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Ladies end of season reports

Ladies end of season reports

Zoe Richards22 May 2018 - 19:22
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The full reports in all their hilarity...

Ladies 1st Team – Sarah Hall

League – We made a massive fighting come back to finish 3rd in South 3B!

Cup run - We made it all the way to the Sussex Cup Semi Finals - Sadly losing to Horsham ladies 1s

So many highlights this season but here are a few: Beating Teddington away with only 10 players, seeing players like Libby Youngman grow into a new role, getting some old faces back into the team, having a massive 23 different players play for the ladies 1`s this year.

Lowest moment - losing Emma and Phoebe to the slopes, Leigh to Australia, Carly to a ball to the mouth and Emily to her baby!

Special thanks - Emily for coming along to our games with a bun in the oven! Flam for commuting from Ascot to Lewes as her home game. 

Extras - Lewes is amazing #LTD

Ladies 2nd Team - Goldie

Many sports pundits use the phrase, “It was a game of two halves!” I’m no sports pundit so I’m going to adapt the phrase slightly and suggest that “It was a season of two halves!”

Before the Christmas break, the team seemed to play with confidence and 26 of our 31 goals were scored in that first half of the season. Unfortunately, our two main goal scorers went elsewhere: one to the dizzying heights of the ski slopes, the other to the even more dizzying heights of Lewes Ladies 1st XI.

As the goals dried up so, it seemed, did the confidence of the team. This was not helped by the unavailability of players in both the two top ladies teams, as there was never a consistent team playing together week after week. Thankfully, although we didn’t manage a Brighton v Man U giant killing game, we managed to secure our Premier league position with a few draws and a win towards the end of the season.

I would like to commend and thank all the players who played for us this season (and there are many!). All those who were asked, played to the best of their abilities, but up against more experienced teams who had consistency and were able to develop together as a team, it was an uphill struggle to get results.

Highlights:
• Being the first team to score against top scorers Chichester (164 goals this season) Not sure who was most surprised!
• Being top of the league for 5 minutes (until the other results came in)
• Emma Fuller’s farm themed warm up.
• Ruth’s animated discussion of the use of swear words with the Burgess Hill coach, in a quiet pub, with many under 18s present (although not for long!)
• Pre short corner discussion re the pitfalls of pierced nipples in cold weather.

Low points
• Don’t mention the game away to Hailsham, the freezing conditions, our lack of playing style or the result.

People/players to thank
(Stuttering emotionally) Firstly thanks go to Dori, who having only played for Lewes for one season, took on the difficult role of being second eleven captain, without really knowing the way the club works or the intricacies of the league system!). Unfortunately, Dori had to step down but deserves many thanks for all she did in the first half of the season.

(Through teary eyes) I’d like to thank my family for being so understanding that, once I had taken on the mantle of captain part way through the season, I rarely spoke during the week, unless it was about hockey and (un)availability of players, hockey equipment that I seem to be missing, league forms that needed to be found (in the depths of my hockey bag), scanned and emailed, or how I was going to get players to away games. Still, it made a pleasant change for them from my usual moans about work!

(Tears streaming, silently) I’d also like to thank all the stalwarts too numerous to mention that turned up on a more regular basis on Saturdays, to play week in and week out despite the losses! In particular Kerry Fitzpatrick who did a sterling job at the back (and sometimes up front too!), who helped with transport and listened to my ‘musings’ over where to play people. Thanks go, also, to the umpires (including Dori), who volunteer to be league umpires and have to travel away from their clubs to umpire as neutral umpires. This can’t be easy, especially when they have such conflicting ‘advice’ coming from all the players on the pitch!

(Now blubbering uncontrollably) My thanks also go to all the other captains and the inventors of What’s App. Without the support of this app and this group in particular, I would not have made it through to the end of the season. It has given me the opportunity to develop my rhyming skills (possibly the only skills I have developed this season) and to sound (with my phone on loud) as if I have lots of friends wanting to communicate with me - the listening public need not know I was being asked to supply players!

On a more serious note, thanks go to all the committee members who work hard behind the scenes to ensure the smooth running of the club. Until you are involved as a committee member or captain, I don’t think you realise just how much hard work goes into running the hockey section and ensuring we all have a place to come and enjoy our sport and enjoy the socials. Give them a little thought when you rock up hungover on a Saturday; a lot of work has gone into getting these games organised and they deserve your thanks (and to be bought a drink or two for their efforts).

Ladies 3rd Team - Gubbs

The Ladies 3’s achieved stunning mid table mediocrity in a season of two halves, securing all but two of their 19 points before Christmas. 
 
However, the stats don’t reflect the real achievements of the team. It’s in the Ladies 3’s that girls, ready to progress from the lionesses, have their first regular experience of adult hockey. A backbone of old and slows aim to create a positive, fun, robust experience, primarily to keep girls involved in regular hockey, and to become the best players they can be. 
 
Better reflections of the season are
• 9 juniors gaining experience of playing in the 2nd team, 4 becoming regulars
• 5 lionesses gaining a couple of games experience with us towards the end of the season
• 3 amazing new adults who completely get the aims of the team and have fitted in perfectly
 
So, success can’t be measured in a league position and stats, and the real icing on the cake is when juniors who progress properly ‘get it’.  They understand that they are club players first and foremost, and do all they can to support the club in any way they can. 
 
Thanks to Sara Riley for such a lot of things, and Naomi for captaining when needed. Also to Goldie and Zoe who have done everything they possibly could support the 3’s. Also, many thanks to our esteemed umpire – the revered Mr Peter Boyse. The season’s had its’ challenges, but each and every game has been a ball! Onwards and ever upwards!!

Ladies 4th Team – Zoe Richards

Carlsberg don’t make hockey teams but if they did they’d make them just like the Lewes Ladies 4s. Chilled, smooth and deliciously refreshing. These ladies turned up in fine spirits each week and poured their heart and soul into their performance. They may not have finished top, in fact – Bottom (s’up) but their team ethos, friendship and sense of fun were Premium. Special thanks to Bar Steward Julia Hoare who tapped up the umpires each week and a large cheers to regular umps, Richard ‘2 pints of lager and a packet of crisps’ Walker and Alan ‘half a’ Forster(s).
 
So please raise a glass to the best bunch of girls in the world. Prøbably.

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