Letchworth Roller Hockey Club was established in 1984 and since then has had many successes, including winning the Premier League and supplying more than 28 players to represent England.
Our current training takes place on Wednesday evenings from 7.00 pm to 10.30pm at North Herts Leisure Centre, Letchworth. Training times vary based on age and ability.
If interested in joining please contact Gill Childs on 07977 457393 or gill@childs99.myzen.co.uk
New dates for the Senior Easter Counties div 1 and div 2 postponed tournaments have been arranged. Both dates which were scheduled for the 10th Jan are now being held on the 30th May. Please check the calendar for further details (match sheets, times, venues etc).
The affected Inters and U11s tournaments have yet to have a new date specified.
Following the bad weather conditions the senior Eastern Counties division 1 tournament scheduled for the 10th Jan has been cancelled.
This is the third tournament of the weekend that has been cancelled where Letchworth were due to play.
Due to the weather the Intermediates tournament has been cancelled that was set to be played on the 9th January 2010.
Following the bad weather conditions the senior Eastern Counties division 2 tournament scheduled for the 10th Jan has been cancelled.
We will try to keep the online calendar up to date as well as mentioning any changes here on the site too.
On 13th December we played a Seniors Div 2 tournament at Wymondham leisure centre near Norwich, the team consisted of:
Todd Halfpenny, Andrew Stewart, Alan Burgess, Mat Burgess, Karl !, Jake Mansfield, Michael Adams (GK) & Ryan Mills (GK)
First game against Ely: We started well knocking the ball around creating chances but failed to put most of them in the net when it mattered. Ryan had a tough start having shots fired at him from all angles some from far out. Ely were a relativly young team & could get behind our defense too easily scoring 6 by the end of first half. Todd, Andrew, Mat & Alan all scored one each making it 6-4 to Norwich. Second half & Michael had to make plenty of saves to keep them at bay but they still got 3 past him, Todd & Andrew got one more each making it 9-6 to Ely.
Second game against Norwich: This game was fairly evenly matched between both sides with counter attack after counter attack going on, by the end of first half it was 4-3 to Norwich, Alan scored 1 & Jake scoring 2 nice goals from little flicks. Second half it was much the same & i thought we could win it but we hit there goal posts so many times it was crazy. We didnt score at all this half & they got two more in making it 6-3 to Norwich.
Third game against Farnham: Michael opted to go in goal first half & did a great job saving most of what they had to fire at him but they got one past him just before end of first half. We didnt score at all this game for some strange reason although we had many many chances, there goal keeper was very good & covered all the spaces. Ryan was in goal next half & Farnham played on his inexperience drawing him out of goal & scoring at will although he did make some good saves. Final score 11-0 to Farnham.
Fourth game against Houghton Regis: These were a very mature & experienced team good at defence & attack with a very good goal keeper who is very difficult to score past. This was allways going to be our most difficult game we thought & by now in the fourth game of the day Letchworth were tired & had a few injury knocks. They scored 5 past us in the first half with Andrew also getting one then 6 past us in the second half making it 11-1 to Houghton Regis.
Big thanks go to Todd for being our refferee allways playing then reffing or reffing then playing & constantly changing from one kit to the other to be on time with hardly a rest between the two. Is that comittment or what !
Our next tournament is on 10th January 2010 hosted by England Ladies at Manningtree, hope to see you there.
Belated Christmas wishes & A Happy New Year
Paul
It was an early start for the boys in their 2nd tournament together. The first game was due to start at 09h10 in Cambridge. Unfortunately, due to the late arrival of the 2nd referee, the first game kicked off late. We could have had an extra twenty minutes in bed!
The squad consisted of James (GK), Adam, Joe, Bradley and Liam. For Liam, this was the first time he had played in the squad and a tournament.
Cottenham 6 – Letchworth 3
Letchworth got off to their customary slow start, although saying this it was more due to their lack of defending than attacking. We allowed, unchallenged, some of their better skaters to attack our goal head on. Clearly, if we had taken the incentive to block and tackle, the score line would have been different. Cottenham’s goal keeper saved numerous attempts on goal. At half time, the boys were 4 -1 down. After a brief talking to at half time by Doug and Adam, the boys pulled it together in the second half. Goal scorer – Adam 3
Bury 0 – Letchworth 13
After a one game break, the boys were back on against an all girl side from Bury, awkward for us as an all boy team. We treated them with respect. The Bury girls are a good team but were out played by Letchworth in all aspects of the game. In the second half, we eased off the pressure, as the score line passed 10. I can still remember the days when we were thrashed 20 – 0 so we were conscious not to inflict the same demoralising score line on our opposition. This game provided the boys with the opportunity to gel. Goal scorers – Joe 7, Adam 6
Ely 5 – Letchworth 2
After another one game break, the boys were back on against a disciplined team from Ely. I am not too sure how we lost this game. Ely had some good players but nothing we couldn’t handle as a team. At half time, it was pretty evenly matched with Letchworth coming off 3-2 down. I think we began to run out of steam, which allowed them to skate directly at our goal again. Ely scored two quick successive goals which we never recovered from. Goal scorers Joe 1, Adam 1
Colchester 4 – Letchworth 9
We were afforded a two game break until the boys were back on against a good Colchester side. This allowed the boys’ time to relax, have some food and re-charge their batteries. We pretty much dominated this game from start to finish with numerous attempts on goal with good defensive support. When Colchester did break, we nearly always had a defence to recover the situation. A deserved win for the team. Goal scorers Liam 1, Joe 2, Adam 5
From the smiles at the end of the day the boys enjoyed themselves. Each and every one of them put in 100%. In goal, James played extremely well, saving numerous shots and pushing the ball out to neutral zones of the rink. All the boys supported James in defence with the drive to push the ball around and forward up into the attack zones. I would guess that we had more shots on goal and near misses than any other team during this tournament. Joe and Adam continue with their good goal scoring records, Liam after loads of attempts found the back of the net during the last game with Brad always bringing out the best of the oppositions goal keeper. Goal scoring is not everything (ask Todd) it is the team effort that counts. Well done to all the boys and parents for their support.
Ps. Get Well wishes are sent out to Frankie and Ben who could not make this tournament. Hope to see you both soon.
We had our first Under 11 tournament on Saturday 21st at Soham, Ely.
This was the first time that some of our players had ever played a competitive game outside of training. More than anything, our first tournament was for experience and practice, as some of the teams in this league have been playing together for a few seasons. Also it was an opportunity for me to assess the players and to see where they naturally fell into position while playing.
Our first ever game as a team was at 12:40. We started the first half with Kai in goal and he was called on to make some saves from some good shots. The game was end to end hockey and unfortunately Kingslynn B slipped through our defence and scored the first goal. After some good defending again by Chay and Leon, they passed the ball out from the back to Jacob who managed to break away getting a pass to Youcef who scored the equaliser. There were a few more frantic moments and all of our rink players subbed on and off after 5 minutes (ish) giving them all plenty of game. The half finished 1-1.
In the second half Mia came on in goal for Kia who had had a good first half. It was quite a tight game and we scored next, our second goal again scored by Youcef, after a really good bit of link-up play by Marco & Rieff, 2-1. The game again became an end to end affair and with just minutes to go before the end we had a momentary slip in concentration and Kingslynn scraped a late goal to draw the game 2-2.
Our second game was against probably the most experienced team in the league, Ely. We found out very early on in the game that they had two main players who were quick and played good hockey, we went behind in the first half by 5 goals, but not before some good saves by Mia, one of them off of her head. This was a difficult half for all of our players as they had not played against a team like this before and weren’t allowed to get into any sort of comfortable possession, constantly being pressured into mistakes. A clever tactic by Ely.
The second half was better, all of them played really well and gave 110%; I asked Chay to hold our defence tight and protect our keeper and he played his socks off! What more can a coach ask for? The eventual score was 8-0. The score wasn’t really a good representation of the game as we did have some good attacking play, just couldn’t score.
Our third game of the day and we met Cambridge who are the second best team in the league, nothing like baptism by fire! Cambridge are a well coached team who again have some good players coming through. We all started well again, with our players beginning to find their own strengths and using them. Rieff battled and tackling especially well during this period of play and we put the ball in the net first after a good fast moving attack, with Marco finishing the move and scoring the goal with a sublime backhand slap shot. Cambridge then came out fighting and after a few minutes drew level. 1-1. For the rest of the half we defended well utilising the growing defensive skills of Chay and Leon, but the star of the half was Kai who pulled off some really excellent saves off his chest, kickers and most impressive, a big left hand into the top corner which saved a certain goal.
As the second half progressed it became more evident that we were playing our third game and Cambridge only their second. All of our players began to show signs of tiredness but they all persevered. Because of this, we couldn’t hold Cambridge at bay and we conceded 3 more goals. With the experience gained from this game under our belts, we will get much closer to playing at his level. Final score 4-1.
Our fourth and final game of the day game was against Chesterton who were the only other new team in this tournament. Although all our team were getting tired after playing every other game, they all came out showing passion and determination. This was by far our best start to a game as we put all the things we had learnt through the tournament into practice. One of the things that was complimented on by other coaches about our team was that we passed the ball around and played good Hockey. We did this again in this half and went deservedly 2 goals up after some great passing by Jacob and Youcef and a composed finishing by Rieff first and then another goal for Marco. But Chesterton fought back and drew level just before the end of the half.
We began the second half as we had started the first, good passing, good movement and a well ground out goal for Jacob. He started the move by tackling well then passing the ball off, then continued his run and received a really intelligent, weighted pass from Leon, rounded the keeper and put the ball in the net. 3-2 to us. After some prolonged possession from us, Chesterton intercepted a forward pass and went through and scored. 3-3. After this there were only a few minutes left in the game and both teams had chances on goal, with both teams defence and keepers working hard to maintain their teams score. We were the ones who conceded with only seconds left on the clock. The final Score was 4-3.
As I may have mentioned before, this was our first tournament and we played very well as a team. It is very difficult for seasoned players to play 4 games in one tournament as the normal amount is only 3, so our players did very well to cope with it all. The England National coach, Carlos Amaral, told me that he would have expected a new team like us, to take three tournaments together before they started to play together as a unit, but he said that our squad was showing signs of doing that already after just a few games. I can only agree and let you know that I am very excited about this team and that after just one tournament I can see great things for the team and great things individually as players.
Overall through the day I was very pleased at how everyone played, the team defended well, played the ball around and moved into space to help each other. They also learnt valuable lessons, very important things that can only be gained through competitive experience. The most obvious being not to pass the ball across their own goal!
I am really proud of our team and we will start winning at the next tournament.
Thank you very much to all the parents who came along on the day and who helped with the timekeeping.
Well done all!! J
Andrew
Belated match report from the Seniors Easter Counties 1 tournament in Kings Lynn
This was a game of 2 halves as the expression goes, but with a difference. The difference is that the 2 halves in question were our half and their half of the rink. In our half of the rink we played really well, defended consistently and controlled our area. But when it came to moving into the opponents half, our passes were sloppy, shots were off target and our movement off the ball was not good. We lost Nigel 6 minutes into the half with a torn calf muscle and conceded a goalmouth scramble scrappy goal. The rest of the game progressed in the same manner, Peterborough not penetrating our defence much at all and when they did we are lucky enough to have Ben playing and doing his normal excellent job at keeping the ball out of our net. But we still could not put the ball in their net
Final Score 1-0 to Peterborough.
We came out fighting after our 1st game loss and really there was nothing in it between the 2 sides all first half even though Grimsby are a Premier League team. The half ended 1-1. In the second half it was an old style end to end game for the first ten minutes with both teams working the opposition goalkeepers. With 6 minutes to go the difference between EC1 and Premier league started to become more apparent, fitness. As we only had one sub due to Nigel not being able to play, we started to feel it and paid for the first ten minute end to end hockey. We conceded a goal to take it to 2-1 and then had to push a bit to claw it back, unfortunately pushing a team opens up holes in your own defence and we conceded 2 more.
Final Score 4-1 to Grimsby.
We started really well and went 2 goals up quite quickly and we finally got into our stride passing well, moving well and keeping the ball. Kingslynn scored and the half finished 2-1 to us. In the second half things changed for some unknown reason, maybe tiredness causing lapses of concentration, but we had a miscommunication in who was marking who and allowed Kingslynn to walk through the middle of our defence and score. 2-2. As the half progressed it was plain to see that we just were not fit enough and gave the ball away too easily to our downfall.
Final Score 4-2 to Kingslynn.
Not a good day at the office. We were all very disappointed after the tournament, I can’t remember the last time Letchworth lost 3 games in a row at senior level, but you learn by your mistakes.
We will be better in the next tournament.
Some updates to the Seniors fixture list have been made. Changes are;
* Snr EC1 tournament on 24th Jan ‘10 is now on 31st Jan ‘10 due to a cup conflict.
* Snr EC2 tournament on the 14th Feb ‘10 has to be re-arranged… no new date/venue confirmed yet.
A BIG thanks to;
Team – Bradley, Joe, Frankie, Adam, James & Ben
Well done to all the boys who on their first ever tournament together done a excellent job.
Tournament results
Letchworth 4, Bury 7
(Adam 2, Frankie 1, Joe 1)
Letchworth 6, Ely 3
(Adam 2, Frankie 2, Joe 2)
Letchworth 5, Kings Lynn 9
(Adam 5)
Letchworth 7, Cottenham 8
(Adam 7)
Our boys got off to a slow start but showed a great deal of discipline on the rink conducting themselves in a very responsible way.
The Senior Eastern Counties division 2 squad got their season underway at Manningtree on the 4th October and with a team including several new faces to the senior league (as well as one to their very first competitve tournament).
It was known that the first game against Farnham was going to be tough with new bodies on the rink but when one goalie and an outfield player pulled out through injury and illness the odds stacked even further against Letchworth. The game started at pace and the new team foul rules caused issues for Letchworth who gave away several direct free hits. At half time things were looking bleak. The 2nd half started better with the team playing more together and supporting each other. This pushed into some periods of good play and three great goals were put away. This was all a little too late and the game ended 11-3 to Farnham.
The second game of Letchworth’s campaign was against a an Ely side who looked beatable… but sadly we made very hard work of it and although once again all our goals came from some really good looking hockey there was just not enough of it to keep back some strong long shots from Ely. The final score was Ely 9, Letchworth 7.
Letchworth took on the home team Colchester in the final game of the day and the tiredness of the team could seen. With only 1 substitute the legs were beginning to go and with Colchester pressuring the Letchworth defence began to buckle. Once again though when the team played well goals did appear and game ended 11-6 to Colchester.
In all it could be seen that when Letchworth had the heads on they could certainly breakdown defences and get the ball in the net… sadly this only occurred in very short patches and this was not enough for us to take any points away.
The squad was;
OK so this is third hand (thanks to Spinner for supplying it) and I haven’t tried it yet but apparently you can view the international school-boy games from Dinan live on the web.
Check out this link http://www.euro-dinan-2009.fr
UPDATE:
Games can be seen at the following links
Switzerland v England (1st half – 2nd Half)
Future games: Wednesday 15:30 (uk) – Spain v England
We have been informed by the management of the Ross Peer’s Sports centre in Soham that they will have a new Cafe open this season with a much more extensive range of foods and they shall be open during the hockey tournaments.
Although this is a good thing they have also stated that only food purchased from the cafe may be condumed on the premises… let us hope that the food is of suitable quality for high grade atheletes.
The running order of the Allen Mezzanines cup for 2009 has been announced and this year the teams entering are:
The cup runs over two days (12th and 13th September) with the clubs split into two pools. Letchworth have two tough pool games on the Saturday against HBU (winners of the Premier league) and Bury (who came 5th in the Premier leagure).
Download the runnign order – Allen_Mezzanines_League_Cup_2009
It is with great pleaseure that we can annouce the winners of the club awards for the 2008/2009 season. The results were first issued at the club’s annual awards day on the 22nd August.
And the winners are:
U11 Player of the Year – Jacob Howard
U11 Improver of the Year – Youcef Solomon
Minors (U13) Player of the Year – Bradley Holderness
Minors (U13) Improver of the Year – Joe Wonham
Intermediates (U15) Player of the Year -Adam Allinson
Intermediates (U15) Improver of the Year – Frankie Childs
Schoolboys (U17) Player of the Year – Jake Mansfield
Schoolboys (U17) Improver of the Year – Ryan Mills
Senior Player of the Year – Ben Howes
Senior Improver of the Year – Stuart Langley
Clubman of the Year – Andrew Allen
Richard Mathurin Award for Team of the Year – Senior team
Ian Gibson Award for Exceptional Player of the Year – Ben Howes
Many congratulations to all the winners and thanks to all those who voted.
Voting has now closed for the 2008/2009 Letchworth Roller Hockey club awards. Members of the club were able to vote in the following categories:
The winners shall be announced at the annual club awards day – this year taking place on the 22nd August.
Just a quick post to let all our wonderful readers that we’ve now turned comments on which allows you all to leave feedback on articles we publish… so feel free to let us know what you think.
Along with a few other members of the Letchworth Roller Hockey club I went along to one of the sessions being held regarding the new rules for roller hockey which (along with some local by-laws) are being adopted by the NRHA. These new rules are to be introduced at the start of the 09/10 season in the UK and will be first trialled at the pre-season Allen Mezzanine and Leonard’s cups.
I thought, as a taster, I’d put up here what the ‘highlights’ of the new rules were.
These rules are being introduced to make for more flowing games with higher scorelines.
* caveat – these were my initial understandings of the rules and should not be taken as concrete.
That’s right, the Letchworth senior team have taken the title of National Division 1 champions! The team sealed the deal on Sunday 14th June at the final tournament for the division. The squad had to take two wins from their four games of the day to be crowned league champions.
The day started with a 10am start against a Farnham team that has seen some old faces come back and a rejuvenated side. Letchworth took the initial lead and maintained it throughout with a final score of 3-1. The game was seen as the toughest of the day so things were certainly looking promising.
The second game against Cambridge seemed to go much more to plan with Letchworth playing the ball around confidently and having the lion’s share of the control of the game. Cambridge were pushed back and had to resort to shooting from long range… something which keeper Ben Howes took all in his stride. A final score of 7-2 to Letchworth lifted any pressure the boys had of securing their title.
Up next was Plymouth B, and with Letchworth now dominating their games and really making some excellent space the only task left to achieve was to have Todd Halfpenny score for the first time in 2009. Service was provided again and again until finally he managed to flick the ball just above the Plymouth keeper’s shoulder… the team rushed Halfpenny and bundled him to the ground (of course Howes was not one to waste this opportunity to get out of the goal). With this out of the way the day was certainly coming along well… and with the team playing like they were it was now a battle to see who could get top-goal scorer of the tournament. The onslaught of goals continued and the game ended Letchworth 13, Plymouth 0.
The final draw was against a slightly depleted Norwich team and was the only hurdle left between Letchworth and a 100% successful day. Once again Howes was as strong as ever in goal and the team seemed to play well around him. It could be seen that the boys were however getting tired after a long day and there were a couple of late and sloppy challenges which meant a few names entered the referees book. Letchworth managed to keep their cool and saw the game through to a 7-2 victory.
With the hockey out the way and the champions thrilled but worn out after a long day of hockey all that was left to do was to crack open the champagne and tally up the goals.
For the final tournament the goals were split as follows:
A big thank you should also go to our splendid timekeepers for the day who did the club proud.
The 2008/2009 Senior National Division 1 squad: Andy Allen, Nigel Allen, Graham Busolini (Captain), Todd Halfpenny, Ben Howes (GK), Stuart Langley, Andrew Stewart, Neil Warren
So the big night came… it was the national cup semi final between the home team Letchworth and Bury. It’s only fair to say that our boys were the underdogs and although the squad consisted of a few ex-England players the majority of the team had never even played at Premier league level. Compared to the current Bury line-up which comprised of their Premier league offering which included current International players… Letchworth certainly had a lot to play for. The winners of this game would proceed in the campaign and clash with Herne Bay United’ premier league squad in the final… it was a big game for both clubs.
The level of the game was matched by an excellent crowd that attended and many thanks go to all of them for their support not only of Letchworth Roller Hockey Club but of the sport as a whole.
The game kicked off at a blistering pace, one not often seen by the Letchworth players and their support. Letchworth held their own fantastically from the off and managed to keep the Bury side, despite their speed and agility, at a good distance from the goal. That’s not to say that Ben Howes didn’t do an impressive job as he definitely did by making some strong saves in return to such large slap shots coming in from distance.
Letchworth continued to defend with strength and despite having some more of the ball than perhaps they had imagined the first half ended 3-0 to Bury. Two of Bury’s goals coming from penalties and Letchworth having more than one or two attempts on goal… with the only the goal-cage denying them on one occasion following a Stuart Langley shot.
After a good team talk at half time and the crowd still cheering the teams on the second half started just as fast as the first. This half though Bury seemed to tire slightly and eased off on the pressure defence. This gave Letchworth more time with the ball and they continued to push on the Bury goal. A lapses of concentration (and some hard luck) caught Letchworth by surprise and Bury took full advantage of these opportunities and increased their lead further.
Letchworth had further attempts on goal, including another one that rattled off the metal-work but they were unable to convert these chances following a fine display by Bury’s keeper.
The match ended 7-0 to the Visitors but Letchworth and their fans (and staff) can be proud of themselves for taking the game to Bury and making the whole night a success. Bury now go on to face Herne Bay United in the National Roller Hockey cup final.
The Letchworth Squad consisted of A. Allen, N. Allen, G. Busolini, T. Halfpenny, B. Howes (goal), S. Langley, A. Stewart, N. Warren
