continue to play a role in the rest of the season!
James Elkin - Women’s 1st XI - Coach
SHC W1s are where we would expect to be at the mid-point of the season. Our aim at the start of the season was to be in and around the top 4 and we are not too far off achieving what we set out to do. This is even more impressive when you look at the position our 1st eleven found themselves in at the end of last season.
Some of our loses have been by very small margins in games that could have gone either way. The ladies have trained hard to learn new set plays and taken these new set plays in their stride. The second half of the season could be a very important time of the year for us as the girls are starting to come into their stride and everything is coming together. Hopefully we can hit the ground running straight after Christmas.