Welcome to Reading Hockey Club, the country’s premier Hockey Club, sponsored by adidas.
We run 11 men’s teams and 7 ladies’ teams, with both elite squads at the very pinnacle of the domestic game and brimming with international talent. Our thriving Next Generation youth section attracts hundreds of youngsters to participate in our exciting sport, and ensures the future strength of Reading HC.
Whether you are an existing member or new to RHC you’ll find some useful information on the club HERE.
A Lithuanian Adventure- EuroHockey Indoor Club Trophy 2014
Day One
Reading’s EuroHockey Indoor campaign kicked off against the Turkish team Kecioren Baglum SC. Reading started slowly and struggled to break down the extremely deep defence of Kecioren. However, Reading were the first to break the deadlock, through Helen Richardson-Walsh who calmly placed the ball past the onrushing keeper. Kecioren posed a threat in attack and within the space of three minutes had taken the lead 2-1, after clinically finishing a quick counter attack and slotting home a penalty stroke. Reading went in trailing at half time but quickly reduced the deficit early in the second half. Good pressure from Reading saw a string of corners awarded, and Thomas duly dispatched a well-executed routine. Thomas doubled her tally and within a minute of scoring her first corner she was slotting home another, and Reading went in front for the first time. Thomas completed her hatrick, after good patient build up play from Reading; space opened up at the top of the circle for her to drive and fire home Reading’s fourth. Danson added to the score line with a well-taken penalty corner, making the final score 5-2, and Reading took the full 5 points from their first game. Read the Full Story
2014 End Of Season Awards Dinner
With the end of season fast approaching, the pinnacle of the Reading Hockey Club calendar is nearly upon us and tickets are now on sale for the “Reading HC Awards Dinner and Dance 2014″.
Priced at £35, the evening includes a three course meal, wine on your table, games, awards and a disco to finish off!
Date: Saturday, 26 April 2014
Location: Reading HC
Time: 6:45pm for dinner at 7:30pm
Dress code: Black tie
With both the Christmas Dinner and last year’s Awards Dinner selling out well before the deadline, you are encouraged to get your ticket early to avoid disappointment.
Furthermore, if you buy your ticket before the 8th March then you will receive the early bird price of only £30! The final deadline for purchasing tickets is the 12th April 2014 and after this date, under no circumstances can we accept any further guests.
Buy your tickets in one of 3 ways:
-From the social team – Sam Howells, Rob Farrow and Chloe Lyons.
-From the RHC bar.
-Online Bank Transfer (Sort code: 60-10-35, Account no. 13096478 – with the following reference – [Awards/Name/Team]
Race Night
On the 8th of March our wonderful Men’s 1st XI will be hosting their annual race night.
Races commence at 8 o’clock, but the bar will be open as usual through out the day for any people who fancy coming down early and checking the form of some of the horses. There are 2 ways to get entry for the night, either buy a horse for £5 (and win £20 if your horse wins it’s race) or pay £5 to get in. So as you can see it makes sense to buy a horse! Horses will be available to buy at training sessions near you.
In house betting will take place as well so bring some coinage with you as well.
It’s always a cracker of an evening and a good opportunity to get to know some of the 1st team boys. Taxis into town for those who fancy spending their winnings!
Let’s get over a 100 people there and make it a great evening. Looking forward to seeing you all there. The social and men’s 1st teams.
Maxinutrition Hockey5s Champions
The Blue Army were out in force, their destination Wembley Arena to see the Reading Ladies take on Bowdon Hightown. The prize up for grabs: the possibility of being crowned Maxinutrition Hockey5s Champions.
The atmosphere in the arena was fantastic; the part of the crowd wearing blue was buzzing and the girls didn’t disappoint them. Within the first 30 seconds, Helen Richardson-Walsh put the ball in the back of the net, after driving through the centre of Bowdon’s defence. The Reading girls kept the intensity high and were rewarded for their hard work, with plenty of scoring chances. An attack down the right hand side saw Emily Maguire firing home a loose ball in the circle for Reading’s second. At the other end of the pitch Sarah Ellis was producing some exceptional saves denying Bowdon in attack time after time. Bowdon were struggling for answers to Reading’s press and Becky Halle was on hand to convert after Alex Danson drove strongly along the baseline following a turnover. On the stroke of half time, Reading were awarded a penalty corner which Captain Emma Thomas finished with panache over the charging keeper’s shoulder.
Coming in 4-0 up at half time was fantastic for the defending champions, however Reading knew that this score line guaranteed nothing. A relentless and ruthless second half was needed; the first goal in the upcoming half was key.
Reading hunted aggressively for their next goal and within two minutes, after two excellent initial saves from the Bowdon keeper, Halle pounced on the rebound to slot the ball into the goal. Another corner was duly dispatched by Thomas and as Reading’s constant pressure continued to show, Susie Gilbert pick pocketed a Bowdon defender on the edge of the circle and then calmly rounded the keeper for Reading’s seventh.
Some quick thinking and direct play from Bowdon allowed Tina Cullen a one on one against Ellis, which she finished off to give Bowdon their opening goal. Almost immediately Reading were able to reply through Gilbert to quash any hope of a Bowdon comeback.
The final two minutes were end to end. There was a goal for both teams as Sally Walton scored for Bowdon with a composed finish past Ellis and Helen Richardson Walsh picked up her second making the final score 9-2.
It was a clinical and professional performance from the Reading girls and they were deservedly crowned Champions for a second year running. Special mention also goes to Becky Halle who received Man of the Match after a fantastic display capped by two excellent goals.
A huge thank you to all who came and supported us. We are extremely grateful for the support we have received for our Get Reading to Europe campaign.
Now onto the outdoor season….
February Camps
It’s not too late to book a place on our excellent February Camps (17th – 18th), where we will be joined by a very high standard of coaches from Reading Hockey Club.
Classic Camps
Our ‘Classic’ camps are for all ages and levels, where we cover a range of different skills and gameplay, whilst having loads of fun! The coaches for the February Classic Camps include Reading 1st XI players Jess Brooker and Andy Watts, along with England Hockey Single System Coach and Coach Educator Steve Hardy and Reading 1st XI and England Junior International Lucie Daman.
Performance Camps
The ‘Performance’ camps are aimed at players over 14 who need that little extra, especially those with ambitions to develop through the England Hockey Single System, and perhaps represent their country in the future! Here, Andy Watts will be joined by Reading’s Welsh international Leah Wilkinson, who will be looking at the theme of Transition from Defence to Attack.
To find out more, go to our camps page on our website (click here) or email camps@readinghockeyclub.org.uk
Fundraising Initiatives
Within the next 18 months the water based carpet will need to be replaced. In order for us to be able to afford the high quality surface that we are all used to and proud of, we need to top up the Asset replacement fund so that we have enough money to replace it.
There is a fair amount of money in the pot already, but in order for us to provide you with a top of the range surface we need about £250k.
Pitch Squares:
So to help us get moving towards our target we have started “selling” off our pitch for just £10 per square.
Bargain I hear you all cry !!
We are lucky enough to have two pitches so we are going to “sell” them both. There are 300 squares on each pitch (600 in total) – that’s a whopping £6000 if we manage to sell all the squares, plus if you are a tax payer we
can gift aid your donation as well.
For every 100 square sold there will be a lucky dip and the winning square will receive £50!
So buy a water based and/or sand based square for just £10 and help raise funds for the replacement of the Water based pitch. There is no restriction on how many squares you can buy.
The squares have been divided up into Colts, Ladies and Mens squares, so you will need to check with you section seller which squares you can have. If you want a particular square then just go to the section seller and buy it off them.
Chief Sellers:
Colts: Clare Maidlow and
Ladies: Blanche Maslan
Men’s: Chris Dench
Keep an eye out on the notice boards for further in formation
Professional Photos of Reading Players and members:
Here is another fundraising idea for you to help raise funds for the club:
Ravi Ghowry is a member of our club and is also an avid photographer. He regularly takes photos of the Men and Ladies 1st XI games and also videos a number of their games for analysis and use on Reading Hockey TV
If you buy copies or downloads of the Photos that he has taken, he will donate 25% of all sales to the Asset Replacement fund.
He will take photos of the Reading games and players, from our Next Generation Colts to our heroic Elite squads and not forgetting the seemingly indestructible Vets sides.
He will all the photos onto his website where you will be able to view and then buy them www.rskg.co.uk/rhc
Ravi will be at as many home games as possible and will ask permission of the captains / coaches of both teams prior to him taking any pictures.
If any parents specifically wishes or does not wish to have photos taken on their children, then please let him know when you see him on the pitch side.
Example of prices:
£4.00 for a 6”x4”print plus postage and packaging
£5.00 for a 10” x 8” print plus postage and packaging
For a download of a photo, this would cost you £5.00
Reading’s Next Generation Emulate the Indoor Sides (well almost)
Whilst the men’s and ladies’ indoor teams were performing at Wembley the most junior members were representing the club across the Thames Valley. In one of the busiest days for the U12’s group in the season the incredible team of volunteer coaches and administrators managed a major logistical effort to get over 200 U8’s, U10’s and U12’s to 10 different tournaments and venues on Sunday. A truly remarkable achievement that was matched with further silverware for the club.
The leading event of the day was at Wallingford where both our U8 and U12 teams (beating the other Reading team in the final) won Gold. The U8 coaches were full of praise for the kids and “the positive effort, attitude and behaviour of the RHC players as well as the huge potential of the group”. Both the U10 teams progressed comfortably out of the group stages but unfortunately couldn’t hold their form in the QF. Neil Archer, their coach noted “the passing play improved, and was excellent at times”. Rob Thompson, lead coach for the U12, was understandably delighted by their performance “It was a pleasure to see the brand of hockey played by both teams. It was fast, energetic, direct and with lots of excellent passing”.
The U10’s and U12’s are now preparing for the county round of In 2 Hockey on March 16th and then, hopefully, onto Regionals.
A report on the Minis at this stage of the season would not be complete without mentioning the excellent work of all the Young Leaders who turn up week in week out before their own training session to help and encourage the younger age group. It is a true team effort and really appreciated.
So lots to look forward to for the rest of the season….
Reading Real Ale & Jazz Festival launches X Factor style competition to find new talent
The Reading Real Ale & Jazz Festival returns to the banks of the River Thames on 17, 18 and 19 July this year.
Today the organisers are launching a competition to find fresh new talent for one lucky jazz band or performer, to have the chance to play live at the festival.
Reading Hockey Teams Up With “Dream It Believe It Achieve It”
Reading Hockey, one of the leading hockey clubs in Europe, has today announced a new partnership agreement with the charity “Dream It Believe It Achieve It” (DBA).
The club recently embarked upon a new sponsorship drive aimed at enhancing the ability of their men’s and ladies teams to compete at the highest level in Europe whilst also continuing the development of their first class facilities at their Reading home.
Chris Davey, Chairman of Reading Hockey Club said:
“This agreement with Dream It Believe It Achieve It is the perfect start to our recently launched drive for longer term, sustainable sponsorship and funding for Reading Hockey. In amateur sport, with success often comes high financial commitments and in order to continue our men’s and ladies success across Europe, we needed to find new partners. As the first of those partners, Dream It Believe It Achieve It fits the club’s ethos perfectly and I am delighted to welcome them on board.”
Matt Dimbylow, Founder of Dream It Believe It Achieve It said:
“At Dream It Believe It Achieve It we want to increase participation in sport. One of the ways we can do this is to support clubs just like Reading Hockey. If a sports club is run on a successful and sustainable basis, it is more able to reach younger players and provide accessible inclusive sporting environments for disabled participants. Partnering with a high profile and highly successful community hockey club like Reading will not only make more people aware of Dream It Believe It Achieve It, but will help develop our network of partners that will see us expand across many more grass roots clubs.”
The partnership has been agreed in time for Reading’s men’s and ladies indoor teams to wear warm up tops displaying the Dream It Believe It Achieve it logo at the Maxinutrition Hockey 5s Championship Finals at Wembley Arena on Sunday 2 February.
Check out the Dream It Believe It Achieve It website at www.dreamitbelieveitachieveit.com
