As the season draws to a close, the Isle of Man Junior squads, players and coaches, would like to thank all those in Manx Hockey that supported them over this Season, the IOMHUA (umpires) who made a very appreciated contribution to the travel costs of the squads and player parents who provided endless assistance in getting the teams to their fixtures.
As many of you are aware it been a hugely successful season for the teams in the England Hockey Championships
6 teams
2 x Last 16
3 x Last 8 – Quarter Finals
1 x Last 4 – Semi Finals
This is from over 100 junior teams per competition across England. The U14B scored a phenomenal 36 goals in their 5 rounds of matches, only beaten by 1 goal to be the top goal scoring team across all (boys and girls) U14 championship competitions! In fact across all competitions U18 to U14 Boys and Girls, the IOM U14B were the 4th top scoring team in the country from over 1000 teams including those from the likes of the mighty Surbiton, Beeston, Bowden etc.
It is also, worthy of note that the U16 Boys, U16 Girls and U18 Boys all went out of their respective competitions to the eventual winners.
The coaches would like to thank each and every player who were part of the 2021/22 set up. Their commitment to the squads was testament to the great success. They trained through some pretty grim Friday nights over the winter and with travel options very limited, out of 52 journey legs, only 3 were on the plane!
The players regularly took the late evening sailing from the island arriving at their hotel at 1am to be on the road for their fixture by 7.30am and on many occasions followed by the overnight return sailing – hardcore!
Finally, the squads would like to thank Gemma Jones of the Lancashire Umpires Association who appointed umpires for numerous fixtures allowing us to have a “home” umpire in some very crucial games.
Also a huge thanks to UK based Manx Hockey players, Blae Cain, Alex Bell and Sharon Pope who helped us out over the course of the season.
The Open sessions and trials for the 2022/23 squads will begin after TT and will be advertised via the various club and MHA Facebook pages with email communications to clubs.