All posts by Craig Hockenhull

General News, Ladies Section, Men's Section

Senior training starts Wednesday 7th April 2021

Updated: 04/04/2021

Dear All,

After discussions within committee and following guidance from England Hockey (EH) we are ready to get back to hockey, following EHs Stage 4 plan, as of Wednesday 7th April 2021. In short this means we can resume training and friendly matches, with restrictions and safety measures in place.

Please make sure, it is essential to the safe running of training, that you follow all guidance from Anna as covid officer for Whitchurch Hockey Club, your coaches, captains and any information distributed to you.

As before it is still essential that you have signed the England Hockey Participation Agreement. Unless you have recently joined the club, you will have all done this and therefore does not need to be done again. Only once signed will you be able to participate. For those new, failure to have signed up for your first session will result in you being turned away. The link will be on TeamApp.

We have to take a register of all players at every session to submit to EH for Track & Trace. We have a maximum of 30 people per group and therefore have more flexibility with numbers. You must still register on Teamapp before attending a session so we are aware of numbers. If your attendance changes please let your captain know.

Below is outlined the rules and guidelines that will be in place and MUST be followed from when you enter the astro to when you leave the gates at the end of the session.

  • Come dressed to play and start straight away.
  • Bring your own hand sanitiser, mask and playing equipment
  • Limit touching of communal kit including hockey balls; use your stick.
  • Do not share equipment and kit – we will put in place policies for defence face masks.
  • Do not attend a session for 14 days if you have shown ANY symptoms of Covid-19, have been in contact with anyone who has shown symptoms or have travelled back from any country on the Government quarantine list.
  • Non-contact temperature checks will be done on the gate and anyone with a temperature above the government guidelines will be turned away.
  • Maintain social distancing between drills and on the side lines.

This is our updated statement and we will continue to assess, monitor and act when required if circumstances either change from England Hockey or within the club itself.

Again we just ask you all to be patient while we all get back to training and managing numbers. We will be putting on intra-club games to allow us all to get back to playing more hockey on Saturdays. Watch out on TeamApp for information regarding club and friendly fixtures.

Anna Latham is still the club Covid Officer. Please report to Anna if you develop any Covid-19 symptoms, or have been in contact with someone who has, AND have been at the club within 14 days.

Anna’s details are as follows:

Mobile: 07531 558118

Email: anna.latham@whitchurchhockeyclub.com  as well as covid@whitchurchhockeyclub.com

From all of us on committee thank you for your patience and hope to see you when you feel comfortable returning to hockey.

Many thanks

The Committee

Academy News

Academy Hockey Starting Up Again – Saturday 10th April

Young boy playing hockey on a green pitch

We are very pleased to announce that from Saturday 10th April 2021 we will be able to run academy coaching sessions again from 10-11.30am on the astro at Sir John Talbot’s school.

Academy sessions are traditionally for U12s (Year 7 and below), due to the impact of covid we will also be inviting any juniors who want to attend, in order to allow those older players who don’t feel confident enough to attend senior training (which is starting up from 7th April) to work on their core skills.  If in doubt about the right sessions to attend, just ask.

We will be applying the same Covid measures as earlier in the season (good practice social distancing and hygiene precautions). Please follow the guidance on the club website before attending as you will need to:

For now, could you please reply to

academy@whitchurchhockeyclub.com to indicate whether your child(ren) will be planning to attend.

Given how few outlets they have had for the last few months, I’m sure they will be raring to go, and it is a great time to encourage any friends to come along and take part.

We look forward to seeing everyone back on the pitch in a few weeks!

General News, Social events

Footsteps to Tokyo Challenge

Whitchurch(Shropshire) Hockey club wish Kinvara Hockey all the best on Friday 26th March with their “Footsteps to Tokyo Challenge” as their members (predominantly youth players) embark on a fundraising challenge to virtually walk/run the distance from their club in County Galway on the west coast of Ireland to Tokyo.

The virtual route to Tokyo is designed to connect with as many of the countries the Irish national Women’s Hockey team will face at the upcoming Olympic Games.  We are delighted to encourage and promote the effort of their young players during their enormous challenge, but also promote the sport of hockey and in particular women in sport in advance of the Olympic Games.

 

#Kinvara Hockey @kinvarahockey

General News

25 March 2021 – England hockey latest – Hockey’s first steps back for summer of fun!

As the government roadmap out of lockdown progresses and the official guidance for grassroots sport is now available, we can now confirm more details of the Return to Play plans for hockey.

England Hockey’s full guidance has been simplified where possible and should be used by Covid Officers and key role holders at clubs and organisations alongside the wider supporting guides for specific roles in hockey as well as the supporting infographics and FAQs. This is all available on the Covid Support page of our website, which will be regularly updated.

The good news is that hockey can return from 29 March straight to the ‘Play – Step 4’ phase of our original Covid-19 roadmap. This allows local hockey to take place including activities like summer leagues or local matches.

We recognise that not all players will be ready to return straight away and we encourage all providers to ensure that their processes, communication and behaviours all contribute to creating places that all players can be comfortable participating within. Further to the briefings held last week England Hockey encourages the focus to be on safe, fun and friendly activity initially to support welcoming people back.

As the roadmap progresses over the coming weeks, restrictions are expected to lift, and the extent of activity clubs can offer will extend. These are mostly related to issues outside of play such as hospitality and changing rooms. As of the 25 March we are still waiting for the government safer travel advice to be updated that will inform on travel issues such as car sharing.

The updated government advice means it is now possible to undertake the following activity. England Hockey expects that all involved in any activity will follow the guidance.

Outdoor hockey can resume from 29 March:

  • Training can start once organisers ensure all guidance is in place.
  • England Hockey recommends a maximum of 30 people in any one group, but more than one group can use a pitch as long as social distancing can be maintained outside of play and between the groups.
  • Matches (both 11-a-side and small sided) can resume once organisers can ensure all guidance is in place. Multiple matches can take place at the same venue as long as social distancing can be maintained between groups outside of matches.

Next steps of the government roadmap

The below table outlines the government roadmap as a guide for coming months. This is indicative of when we expect guidance may be updated to support further changes, but the dates are not confirmed at this stage. As and when further changes to guidance are required, England Hockey will update and reissue our guidance.

Gov Step 1b
(from 29 March)		 Gov Step 2

(no earlier than 12 April)

 Gov Step 3
(no earlier than 17 May)		 Gov Step 4
(no earlier than 21 June)
Indoor hockey Flyerz permitted Junior (U18) permitted Adult permitted
Changing rooms Should not be used with the exception of use by disabled participants, for safeguarding purposes or for serious injury requiring emergency treatment Changing room use to be reviewed
Spectators Are not permitted with the exception of safeguarding purposes (one parent, guardian or carer per child (under 18) or disabled participant) Spectator permissions to be reviewed
Hospitality May provide takeaway services only Permitted outdoors Permitted indoors
Travel Travel for sport is permitted. Awaiting government travel advice on car sharing
Clubhouse Should remain closed to the public, but toilets permitted to be open from 30 minutes before activity, until 30 minutes after activity Clubhouse use to be reviewed

England Hockey will continue to follow government and Public Health England advice. Timings of any changes to the circumstances for hockey will always be led by government advice during the Covid-19 restrictions.

Whilst these are now significant steps forward in terms of returning to play, we would encourage everyone to firstly consider the health of themselves and others as they return to play.

If you have any issues or questions regarding the guidance please read our FAQs or contact clubs@englandhockey.co.uk.