Mid season massive
WHAT A SEASON IT’S BEEN, PEOPLE.
Goals galore, epic socials, top volunteering, a blossoming umpire community, excellent availability, wonderful sponsors, an expanding coaching team, Kidds on point, CIC registration, a tidy JO storeroom… Who could ask for more?
Big thanks to everyone who came to the Christmas social and especially to the massive numbers of you who cut short pres and got there early. It was a brilliant night (thanks to fab Social Secs, Hannah and Marti) and a great show of support for our clubhouse.
Here’s a mid season round up. Big thanks for being the best club in town.
Team of the year update
Team of the year (TOTY) is the system by which teams get points for all the wonderful ways they help around the club, like being on the committee, umpiring and coaching the Kidds. Here are the scores on the doors as they stand.
Well done to W6 who paid their subs first, and M1 who had the best social media this half of the season. M2 and W7 won best dressed at Halloween, and W3 won best dressed at Christmas.
W6 - 955 points
Dockers - 890 points
W4 - 755 points
M7 - 670 points
M6 - 660
A huge shout out to the following individuals who are leading the TOTY points, many of whom have collected the majority of their teams’ points:
Jordan Smith - 375 points
Helen Rogers - 360 points
Olivia Shears - 350 points
Grant Aidoo Nash - 340 points
Isabel Ringrose - 340 points
Please note this doesn’t include any goalscorer stats (grr captains, please fill the tab in) or a couple of other metrics that will be calculated at the end of the season. If you’ve umpired the Kidds on a Sunday, or helped others and don’t think it’s been tracked, please let the secretary know and it can be added on.
Thank you to everyone who has done so much to keep the club running this half of the season, we are always grateful to everyone who has stepped up and would encourage as many people to do so next half.
round ups
Women’s
After a huge reshuffle the women's side is smashing it at the halfway point of the season.
W1’s first ever season in the National League has been fantastic to watch so far, and they're currently sitting mid-table.
W2 are on joint points at the top of the table and fighting hard for that promotion, while the W3 sit comfortably in mid-table.
W4 have been battling hard and are ready for some big wins in the new year.
W5 are flying at the top of their league with a 5 point lead. And W6 are following up in third despite only being promoted this season.
W7 also sit high and mighty at the top of their league with a huge 46 goal difference. And the W8, who were newly formed this season, with some players totally new to hockey, are now putting in some impressive performances.
Women's Day 2.0 on 8th February will be another day of derbies and fun to celebrate all our fab women.
- Isabel Ringrose, Women’s Club Captain
Men’s
Heading into the midseason break, M1 sits 5th in a league where just 3 points separate 5 of the top 6 teams, promising goals, excitement, and a wide-open race as we go into 2025!
M2 sit second after a strong first half of the season, with the strongest defence in the league and a 4 point cushion to our nearest promotion rivals. We’ll look to continue our 7 game unbeaten run and hopefully wrap up promotion back to Div1 with little fuss
After a ropey start, M3 sit 3 points off promotion with only one defeat since September, including taking 7 points off the top 3. Two chances for retribution against Indian Gymkhana and M4 in January as we fight for promotion back into Div2. Should be in for an exciting second half of the season.
In the words of the illustrious M4 captain Sam van Der man “M4 occasionally play alright hockey”
M5s head into the Christmas break on 14 points and a mid-table position. Following a difficult previous season the 5s have recruited well and are playing a much improved brand of hockey. Momentum has been building with an extremely impressive away win against third placed Wanders to help round off the first half of the season.
M6’s sit 7th in the league 1 point off 5th and with a game in hand against 6th place. The team have been very consistent beating each of the bottom 4 in our league drawing to the teams from 5-8th and losing by a single goal to 3/4 of the teams above us, let’s not talk about the final one… Second half of the season we’ll aim to turn the 1 goal defeats and draws into wins!
Newly-promoted M7 currently sit in 8th place, 3 points above the drop. With a new-look squad and a steep learning curve, there have been some gutsy performances. Remaining in control of their fate with early, key showdowns in the new year against London Accies and old foes THD. The fight for survival will heat up in 2025!
After a dramatic reshuffle (RIP the 9s) and 3 consecutive bye weeks, the M8s initially struggled to get into the groove. A rocky start to the season on 3 points (but beating East). In recent weeks we have faced a number title chasing teams and showed major improvement, with chances created but not taken. We now aim to turn these improvements into wins in 2025, and hopefully score our next P flick.
Dockers head into the New Year top of the league and still unbeaten. The juniors have been the heartbeat of the team improving week on week and the league title is ours to lose. BZ to all who have played for the Dockers in 2024 🤙
- Men’s captains
Kidds
It has been a huge pleasure to see so many children play their first competitive matches this year. Our U8s have exploded both in number and noise, and played in two tournaments. The U10s, U12G and U14B teams have been challenged at times with insufficient numbers but that never deters these determined players. The U12 boys are making themselves known in their league with the highlight being the Krakens’ unforgettable wins against Southgate and Surbiton. The U14 girls continue to chat, laugh and win (nearly) all of their matches and the Kidds closed the season with our U14 mixed team winning an epic 11 game tournament on Saturday.
None of this is possible without the dedicated work of the coaches. Volunteering their time each weekend and encouraging the juniors every step. We thank you all.
- Amy Winklegrund, Kidds’ Chair
Umpiring
As the year wraps up, we’re pleased to report that we’ve fulfilled nearly all our umpire fixtures, often early in the week, which has helped keep things running smoothly. We’ve also continued to support other local teams when in need, ensuring games can go ahead. It’s been great to see regulars like Iain and Budgen continuing their commitment, while new faces such as Flo, Jesse, Annie, and Euan have brought fresh energy to the team.
Thanks to funding from Tesco we now have radios to support our umpires and ensure our officiating is as good as it can be. We also have a blossoming umpiring community complete with brand new ‘Learning and Discussion’ whatspp group, born from the excellent clip sharing and discussion that was happening in the umpire admin chat. This group is open to everyone and is an excellent way to understand more about umpiring, the rules, and interpretation of the rules within game situations, so please do check it out. Big shout out to our UDOs, Phil, DC and James for their continued support and guidance.
Looking ahead to 2025, we want to see even more players from all teams involved—whether by completing the umpire course and officiating league games, or casually umpiring junior tournaments and friendlies. Building a more engaged umpiring community will only make us stronger as a club.
Finally, a huge thanks to Jane, our outstanding Umpire Liaison Officer. She’s managed the setup solo, keeping everything running smoothly and ensuring Smithy didn’t get too much power! Her dedication has been key to our success, and we’re incredibly grateful for her efforts.
- Jordan Smith
Chedd, the main money man
Props to Joe Chedd, of M1 and Insta fame, for being unanimously selected by the London Hockey Board as their new Finance Director. As with club roles, London Hockey is run by volunteers and without people like Chedd stepping up hockey simply wouldn’t happen. Go Joe!
Coaching Survey
During the Christmas break, please take a few minutes to reflect on the coaching you have received during the first half of the season and fill in the "Coaching Feedback Form" HERE. It's really important we regularly feed back to the coaches what they are doing well and maybe not so well! This is an opportunity to have your say, completely anonymously.
Wapping’s newest recruits
It gives me great pleasure to share news and gorgeous snaps of three of the latest additions to the Wapping family. Wapping alumni Alix Poeton’s daughter (and founder Tim’s granddaughter) Riley Harper; Hon. president Stuart Burnside’s, daughter, Margot; and VCP Lizzie’s daughter Daphne. Looking forward to pitch side cuddles soon!
Women’s London INdoor
On Saturday the women’s 1s trekked down to Croydon to play in the London indoor tournament. Having never played together as a team, the girls began building patterns straight away with a 3-0 win over Harrow.
The girls continued to play great indoor hockey in the group stage with a 5-0 win over Tulse Hill and an unlucky 3-1 loss to Wayfarers.
The girls found themselves in the semi-final against a strong Spencer side. Some great passages of play and resilient defence saw the girls win the game with a great 2-1 win.
Unfortunately the girls then had to go straight into the final with one sub and weary legs against a rested and bench heavy Wayfarers side. The girls held Wayfarers to 0-0 at half time but then sadly conceded 2 in the second half.
A really strong showing of some great indoor hockey from all the girls involved 👏👏 - Izzy Montgomery, W1 captain
Mid season results
Dates for your diary
Jan 18th - Games restart
Jan 25th - Men’s Day
Feb 8th - Women’s Day
12th or 19th April - End of Season Dinner
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
5% discount and 5% club kick back at the Moretown Belle
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
10% off all beers at Tap East
Balling: All members = 15% off, W1 and M1 = 25% off. We also get 25% off OTE sports (sports nutrition bars, etc)
