Wapping Kidds is extremely proud to continue to nurture the first inner London hockey club for school age children! Started in 2016 we now have a over 200 children who have attended our sessions and on average 70-90 children training and playing with us each week.  

We are very excited about continuing to grow the club to fulfil our mission of inclusion and increasing access to hockey for young people.

Hockey Restarts September 2021

Wapping Kidds is delighted to announce that training will resume on Friday 10 September 2021, for those in School Years 8-13, and Saturday 11 September 2021 for those in Years 1-7. We welcome children from the age of 6 to our training sessions.  PLease drop us a line at wappingkidds@gmail.com with any queries, or to let us know you wish to attend.  

Please keep an eye on our social media sites for any further news:

Twitter: @WappingKidds

Facebook: WappingKidds

Instagram: @wappingkidds

Our Kidds

Wapping Kidds welcome all players, from complete starters to those that have been playing for a little while. We are a mixed club covering age groups 6-18. We have competitions for those who wish to participate, but operate on a non-committal basis - if your child wishes to try out hockey, just come along!

Coaches

Our Head Coach Sandra Akinbolu and Youth Coordinator Tim Wright manage a friendly and enthusiastic voluntary coaching team, ably shepherded by Lou Marenco. The majority of these volunteers are from our adult club, all with a passion for helping young people access the sport.  

All coaches are DBS checked and we require our regular coaches to complete England Hockey safeguarding courses. Our coaches are experienced in helping children integrate into the club from their first session.

As the club grows we are always looking for new coaches/assistants. The sessions are planned and led by our lead coaches, and we provide training and ongoing support throughout the season for our volunteer coaches.  We would welcome parents and supporters who wanted to become assistant coaches, and now run a junior coach program for any 14-18 year olds wanting to help out. If you keen to be involved, please do drop us an email, and we can discuss it further.

Where and when

The sessions for 6-12 year olds are held on Saturdays from 9.30-11am at John Orwell Sports Tench Street, Wapping, London E1W 2QD

Training for 13-18 year olds ar held on a Friday from 6-7.30pm at John Orwell Sports Tench Street, Wapping, London E1W 2QD

A number of our U10, U12 and U14 teams are invited to play in tournaments against other clubs in London on Sundays. We will provide details to parents about these opportunities throughout the term.

Term times, weather and cancelling sessions

For the remainder of the 2021/22 season, our term will operate as follows:

• Winter term: 10 September -  18 December (including half-term)
• Spring term: 7 January -2 April (including half-term)
• Summer term: 10 April - 24 July 2022 (including half-term)

We play in the majority of weather conditions and we will let parents know as early as possible if a session will be cancelled. This is only likely in extreme weather when the pitch is unplayable due to frost/snow. Please ensure suitable clothing is worn for the applicable weather conditions.

Equipment

Generally, we provide the majority of the equipment needed for children to join us. The following provides some further guidance on what your children will need to wear and bring with them:

• Hockey sticks - we provide hockey sticks for all children but they are also welcome to bring their own.  All sticks will be sanitised prior to use.
• Clothing – we play on a sand-based astroturf and ask that suitable sports shoes (ie. trainers or astroturf shoes) are worn, and comfortable clothing to run and play hockey in. It’s also important to bring suitable clothing for the weather (raincoats, gloves, sunhats etc) as we will play in all weather.  Please note, peaked caps are not advisable for safety reasons.  
• Shin pads and gumshields – shin pads are necessary as hockey balls are hard! These can be bought cheaply from most sports shops and we can provide further advice on shin pads if required. Gumshields are also highly recommended and will be required for any children playing in tournaments, again coaches can provide advice on this.
• Water – please bring a water bottle along to hydrate after all the running!  Please remember, water bottles cannot be shared.

Cost and membership

We purposefully do not run a membership model but operate on a pay per play basis to allow flexibility for parents and to keep costs at a minimum for those that attend. Some children attend every week, and some once a month, all are very welcome! The cost of attendance is free for the first couple of weeks - we like everyone to see if they like it first – we are sure they will. After that, it’s £3 a session per child.

Covid-19 compliance

Lourdes Marenco is the Wapping Kidds Covid Contact Point.  Should there be any need to return to a period of restrictions, she can be reached on our email wappingkidds@gmail.com. For more information on Wapping HC's Covid policy, please see the link here.

Registration

You can register your details and your children’s details using the following form. All email correspondence that is sent to your children’s registered email will also be sent to the guardians' email address.

Contact details

Equally please contact us on our email wappingkidds@gmail.com.

Promoting the Club

We are always looking to promote the club.  We'll have flyers at our sessions if you wanted to take some, but we would be very grateful if you could spread the word through your various contacts. We think it is important that children locally know we exist, and come to try us out.