B2H: What’s On Next Pt #2
Our Trip to Holland and Will’s Workout
By Roger Hitch
Wishing to expand our activities to a wider field in order to, not only attract new members with our forward-looking vision but, provide greater playing opportunities for our members, it was suggested by Josh within committee that we undertook a weekend mini tour to Holland in late April 2024 and play a couple of 7-aside mixed matches against a club near where he used to live. These events take a while to organise and after much positive communication and confirmation over several months, at the last minute the hosting club pulled out.
Not to be deterred, Josh eventually arranged a Eurotunnel passage for three cars taking twelve members to take part in a two hour training session with two top coaches at Rotterdam HC on the Sunday. Afterwards, we had tickets to watch Rotterdam HC’s M1 and W2 play their respective championship matches which was a great example of top-level hockey, akin to that that we have at home.
Munieb was able to meet his hockey idol, Dutch International Jeroen Hertzberger. The previous day was King’s Day in Holland and we spent the afternoon wandering around the streets of Massluis enjoying the drink and loud music before being entertained with a nice meal in the hotel. Arrival back at SHC was 11:15pm Sunday evening.
We intend to do the same this season but possibly have the option of visiting a northern French club instead via two of our new members who have played there, before moving to the UK recently. It might be interesting as two of their three pitches are grass-based! This would be fine for me as most of my hockey career was on grass. Skills tip for grass – stop the ball with the stick vertical.
I now return to the present and from an offer from one of our goalkeepers, Will Shinn, to provide a customised warming up routine we now call “Will’s Workout” (WW). We have a regular WW session on P3 every Saturday where Will takes us through his body stretching exercises to get us ready for the game to follow. With the average age of a B2H player at 44, this is a welcome session to prepare us for the fast and furious action that forms part of our regular Saturday Game Play. This session lasts thirty minutes and is a successful addition to our activities.
Next week’s article is entitled “B2H – Who makes up the Committee” where we will not only look into the qualities, experiences and abilities of the people who run B2H but also who and why we need to invite more of our members on to our committee to help with our expansion and development (which are different) both on and off the pitch - as there is still much to do.
