Welcome back to the new season Crowborough Hockey Club!
To kick off the season, our Ladies Section and Boys Youth Academy had some friendlies against various teams to practice for the undoubtedly challenging season ahead. Our Mens Section also participated in an extra training session to improve fitness and reawaken their hockey skills after a long summer.
Ladies Ones
Ladies Ones played at Lingfield against Epsom at 12:30pm. Epsom fought very hard, Crowborough going down to 10 players after an injury in the first half and were down 4-1 at half time. Naomi Tear scored the first goal skilfully and immediately bought up the teams moral. Crowborough's Kate Rahn scored another goal from a short corner with an absolutely amazing shot from the top of the D in the second half when back up to 11 players. It was a challenging game with the opposition being very quick and skilful but everyone pulled together and worked as a team extremely well. The game ended in a 4-2 defeat as the Ones dust off some cobwebs from the summer break.
Ladies Twos
Ladies Twos played at home against Hailsham at 10:30am. After the original opposition dropped out, Hailsham kindly agreed to give the Crows a game to practice before the start of the season. It was a really helpful preseason marker, allowing the twos to get used to the speed and skill of higher leagues. The team matched Hailsham in the first half, going into half time with the score being 2-1 after an amazing top-of-the-D goal from Amanda Catling. Unfortunately, the opposition got the better of the Twos in the second half, scoring an additional four goals using intense speed and force. Becky Ikeson also scored after a great effort from Sophie Holcombe, causing much celebration from the Twos. The game ended as a 5-2 loss but both teams enjoyed it and had a great time developing their hockey skills for the season ahead.
Ladies Threes
Ladies Threes played away against Marden at 14:30pm. The first half was energetic and well matched with new players Josie, Sadie, Immi and Caroline fitting in brilliantly. At half time, Marden had a 2-0 lead but Crowborough hit the second-half running.After some spirited defending and attacking, Lucy Gibson scored a spectacular goal and the final score was 2-1. Player of the match went to new Crowborough addition, Josie!
Boys Youth Academy
Boys Youth were supposed to have a game against East Grinstead at 13:30pm but after the opposition unexpectedly pulled out, the boys had an impromptu training session. Sixteen boys turned up as well as multiple older team volunteers meaning there was enough to do a small friendly game. Bibs won 5-4 to the non-bibs, the boys enjoying their session immensely.
Girls Youth Academy
Girls Youth played at home against Burgess Hill at 12:00pm. The game started as quite a difficult one, the opposition scoring multiple times within the first quarter. But after a small break and an inspiring team talk, the girls went back out and improved their play. There was much more calling for the ball and communication between the team as well as better marking back from the midfield. The defence learnt to mark the players closest to the goal and to clear the ball in a quick and precise fashion. The forwards made fantastic runs and the midfield understood how to run down the wings towards the end of the game. The game ended in a 6-0 defeat but real improvement was shown throughout the team. They did extremely well considering half the team were new to the youth side and all the girls cannot wait for their training session next week.