Wakefield
help attract the players we need to sustain our place in those
leagues for next season.
Our Junior section has continued to flourish under the
guidance of some great coaching staff and bodes well for those
juniors who are still developing within our Performance Squad
and the younger players working their way up through the
teams.”
Success
“Without a doubt, the credit for our success has to go to our
Head Performance Coach – Sam Brown who sadly has come to
the end of his two-year tenure with the club. He’s moving to a
new club in Europe, which is a great move for him.
I also think togetherness has been the key. Both top teams
came so close the season before at getting promoted and were
determined to go one better this year! Hard work was put in
by all.”
2019
“Our plan now for 2019 is recruitment. With Sam leaving
we have a big void to fill and take on board the plans to continue
to grow and become one of the Premier Clubs in the North. We
also have some players leaving this year for university so we’re
hopeful of recruiting from nearby and poaching some overseas
talent again this year.
We will also plan even more social events, as this is so
important to making it enjoyable after all the hard word put
in during the season. Our annual Hocktober Fest has been
running for a couple of years now and has been a great success.
We host a Summer Splash Hockey Festival every year too over
a long weekend which is always a blast! We have live music on
both nights this year.”
Youth
“Youth development is very important to us. We pride
ourselves on getting to the final stages of national competitions
for both girls and boys every year. They are the future of the
club after all! We have a thriving section from U10 all the
way up to U16s. Through school, club, county development
and England Hockey this is vital to keep grass roots hockey
growing.”
Integration
“In both the ladies and men’s teams we try to get a number
of younger U12-U14 player’s competing in some of the lower
league games as they move to playing full pitch hockey and
getting used to the senior club ethos and building team bonds
within the club. The Men’s 8s are in a standalone league where
they play against other development teams within Yorkshire.
It doesn’t take long for most of the girls and boys to be selected
and moved up in to the higher teams.
The senior selection committee along with our Youth
Development Officer within the club can help ear mark which
players are progressing quickly and allowing that transition by
attending senior training sessions and becoming part of those
squads.”
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We’re also a fully inclusive club with a Flyerz section that
delivers weekly fun hockey sessions to disability players. We
plan to stage an International ParaHockey Festival on June 6-9
2019 at College Grove.”
Challenges
“Our biggest challenge is gaining funding. As a not for
profit organisation we require the members and donors to
help maintain two Olympic standard water-based pitches. The
next biggest challenge will be player retention, as clubs nearby
continue to do well also we have to compete with them and
offer something better. Having both pitches is one of those
factors.”
Ambitions
“Our ambitions are to sustain our position as a top
Northern club, while continuing to host a number of England
Hockey Championships, proving there are some great facilities
in Yorkshire. Our vision is to also build a new indoor hall
between the two water-based pitches that can cater for a
number of different sports throughout the year. This would
help grow the Sports Club by adding more available sports
and a viewing area across both hockey pitches. The big one for
next season is getting a large electric scoreboard installed like
so many Premier League clubs have.”
“We have strong ties with a number of schools throughout
Wakefield. The Sports Club as a whole hosts numerous
sports from Shooting, Bowls, Squash, Chess and Tag Rugby.
Wakefield HC has a great reach with members coming from all
across Yorkshire to play at such great facilities.
www.sportyorkshire.net
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