Hi all Pirates,
With the commencement of non-Premier League preseason this week, I’d like to welcome everyone to Season 2021.
COVID-19
While we’d all hoped that the interruption to the commencement of last season was going to be the last we’d see of COVID-19 here in WA, the last fortnight was a timely reminder that this virus won’t be going away soon. Thanks to all for the strict compliance with the restrictions and mask-wearing over the last week or so. Given the learnings of 2020, I believe Hockey WA and the clubs are well prepared to navigate any further interruptions as best as possible. A reminder for all club members to ensure you have SafeWA installed on your phone. While for the time being masks are no longer required, it’s likely contact registers will be around for much of the season.
HOCKEY
The Men’s premier league squad, once again lead by Paul Armitage (Premier 1’s) and Julie Branley (Premier 3’s) have been hard at work for the last few months prepping themselves for a season commencing w/e 26th of March. There have been some player movements both in and out, but the young squad is currently fit and healthy and ready to tackle the challenge of another top flight season.
The Woman’s Premier League preseason commencement was pushed back a week due to lockdown. Kate Denning and Lee Capes will be coaching the Premier 1’s side, ably assisted by Kim Walker. Adam Piggott will be coaching the Premier 2’s, fulfilling yet another in the varied list of roles he’s completed for the club. The Women’s premier league season and the remainder of the non-premier grades kick off w/e 9th of April.
A special thanks to David John (former High-Performance Director at Hockey India) for taking some specialist pre-season sessions for the Premier League Men and Women last week. Your experience and expertise were invaluable and I’m sure all the participants have taken something away from them.
Registrations are now open online. Keep an eye out for a registration and grading day over the coming month.
For any questions relating to hockey or training please contact the relevant coordinator:
Team’s Director – Elspeth Denning – teams.director@cuhc.org.au
Men’s – Jonah Powell – mens@cuhc.org.au
Women’s – Julie Doyle – womens@cuhc.org.au
Junior’s – Amy Woodfield – juniors@cuhc.org.au
Master’s – Ian Pestana – masters@cuhc.org.au
CURTIN O-DAY
Curtin O-Day is currently scheduled for Wednesday 24th of February. We once again will be manning a stall to promote our club within the university and grow our student membership. If you are a Curtin Student and able to assist on the day, please contact Tony Ziegelaar at recruitment@cuhc.org.au
FUNDRAISING:
We have a Bunnings Sausage Sizzle booked for the 28th of March at Cannington. As always we are looking for volunteers to help man the stall. Please add your details to the sheet available on Google Documents or contact Lorraine Brown at sec@cuhc.org.au if you are able to donate some of your time to help out. We have further sessions booked for 25th of April and 23rd of May, so the more volunteers the merrier.
SPONSORSHIP:
We are again on the look out for sponsors and partners both big and small to help keep our fees as low as possible. If you have any leads, please pass them on to Matt Mercer at vp@cuhc.org.au.
STRATEGIC PLANNING:
We have kicked off a strategic planning process for the next 5 years. As part of the process we will be facilitating a number of engagement workshops with our membership. If you are interested in participating please let me know at pres@cuhc.org.au.
Look forward to seeing you out on the track!
Reidy