Last weekend saw a very enjoyable, social event at the Bayside Sports Complex hockey pitch. The six–a–side tournament saw two competitions running concurrently on the training and main pitches. It was great to see so many ladies & young lads competing against each other in the ladies and youth development competition.

Please find below the results of the day:

LADIES & YOUTH DEVELOPMENT TOURNAMENT

EAGLES        0-0        HAWKS 1
BLUES          1-2         HAWKS 2
ORANGES      2-0         WHITES
HAWKS 2      0-1         HAWKS 1
WHITES        1-1         REDS
ORANGES      2-1         BLUES
EAGLES        0-0         HAWKS 2
HAWKS        1-1         ORANGES
REDS           1-1         BLUES
WHITES       1-1         EAGLES
ORANGES     1-0         HAWKS 2
REDS           2-2        HAWKS 1
EAGLES        1-0       ORANGES
WHITES       2-2        BLUES
HAWKS 2     1-3        REDS
BLUES         0-2        EAGLES
REDS          2-1        ORANGES
HAWKS 1     0-1        WHITES
EAGLES       0-0        REDS
BLUES         1-1        HAWKS 1
WHITES       0-3        HAWKS 2

FINAL EAGLES 0-2 REDS


MENS TOURNAMENT

COLLEGIANS VETS 2-0 UNCLE PATRICKS ARMY
LIMAS TEAM 5-1 MAROONS
BARBARIANS 6-5 COLLEGIANS VETS
UNCLE PATRICKS ARMY 1-5 LIMAS TEAM
LOS PERI 5-2 MAROONS
LIMAS TEAM 0-1 BARBARIANS
LIMAS TEAM 2-2 COLLEGIANS VETS
LOS PERI 2-1 UNCLE PATRICKS ARMY
UNCLE PATRICKS ARMY 6-7 MAROONS
BARBARIANS 2-2 LOS PERI
MAROONS 1-5 BARBARIANS
LOS PERI 2-3 COLLEGIANS VETS
BARBARIANS 2-2 UNCLE PATRICKS ARMY
LIMAS TEAM 5-0 LOS PERI

FINAL: BARBARIANS 3-1 LIMAS TEAM

Also on Saturday, Grammarians men's team played against visiting Malaga with the local side losing 7 – 3 (most players had played in the six–a–side tournament).

On Sunday Eagles men's team travelled to Malaga to play two games. The first against Malaga (who had played the day early against Grammarians) and won 2 – 1. The second against a very competent under 18 Andalucian Boys selection, also winning 3 – 2.

2009/10 Barclays Wealth Youth Hockey

A reminder to all that youth hockey starts next Monday 21st September 2009. Session will run every Monday & Wednesday from 5.15pm to 6.30 pm. All juniors (boys & girls) welcome from the ages of 5 to 16. A very interesting year ahead with UK & Spanish visitors scheduled for October, February & May 2010; the highlight being a girls & boys Under 13 international 7-a-side competition to be held locally during the month of January 2010. The fee of £20 per child for the full year will remain and the GHA will be supplying all equipment including hockey sticks. Any club who might have any individual interested in helping out please contact Stephen Valarino.

2009/10 SG Hambros Senior Hockey

All clubs are informed that the Gibraltar Hockey Association will be holding its AGM on Thursday 24th September at 7.00 pm at the St.Theresa’s Hall (Glacis Estate). The meeting will be preceded by the presentation of Trophies of last year’s competitions. All members are welcome and the GHA will also be registering teams & players on the evening straight after the meeting. Several changes have been made to the leagues & cup competitions and a new structure will be implemented as from this season. It is therefore imperative that all clubs are represented at the meeting so as to receive the information first hand.

As regards the registration, as soon as the meeting ends the GHA will be registering all participating teams (with their respective fees) as follows:
1st Division Teams - Two Hundred Pounds (£200),
(2) 2nd Division Teams - One Hundred & Fifty Pounds (£150),
(3) Under 16 Teams (youth sides in ladies league) - No Fee.

As regards players (and so as to give teams more time to organise themselves) all player registration forms together with their respective fees need to be handed in to a committee member before they play their first competitive game on the weekend of Saturday 10th October 2009. After this date ONLY players who are fully paid up will be allowed to play.

Following last year’s success the GHA will again be organising the 6-a-side competition to kick start the season on the weekend of the 3rd & 4th October 2010, committee members will be taking player registrations on these dates.

For information, players Registrations are as follows:
(1) 1st and 2nd Division players - Thirty Pounds (£30),
(2) Under 16 players - Twenty Pounds (£20),
(3) Non-playing members - Ten Pounds (£10).

Please remember that all registering players have to fill in a registration form and the drugs policy statement (see documents section). A draft fixtures schedule for the full season will be issued to all teams on the night.

As part of the Sports & Leisure Summer Programme, and for the third year running, the GHA run its summer youth hockey camp last week from Monday to Friday 21st April 2009. The week saw many youngsters of different ages and ability enjoying lots of fun exercises and mini hockey matches. Encouragingly numbers yet again increased, compared to the previous two years, and the 37 children were presented with medals on the last day and treated to the much anticipated ’water surprise’. A special thank you to Chris Gomila for running the weeks activities and again very encouraging to see so many senior players helping in coaching our stars of the future (Daniel Cornelio, Maurice Durante, Gareth Henwood, Alison Avellano, Chrissie Caetano, Jonathan Villa, Jobin Torres, Lee Rammagge, Charles Bonfante and Janieve Buhagiar).

Youth hockey coaching and leagues for boys & girls of all ages will commence on Monday 14th September 2009 and will again run on Monday and Wednesdays.

Dear friends of the press,

Yesterday the GHA Senior Men’s side played their last game as they prepare for the Nations Championships to be played in Slovakia as from the 25th July 2009. The game was played in Cadiz and against 1st Division team San Fernando, one of the stronger outfits in Andalucia.

Brief notes on the game:

The game was played on a sand based pitch similar to the one our lads will encounter in Slovakia with the temperatures yesterday in Cadiz at times over 39 degrees centigrade.

The GHA went up ahead very quickly from a short corner. The first shot stopped and then Ryan Casciaro scoring from the rebound. Immediately from the restart our very fast forwards went on the rampage again with great play by Mark Casciaro and Ian Rodriguez down the middle of the pitch, with Jonathan Villa getting the final touch for the GHA’s second goal. The Cadiz team then settled down and although the GHA enjoyed much more possession and various clear chances it was not until the 34th minute that the GHA scored again after great individual play by Mark Casciaro.

In the second half the pattern remained the same and the GHA’s superior fitness showed through as chance after chance went begging. In the 14th minute Gareth Henwood scored a thunderous reverse stick shot after great work down the right; the GHA now seems a much stronger outfit with Gareth, back from injury, performing his magic out on the right, and defender Charles Bonfante back from regimental duties.

In the 19th minute a good short corner drill saw Ryan Casciaro score his 2nd and Gibraltar’s fifth for a very encouraging final 5 - 0 score line for the Gib squad.

Stephen Valarino & Steven Soussi were very happy with the game and with the score line against a very competent team. The team has followed a very intensive fitness programme and it is very encouraging to see the results of the team’s hard work every time they play a game. Nevertheless the GHA has won all its preparation games quite comfortably with very fast, dazzling skills up front but it will be interesting to see how they fair generally against teams who will press them much more in the forthcoming Nations trophy.

A special thanks to Mr. Luis Romero and Saccone and Speed for providing the training shirts.

Now that the season has finished and we only have some friendlies to play, all normal training allocations have been cancelled.

Below are the training allocations for the summer period. Priority will be given to the GHA National Side and Eagles Juniors as these are competing in competitions abroad this summer.

Any teams requiring any training allocations please contact the fixture secretary and not the Sport and Leisure Authority directly, as any requests to them directly will be ignored. Please also note that only the small training pitch will available.

	MAIN PITCH EAST SIDE		MAIN PITCH WEST SIDE		TRAINING PITCH
	5-6:30	6:30 - Dusk	5-6:30	6:30 - Dusk	5-7:00	7:00 - Dusk
MONDAY		GHA SELECTION		GHA SELECTION
TUESDAY		GHA SELECTION		GHA SELECTION		EAGLES JUNIORS
WEDNESDAY		EAGLES JUNIORS		EAGLES JUNIORS		EAGLES LADIES
THURSDAY		GHA SELECTION		GHA SELECTION
FRIDAY

2009 U12 League & Cup winners

2009 U16 League & Cup winners

CLICK HERE for RESULTS.

Dear All,

In the first instance let me thank all of you for a wonderful and very successful boys interschool tournament held this past Saturday 9th May.

A big thanks to all the schools and their teachers for supporting the event, to the ever present Mr. John Sheppard from the Gib Chronicle, GBC, and Gibsport (as always supporting local hockey), the parents, to Barclays Wealth (sponsors of all junior hockey), to the GHA volunteers who came down to help, to Mr. Luis Romero of Saccone Speed (for donating the water), to Reagan Lima and the Sports and Leisure employees (who had the pitches looking better than ever), to the Minister Mr Reyes and Director of Education Mr. Gomez for presenting the trophies and supporting the days proceedings, and a big thank you and well done to all the boys who participated.

This coming Saturday the 16th May 2009 we will be holding the girls event.

Click here to find the draft fixtures. (CLICK HERE for RESULTS)

Please note the final will be played a bit earlier than the boys event, approx. 1.00pm.

Thanks & regards
Stephen Valarino

Dear Parents / Children

Welcome back from the Easter holidays.

Below please find immediate future Youth Hockey matches and training days:

MONDAY 20th APRIL youth hockey leagues

WEDNESDAY 22ND APRIL youth hockey leagues

MONDAY 27th APRIL youth hockey leagues

WEDNESDAY 29TH APRIL youth hockey leagues

MONDAY 4TH MAY NO HOCKEY – BANK HOLIDAY

WEDNESDAY 6TH MAY youth hockey leagues

SATURDAY 9th MAY BOYS INTERSCHOOL - Middleschools

MONDAY 11th MAY youth hockey leagues

WEDNESDAY 13TH MAY youth hockey leagues

SATURDAY 16th MAY GIRLS INTERSCHOOL - Middleschools

SUNDAY 17TH MAY VISIT FROM CADIZ JUNIORS

MONDAY 18th MAY youth hockey leagues

WEDNESDAY 20TH MAY Final Youth Hockey Day – Trophy (Presentation)

All parents who have children in local middle schools please ensure that your child talks to his / her teacher about the interschool tournaments to be held on the dates shown above, as this year we are holding two competitions on the respective dates; one for middle school juniors (year 4 & 5) and one for middle school seniors (year 6 & 7).

Thank you
Mr. Stephen Valarino
Youth Development Officer

Four GHA Youth Coaches attended a European Hockey Federation youth coaches seminar held in Seville during the 9th-13th April 2009. The course was organised by the EHF development committee in cooperation with the Real Federacion Espanola de Hockey to coincide with an invitational 4 nation’s tournament at Under 16, Under 18 and Under 21 level.

The course which was designed to increase the standard of coaching amongst top level youth coaches who were involved in improving the transition between youth hockey and international hockey was lead by Bert Bunnick a FIH master coach.

Gibraltar was represented in this seminar by Jonathan Villa (Eagles HC), Christopher Gomila (Gib HT & GHA U16), Brian Buckley (GHA) and Gareth Henwood (Eagles).The participants attended a number of practical coaching workshops on each morning of the seminar, along with numerous theoretical workshops including sessions on video analysis, short corner development and game analysis and improvement. In addition the coaches involved in daily game observation with the preparation of post game analysis and reports with the aim of developing young players.

The seminar provided an opportunity for our coaches to liaise with several of the top youth coaches in Spain, Germany, England and Holland whom were extremely forthcoming in providing advice and information aimed at continuing the development of local hockey.

The Gibraltar Hockey Association would once again like to thank the Sports Authority for their continued support of all events linked to the development of hockey in Gibraltar.