B2H: Winter 11s Series Preparation

Back to Hockey is primarily a 7s development group, as small sided games are more appropriate for a lowish number of attendees and also easier for a coach to communicate over the shorter distances. B2H has been very successful with this approach and have only been able to achieve this by the presence of Pitch 3, for which we will always be grateful to the club committee for providing. However, the league sides are all full pitch 11s and as our primary objective is to promote our players to the league teams, we need to introduce the 11s experience. To see what we have in store on this topic, read on...

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At the beginning of the season, we were offered a place in London Hockey’s Development League where we would play clubs in the London Area. It was clear at that time that we were not prepared for 11s matches, not having a full-sized pitch to train on during the week, so we would be at a distinct disadvantage. Club specific development teams usually have many youngsters and with our average age of forty four, we would be easily outrun leading to a one-sided game which is not what B2H is about as integration and equality in opposing teams is what we base our enjoyment on.

Our first 11s internal game on October 19th was a great success, but being the first game of the day prevented quite a number of members from being available due to family commitments. However, despite this, we fielded twenty-four players with a couple of guests making up the numbers.

By reaching out to local clubs for 7s and 11s Game Play training sessions, we have attracted one 11s men’s match against Tulse Hill & Dulwich HC M8s on November 23rd. We have scheduled a total of six 11s training games/matches this season for Saturdays but one of the difficulties is P1 or P2 availability - which for us is like gold dust but we understand this, being part of a thriving and expanding club. The club’s fixture secretary is very accommodating where possible so we work closely to find a free pitch that we could use at a shortish notice.

Coupled with all this, we have been offered the M1s’ Thursday P1 full pitch training slot by the Coaching Director for four weeks over December/January, while they are training/playing for their indoor competition. We have also been offered one of the club’s coaching staff to provide us with positional and set move training to ensure that we are in line with the club’s playing principles.

We hope to have all the remaining Saturday 11s games set up before Christmas, ready for the New Year. We always listen to our members and try to provide what they want, as B2H is for the members, and last season they asked for more 11’s experiences so we have worked to give them these opportunities.

Many of our players have purchased the club kit already so we are in a good position, when representing the club, to present a smart uniform appearance at future matches with other clubs.

Next week’s article is titled ‘Who are the other playing members who keep B2H events running’