Olympian Ben Marsden returned to his roots in Cheltenham when he presented the Awards at the Cheltenham Junior Hockey Club presentation evening. “If you have a dream, don’t be afraid to follow it,” he told the 300 strong audience at the event, held at Lillybrook Golf Club. “I was lucky enough to play for the County, the West, England and Great Britain, culminating in the Beijing Olympics,” he said, “and the message to all you talented players is, listen to your coaches.”

Ben was amongst the first to join the club which is a registered charity. It was formed in 1991 at a time when there was no junior hockey available for local youngsters who did not go to hockey playing schools. Now, with 250 members from under 9 to under 16 and waiting lists at many age groups, it is recognised as one of the biggest junior hockey organisations in the Country. With sessions on Friday evenings held at the Balcarras School Astroturf facility, it continues to produce high quality players with representative honours at County, West and national levels and many more who enjoy the pleasure and social nature of the sport.

During the course of the evening over 200 awards were made covering umpiring, technical ability, leadership, boys and girls most improved and coach’s best player awards in all age groups plus the top Award, the Alice Glenister Award for service to the Club.

This year this top award went to 18 year old Corrie Farrel who has gained her level 1 coaching award. Corrie, has run the Friday night goal keeping sessions for the club for the last three years. Her skill and enthusiasm are infectious. Corrie is at Cirencester Sports College and hoping to go to Bath University. She is the former Cheltenham Ladies First Team goal keeper and is now at National League Firebrands at Bristol.

Another excellent game started with the badgers team being faced with a new playing formation . The first 15 minutes provided some great play with Tom Mitchener and man of the match George Wilshaw linking intelligently and with real effectiveness up front. This lead to 2 early goals and everything was looking straightforward. Gloucester fought back and by halftime the score stood 3 – 2 to us. Dan Baker was once again at the heart of everything using his skill and pace to open up the defence as well as providing the passes at the right time. Andrew Boulton and Sam Woods had excellent matches in midfield and defence and as our dominance grew so the goals materialised.   4 goals from Dan and 2 from George ensured a comfortable win and well done to all the boys in their new fluid formation !!

-- Chris Boulton

I felt this was the best performance I have seen by a badgers team. We were superior in every aspect of the game and this is reflected in the 9-0 scoreline. We held our shape very well and used the width of the field most effectively.

Each and every member of the team had an excellent performance - even our keeper Stephen had his work cut out to keep a clean sheet.

Tom Hage had a superb first half and really dominated the midfield. I appreciate his mature response to being substituted early in the second half when it was clear we were dominating the game - thank you very much.

Despite the excellent individual performances all round, including a couple of hatricks (Matt Woods still trying to argue he scored a hatrick as well I am sure!!), Man of the Match was awarded to Will Byrd, who took over responsibility in the midfield when Tom Hage came off.

Well done all.

-- Stuart

Please note that details have now been finalised.

The event will be taking place on Sunday 18th April, commencing at 4pm at Cheltenham College. We will play some friendly games and then return to the club house for pizza's and a prize giving.

This event was very successful last year so we are hoping to build on that.

Please keep this day clear. I will e-mail closer to the time to confirm numbers.

-- Stuart

Despite a somewhat lethargic start against Stroud in the first half the second half provided some very entertaining hockey. The final result, a 2-2 draw, was a fair reflection of the game.

Man of the Match award went to Tom Banister, and the goals were provided by George Wilshaw and Dan Baker.

Notable performances were turned in by Calum Bradshaw and Stephen Pashley in goal.

-- Stuart

Another wonderful team performance this week as we beat Ciren 2-0.

Although we only had the bare 11 (although we could have brought an adult on if required) we were fortunate that we had all the positions covered.

The team held their shape really well. The only real complaint at half time was the lack of ball pace and somewhat lethargic approach to the game, but this was addressed very well in the second half.

Our first goal was scored from an short corner shot by Michael Hollingshead and the second was well taken by Alex Diesel when he had a 1 on 1 opportunity against the keeper.

I was most impressed with the 2 older lads, Elliot Bishop and Michael Hoolingshead. They showed tremendous maturity and work ethic as they dominated the midfield.

I would also like to thank Steven Pashley for showing real commitment to the team by playing despite feeling unwell - really appreciated, and a couple of excellent saves really kept us in the game.

I am so proud of the team and we seem to be going from strength to strength, both on and off the pitch, well done all.

-- Stuart

We are running our own Stix Awards this year.  This will take place on Friday 26/2/2010.  It will be run over one night only.

The U9s session will run as normal. The U-14 & U-15 (academy) sessions will run as normal.  There will be separate notification regarding the Goalkeeper training.

The U-10 & U-11 will be doing the tests together.  Please could they arrive at the club for 5:30pm.  This will enable registration and sorting out into groups.  The tests will run from approximately 6pm to 7pm.  They should be ready to be picked up by 7pm.

The U-12 & U-13 will be doing the tests together.  Please could they arrive at the club for 6:30pm.  This will enable registration and sorting out into groups.  The tests will run from 7pm to 8pm.  They should be ready to be picked up anytime after 8pm.

We will need volunteers for the Stix award.  We will need a few people in the clubhouse registering the children and sorting them into groups.  We will need volunteers on the pitch - timing and recording the tests.  No hockey knowledge is required.  This means for each session, we will need approximately 20 olunteers.  
For those on the pitch, please bring waterproof and warm clothing.

We will need the coaches to arrive at 5:30 in order to set up all the skills tests.

-- Mike Woods

Against our local rivals it was obvious from the start that it was going to be a very close game with both sides creating early chances.  After several penalty corner chances wasted by Cheltenham it was Lansdown who struck first.  As an attacking unit we always looked threatening although the final simple pass was often missing as we ran into defenders. From one such attack the ball was partially cleared by Lansdown straight to Will Byrd who created space to shoot firmly into the corner of the goal to level the scores. We again lost the lead after some rather indifferent defending ending the first half 2 -1 down. A more direct approach in the second half was rewarded with 2 early goals from Dan Baker to create a deserved lead but further chances were wasted until Lansdown equalised with 4 minutes to play.

Elliot Bishop in midfield was always influential and Ben Bolwell was once again a very solid defender. A 3 – 3 result was a fair result but going back to the basics of open stick hitting will always be more effective than any reverse hit !!!!!!

-- Chris Boulton

The Cheltenham Badgers played in a very competitive and well natured match against Yate at St. Edwards School.  After soaking up some early Yate pressure, the boys got into their stride and started to build some good attacks.  Sam Wood provided some good crosses from the right and the midfield of Dan Baker, Matt Woods and Richard Owen found room.  The Yate goalkeeper made some excellent saves from Tom Mitchener, Sam Wood and George Wilshaw, until Dan baker managed to deflect a shot past him for the first goal.

The Badgers increased their lead early in the second half when a well worked short corner saw Tom Hage pass to Dan Baker who slotted it home for Cheltenham's second.  This seemed to spur Yate into action and after sustained pressure, they scored twice.  The final ten minutes was end to end with both goalkeepers making good saves and the final score of 2-2 was a fair reflection of the game.

Cheltenham's Man of the Match was Ben Bolwell with solid tackling, excellent marking, all round defensive awareness and great support play shut down all Yate's attacks down their right hand side.

--Mike Woods

Active Gloucestershire are promoting two courses that may be of interest to hockey coaches and team managers. The first is a free training session helping coaches to provide appropriate support to children with autism. The course takes place on 15th February.

The second course is entitled Safeguarding and Protecting Children. It costs £40 and takes place on 1st March.

Both courses can be booked through the University of Gloucestershire.