Hear from our Chairman - Dec 2018 edition
I am now entering my 16th year at the club. During my time I have been involved as a player, coach, committee member and more recently as Chairman and parent. A lot has happened during this time and we have seen the club grow year on year. One of the things we are most proud of is, we are a family orientated club and we cater for members of all ages and abilities, we make sure you are always made to feel welcome at Oxted Hockey Club. Our ever growing junior section offers our younger members a safe and fun environment to not only develop and hone in on their hockey skills but it is also a great opportunity to learn those all important life skills. We are fortunate to have a dedicated team of junior coaches who volunteer their time to develop our junior members. Our junior section starts at the U8 age group and goes right the way up to U16s for girls and boys. A large number of juniors have gone on to represent both regionally and nationally in the sport, which is a fantastic achievement for them. We are also starting to see more and more junior members challenging for places in the senior sides thus making our teams more competitive and giving more depth within the club. The Men's 1st team are in their 15th season playing in the National League and continue to attract not only international players but local players looking to challenge themselves at one of the top levels in the country. Having won the league last year they narrowly missed out on promotion into the Premier League and so are pushing to make the next step. The men's 2nd team play in the London League’s division 2 and are looking to push for promotion. The men's 3rd team have just been promoted to South’s Hampshire/Surrey - Regional 1 league facing off against a number of 1st teams. The men's 4th team are only few leagues below in Surrey Division 2 and our men's 5th team (Outlaws) have just been promoted and now find themselves in Surrey Open Div 1. We also have a vet’s team; they are Vintage Moonshiners and play in the Wessex League.
Our ladies section is made of up of 3 teams with the 1st team looking to gain promotion into Surrey Premier this season, the Ladies 2's are playing in the Surrey Division 6 and our 3rd team are in Surrey Division 9. A number of players in the 3rd team are mums who have returned to hockey on the 'Back to hockey' campaign, keen to get back to playing having watched their daughters rise up through the ranks at OHC, this giving them the chance to play on the same side as their daughters for a season or two.
Our club is for its members, run by its members – we are so fortunate to have a very dedicated and passionate bunch of volunteers running the club. Our committee all give endless hours to ensure we are in the best possible position to drive forward and create a social, safe, competitive and enjoyable atmosphere for all its members.
We always welcome new members so please do get in touch!
Simon Dobson