24th October 2009
Schoolboy Hockey Receives a Boost In North Wales
On Wed, 21 October 2009, seven teams from five schools took part in an U14 schoolboy tournament at the Alun School, Mold as part of the North Wales Region's desire to strengthen schoolboy hockey at secondary level. Schools came from across North Wales with schools from Tywyn, Colwyn Bay (Eirias HS) and Denbigh through to two Flintshire secondary schools in the hosts, the Alun, and Argoed from nearby Mynydd Isa. Both Eirias and Alun put in two teams in what proved to be an enjoyable afternoon's hockey superbly organized by Lee Ible, HDO for NE Wales. While Eirias HS won the tournament, proving further evidence of the strength of junior hockey in the Colwyn Bay area, the most important aspect was the sheer enjoyment of the youngsters taking part.
The tournament was sponsored by Flintshire's local club, Northop Hall, with the Chairman, Hugh Williams, and Youth Chairman, Matt Pritchard in attendance. Hugh commented "It is really important that clubs are active within the schools in the area and we are delighted to sponsor this tournament. Hopefully, some of the local youngsters taking part will want to give hockey a try and come to our weekly sessions on Wednesdays and Saturdays". Lee Ible was delighted with the turnout, commenting "these tournaments build on the success of primary school hockey through Dragon sports and gives youngsters between 11 and 14 the opportunity to carry on with hockey and hopefully they will want to pursue it further at club level. Already, other schools are expressing an interest in taking part and I would like to thank all the teaching staff for their efforts in enabling hockey to be played".
There are two more schoolboy tournaments planned for the current academic year, one of which will be a qualifying tournament for the National schoolboy finals. In addition, games are planned at U16 and U18 level and Chairman of the Men's Region, Jon Upton, who teaches at the Alun School was delighted with the success of Wednesday's tournament and commented "Within Flintshire, we are already seeing other secondary schools expressing an interest in U16 games which is a weak area at the moment. If these can come on board alongside schools who already play a lot of hockey, then the future of the game is looking promising so long as clubs continue to develop their links with these schools. I would like to thank Hugh and Matt from Northop Hall for coming down today and helping out with the event. It is much appreciated".
The Region would like to thank everyone who helped make the tournament a success and in particular, Alun School, who once again provided an excellent venue and were extremely helpful in putting on the event.