New Colts section to launch in September

In September 2012 the Old Cranleighans start down a new route with the launch of a colts section at Thames Ditton.

This has been in the planning stages for almost a year and is a recognition of the need for us to use our excellent facilities to offer something to the local community at an affordable price. Initially this will be aimed at Under-12 boys and girls but as we expand the intention is to offer more across a wider variety of age ranges.  As we expand we will look to join leagues and enter competitions.

A number of club members have been undergoing coaching training and the plan is they are supplemented by external coaches.

We are aware that various factors such as price, overcrowding and early starts are an issue and so we will be addressing these.   We will be limiting a season’s fees to around £100 and will offer a try-before-you-buy options as well.   Numbers of participants will also be limited to ensure the pitch does not become overcrowded and also that the coach-player ratio remains sustainable.

For parents, the OC clubhouse, which is close to the pitch, will be open all morning and there is a pitch-side covered grandstand available.

More details will appear here over the summer but for more information now please contact Gav Adair at gsadair@yahoo.co.uk

Big turnout for Olympic warm-up

The weekend sees one of the best OCHC turnouts for a hockey match in recent years – sadly not at Thames Ditton but at the Olympic stadium where there is the Visa International Hockey Tournament, part of the pre-games preparations.

Thanks to the hard work of Dodie Khurshid, our full allocation of tickets was obtained and so 60+ of us will be heading to East London on Saturday May 5 to see how the game should be played.  David Knapp will be taking his kit “just in case”.

Directions on how to get there can be found here - http://www.londonpreparesseries.com/travel-information-for-5-may.html - and be warned that they are likely to use this as a test of how annoyingly pedantic and slow the organisers can be in allowing access to the venue. 

Helen Merry has kindly volunteered to visit local pubs and drinking haunts and in the coming days will be circulating where to meet beforehand.