Colts Season 2014 / 2015

It has been a very busy season and it is good to see the number of winners and runners up places throughout the age groups.
It's not all about the winning as we want to see development throughout the age groups.

Most of all it's got to be fun, for example, there were some big smiles at the Havant BU12 tournament for the Boys 3s team. This Reading team was made up of year 6 boys playing against year 7s and they finished a commendable 4th out of 9 teams.

The last weekend of the season saw joy and a bit of heartache, the latter for the BU18s who lost out in the last 2 minutes of golden goal extra time in the Mercian league play-offs yesterday.

Our BU18s who have been playing for the Men's 1s had the joy of winning the EH Cup on Saturday at Lee Valley.
The individual goal scored by Performance Colt of the Season Peter 'Pedro' Scott made the stands erupt.

We also had a few coaches in the Reading team that won the EH O50s Cup - Rob Thompson (BU12) and Roger Wall (GU18).

The number of boys and girls now playing senior hockey continued to increase this past year. It was good to see the reinstatement of the Rascals team where U14s boys have been playing with dads in an Men's league.
In addition to the BU18s making into the M1s, GU18 Charlotte Daly made it into the Ladies First XI and they finished 3rd in the National League Play offs at Lee Valley earlier this month. We've had 9 NAGs player this season.

Below shows the colts award winners and nominations for each category (including comments).

Performance Colt - Peter Scott (BU18)
Not only has he broken into the 1st XI and England U18 teams, his attendance and attitude at U18 training and U18 matches has been truly outstanding and he has been a great role model for the players around him.

Nominations:
BU18’s - Max Heaver - Playing Men's 1s - consistent, committed.
BU18’s - Jack Whelan - Playing Men's 1s -NAG, our Performance colts of the season in 2103/14 - worth nomination again the season
BU18’s - Will Carter-Keall - Playing Men's 1s. NAGS
GU18’S - Charlotte Daly Playing Ladies 1s, NAGs
GU16’s - Abbie Dixon - High- level achiever re NAGS
GU16’s - Kymran Shergill - High- level achiever re NAGS, always turns up even when injured!

Colt of the season - Grace Mitchell (GU14)
All round contribution, hardly misses a game or training , happy to move teams to help out, active young leader, and has vastly improved not only in colts but in the Ladies teams as well. It’s not all about the A team. Outstanding contribution on and off the pitch for all layers of the club.

Nominations:
GU16 - Katie Goddard - deserves some recognition as a high achieving colt who also does more than her fair share in the senior club and is always happy to train/play with anyone. Katie inspires confidence in the defence as we know no soft goals will ever beat her and that she will also pull off her fair share of good/brilliant/brave saves as well! She has been immense for the U16 girls and the 2nd XI.

BU12 - Josh Roche - Josh is a natural leader. He has terrific attitude and willingness to learn which makes him a joy to coach. He also reads the game well, is strong and is developing his skills nicely. He has just been selected for the county U13 team which is a just reward for his efforts.

GU18 - Philippa Burns - All round contributor, always turns up, never gives up and 'plays her heart out' for the club. Very active Young Leader.

BU14 - Max Reed - Stand outs in the age group as the club contributor, always willing to help and great to coach.

Most improved player - Katie Goddard (GU16)
See above, she displays great leadership on and off the field and even earned a great deal of praise from KRW for the way she ran the defence when playing for the 1s! Katie inspires confidence in the defence as we know no soft goals will ever beat her and that she will also pull off her fair share of good/brilliant/brave saves as well! She has been immense for the U16 girls and the 2nd XIs.

Nominations:
BU16 - Nick Park - has developed substantially this season and now playing up in BU18 towards the end of the season
GU14 - Manmeet Saundh - She has grown in confidence and improved her awareness and understanding of the game. Good team player and club contributor. Playing Berkshire under 15.

Colts Team of the season - GU16
Bronze in EH Cup, League winners

Nominations:
BU18 - EH CUP QFs, To League finals for the second year
GU18 - Runners up in the EH Plate
U10 - Wallingford winners, In2Hockey winners both B&G, Girls came runners up in the regionals

Coaching Team of the season was shared between GU14 and U10s.

GU14 - Led by Phil Hobcraft, over 80 in 4 squads, sessions planned every week, admin has been fantastic. Improvements in all team during the season

U10 - Significant improvements throughout the age group by all the coaches (see results), first-time lead coach Brian has led in a quiet and constructive manner dealing with so many issues with no fuss whatsoever

Big thank you:

Olie Brown - Led the Dev under 14s with aplomb, and managed to get to all the games too. umpire, carparks, leading the young leaders and probably loads of other menial tasks that nor everyone is aware of. Irreplaceable.

Sue Mitchell - The Hungry Hut unsung heroine

Sue Perkins - Loads of colts management last year over U12/10 and this, and stepped in to assist sorting some difficult admin issues when we needed her plus a load of background work not often on show.

If there was an award for creativity this season it went to Sumo for his U6 leadership featuring the 'dinosaur blowing raspberries' warm-up, sadly this historic feature has been missed by the Natural History Museum in their latest display but one that David Attenborough has confirmed is accurate.

Thanks to Nick Hooper for all the TVM and RHC Minis management and to Sarah and Sumo as our Welfare Officers.

We say a fond farewell to Olie Brown who has led the Young Leaders this season. We'll miss his contribution and commitment to the club both for colts and adult sections. I gather he is taking a 3 year holiday and we hope to see him back afterwards.

Finally, thank you to all of you for all your hard work, I hope you've enjoyed it and felt it has been more than worthwhile.

Attached are the results from all the Colts Teams