Notes from the Chair
Full steam ahead with this peculiar season. Some of that peculiarity has been great - see M5 winning their first game since March 2019, and self-proclaimed best player in the club Joe Trickett saving a flick to secure a 1 goal victory for the M2 at Chelmsford this last week. Some has been funny - see M11 player Jacko getting locked in ‘HMP John Orwell’ after training and the overall quality of content on the @wappingmxis instagram account. And the other small proportion of peculiarity available in the universe at any one time has been COVID related.
This coming week, another piece of the ‘normal’ hockey puzzle fits into place with Back2Hockey starting up! A chance for some of our newest players to learn the basics from some of the best players in the club (and Ollie Bull as well). Keep an eye on our socials for details, and let Ciara Murphy and Ollie Bull know on wappingvcp@gmail.com if you have any friends who might fancy picking up a stick.
Finally, special mention to Phil O’Hagan for joining Wapping’s esteemed ranks of Regional umpires by passing his Level 2. Phil joins Dan Carter (aka Wapping’s highest ever TOTY contributor), Tony Goulding and Adrian Hull as the club’s representative’s at East. Nice work Phil.
Reason for more info on Back2Hockey starting up, and of course, the latest in COVID info. For us to digest.
Good luck this weekend.
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Covid Update
As rumours of further restrictions surface, we remain stubbornly optimistic that hockey will go on for the foreseeable. Please continue to respect the rule of 6 at all times off the hockey pitch, self-assess for symptoms before leaving the house, and remember to follow England Hockey's guidance on team travel for away fixtures. Waiting for teams to exit the pitch before the next team enters has put additional strain on match day schedules, so please try to pack up and move out of the dugouts and off the pitch as quickly as possible after the end of the game. Extra special thanks this week to our Covid Officer Kate Brannelly, who has been collating and sending 44 different attendance sheets to England Hockey every week, in addition to fielding questions and queries and reporting any COVID incidents to England Hockey. You're playing a blinder Branners.
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Back2Hockey
Back2Hockey is back! Look out for the posts and share the news. We are welcoming all beginners to John Orwell Sports Centre this Monday coming (12th October). This will be a great way to reconnect with hockey, other players and boost the endorphins. Have a friend? Bring them along!
We will be running these sessions every 2-3 weeks to get things started and the dates for your diaries are the 12th, 26th and 9th November. To make things as seamless as possible and give everyone the best experience, please could we ask those of you who are interested to let us know if you will be attending due to limited spaces. Email us at wappingvcp@gmail.com
Volunteers: the key to Back2Hockey is it's volunteers... We need your help, so if you are interested, please do also get in touch
Yours,
Wapping VCP's - Ollie & Ciara
Thanks as always to Emily Wilford for putting the Back Post together!
