Last weeks Vic League games marked the halfway mark through the season.
Integration issues to build our new club have been few and far between and with the season in full swing the weekends have settled into an operating grove. It’s great to see everyone coming together to enjoy their hockey. I would like to thank all our volunteers, members and parents who have made this happen.
Last week we were informed by Hockey Victoria that we have met the League Entry Criteria participation points for Premier League scoring 23 out of 27 points. This is a very important milestone as our participation points are added to our Vic League competition points to determine our final placement.
Whilst our Vic League teams are well placed just outside the four, they need to lift their consistency on the field in the second half of the year to get over the line.
Uniforms
Uniforms continue to be an issue and having escalated within Canterbury to the National Manager of Teamwear, we are now working through the issues. The first step is the reconciliation of all of our orders as we have no confirmation of the state of the orders.
I can only apologise for the delays and can assure you that we are working as quickly as we can to resolve the issues. As soon as we have confirmed delivery dates we will send the information out as quickly as possible.
East Timor
Last weekend Dee and I packaged 33 boxes of old on and off field kit from our legacy clubs to go to a good cause in East Timor. This is part of the annual drive that is conducted by Whitefriars College.
The boxes were all sealed and labelled and yet on Wednesday evening a number of boxes were opened and goods removed. To say Dee and I are annoyed would be an understatement.
I am very disappointed that member(s) of our club have done this.
Lost and Found
On a similar theme our lost and found continues to grow and is becoming an eye sore. If you are missing any items, you have a week to locate in the lost and found boxes as at that time it will be boxed and taken to one of the local charities.
Ground Resurfacing Update
The new pitch is playing really well and the feedback we have been receiving has been fantastic.
There are a few minor works that need to be completed by us and we are hoping for one final push to get it all wrapped up – keep an eye out for an upcoming notification of a working bee and please help us get the last items finished.
Elgar Park Master Plan
After nearly 10 years of lobbying for improved facilities at Elgar Park we are very pleased that Council has recently released the Elgar Park Master Plan for public comment.
The club will be making a submission supporting the master plan in concept and seeking additional Council commitments to upgraded pitch lighting and an electronic scoreboard to our pitch (they are proposing for other ovals in the park). For details on how to make a submission in support of the draft master plan click here
The club has been lobbying for many years to get to this stage and is supportive of the key elements of the master plan, including:
NEW PAVILION – Council will fully fund a new pavilion that will be built during 2017. Chris Harper and I have been working with Council on the design concept for a new pavilion. We expect that Council will release this for comment in the next month or so.
SECOND PITCH – The master plan identifies the need for a multiuse sports facility (artificial turf field) on the oval between the hockey pitch and Elgar Road. Future development of this facility is subject to development of a detailed business case however Council appear to heading towards them fully funding it and it being available for multiple users including hockey and potentially futsal, cricket and football (pre-season training particularly). We are very supportive of Council’s proposal as it offers us overflow space for training & matches as needed without the cost, which would be in the range of $1.2m - $1.4m. How this will all operate, who will manage bookings & what impact will that have on our operations, what surface will installed, etc is all subject to the detailed business case but we are confident that this is progressing in the right direction at this stage.
Coterie and Tax Time
Steve White has done a fantastic job setting up the KBH Brumbies Coterie Group which allows tax deductible donations to be made via the Australian Sports Foundation. Money raised through the Coterie Group will be used for great projects like an electronic scoreboard and grandstand seating in the new spectator shelter.
A little help from lots of people will make these projects happen! CLICK HERE for details on how to contribute.
Code of Conduct
As a playing member of the club or by attending games as a spectator you are subject to the code of behaviour which can be found in the following link on the
How we behave is central to building our culture and how we are perceived by the broader hockey community. Regardless of the competence of umpires or on field issues, we need to ensure that neither our spectators or players contribute to any given issue.
Having discussed this topic at last months’ committee meeting, our position on player and spectator behaviour is resolute and any contravention will result in one of the following:
A formal warning letter may be issued to a team or individual
A letter of apology may be called for
Suspension of play for a team member or attendance of games for a specified duration for spectators.
As a last resort teams can and will be withdrawn
Furthermore, no person either on field or off field is allowed to approach an umpire outside of the rules set out by HV. Any umpire abuse will result in a report to the committee with possible sanctions to follow.
Women’s Day
Women's round was recently celebrated across Melbourne on 7th May and for the first time HV extended their women's round medals to ALL women & girls teams. The Brumbies did well to come away with a number of these "best n fairest" player of the day medals.
Our teams were scattered across the city but on the day we had two ladies teams (Pennant D & E) and one men’s team (Pennant D) playing at Elgar Park. All wore pink socks and our pink round raffle, tea and donations raised just under $400 for Ovarian Cancer research. Many of the VL ladies dropped off tasty treats for the tea - enough for final celebrations by the two ladies Masters teams who also played at home on the following Wed, wrapping up pink round for the Brumbies. Thanks to all for the raffle donations and a special thanks to all the bakers for making the tea buffet a real banquet.
League Entry Criteria (LEC)
HV have now issued the guidelines for the implementation of the LEC. Achieving premier league is an important aspect of retaining our talent as we are often seen by current premier league clubs as a feeder club for their recruitment. Over the years have lost too many talented players who were looking for the next level of competition.
The committee now have the clarity of the requirements and are pulling a plan together to address the gaps that we have identified. As a follow up we have invited HV to meet with the committee to brief us on the changes necessary and provide insights and advise on the best approach
In essence with an on field finish in the top 4 combined with the points assigned for off field criteria should place us in striking distance of the Premier League.
Pot Luck Night
Thank you to all who attended the Pot Luck Night to recognise the team who pulled the ground update together in very short timeframes. It would have been nice to have a few more people attend.
Future Social Events
Our ambition is to build a strong club both on and off field and developing a strong social network is one of the ways we can grow and retain our members. Our events team have targeted an ambitious calendar of events, but to be successful they need more help. Volunteering is rewarding and builds new friendship groups. If you can help please reach out to kbhhcevents@gmail.com
Game Day Coterie Lunch and Men’s Health Day - June 18
Trivia Night - July 23 – we need your help sourcing items for the Silent Auction
Golf Day - Early August
Family Fun Day - last game of the regular season for VL1 on Aug 27
Comedy Night - early September
Junior Fun Nights – We are aiming to lift the social side of our juniors for every age group to organise one event during the season.
Fair Go Sport – For this years event we would like to work with one of the special needs schools in Bulleen to invite them down for the Vic League games and have some of our juniors play a short game of hockey with them.
Junior Presentation night - Saturday 10 September
Presentation Night - Saturday 8 October
Our Sponsors
And finally I would like to acknowledge our sponsors:
Evoke IT for all your website needs
The Harp of Erin, 10% of all purchases comes back to the club as a rebate
Harcourts Balwyn, 20% of the commission from any successful listing comes back to the club
Danny Lee Designs
Bread Street, supplier of bread for all our BBQ’s
Provincial Meats, supplier of sausages for all our BBQ’s
Axial Wealth Management
We will be adding more over time as the commercial team meet with prospective sponsors and our web site will be enhanced to better showcase and support our sponsors.
Note: please make sure you check your teams fixture on the official one sport fixtures as they can change from time to time. Fixtures can be found here
Other Hockey News
Watch the Championship Trophy
Fox Sports is the exclusive Australian broadcaster of the men's Hero Champions Trophy and women's Champions Trophy.
It means that Australian hockey fans can catch every second of the Kookaburras' and Hockeyroos' Champions Trophy campaigns live from London.
Watch their next match against Belgium live on Fox Sports Ch 504 from 3:00am AEST on Wednesday.
The Hockeyroos get underway against the USA at 9:00pm AEST on Saturday. The match begins on Fox Sports' red button service before moving to Fox Sports 1 from 9:45pm
Fox Sport Schedule can be viewed here
The official tournament websites are the best place to keep up with results, standings, statistics and more.
The Hero men's Hockey Champions Trophy runs 10-17 June, while the women's Hockey Champions Trophy runs 18-26 June..
Men's Championship Trophy Official website can be viewed here
Women's Championship Trophy official website can be viewed here
U13 and U15 Elite skill development days- Register now
Registration is now open for the Hockey Victoria Elite Skill Development Days in July 2016! This Elite Skill Development Day is only open to those born in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 or 2006.
Participants are placed in small groups with athletes of a similar age and standard. A range of different skills will be worked on each day, as well as modified games and full field games.
There is an outline below of some areas that are likely to be covered on this day. Program 1 will be delivered at this Elite Skill Development Day.
There will also be a specific Goalkeeper program run at these days, with all goalkeepers alternating between completing specific drills with our goalkeeper coaches and being involved in the drills with field players.
Which age groups can attend?
Any male or female born between 2002 and 2006 that has played at Zone level or higher. Read the full article here
HV Men's Health Round June 13-19
In 2016 Hockey Victoria is implementing a Men’s Health Round to co-inside with the Victorian Government's Men’s Health Week. Men’s Health Week is about promoting boys’ and men’s health and wellbeing in Australia and using local responses and events.
A boy born in Australia in 2010 has a life expectancy of 78.0 years while a baby girl born at the same time could expect to live to 82.3 years old. Right from the start, boys suffer more illness, more accidents and die earlier than their female counterparts.
Men take their own lives at four times the rate of women (that's five men a day, on average). Accidents, cancer and heart disease all account for the majority of male deaths. Read the full article here
