Great pic, courtesy of Karen.
The potential M2s squad for next season is an excellent demonstration of hockey’s attraction as a family sport. Take a look at this:
Dads and lads both in the squad
Steven and Finlay
Eric and Robbie
Mike and Douglas
Brian and Joe
Used to have boys playing for the mens’ teams
Monty
Andy
Vince
Stuart
Mutt
With sons and daughters who will undoubtedly play for KHC teams
James
Iain
15 members of the squad with family connections.
It wasn’t meant to happen quite so early in the season, but with the L2s struggling for numbers, we took the plunge and put no fewer than four members of the girls’ development squad into the team to play the season’s opener, against reigning Midland 1 champions Madras.
Fair to say that the coaches were somewhat concerned about whether the girls would cope, particularly since three of the four were the wrong side of 14 years old and Madras are a tough team to play against.
We needn’t have worried though, as they adapted remarkably quickly and for the last 20 minutes we were starting to play some fast counterattacking hockey, with the girls adhering to the structure as if they’d been doing it for years. The result didn’t go our way, but the omens are good.
This season’s story is going to be about how we get all the talent we have at our disposal out onto the pitch on a regular basis. #problemsofsuccess
The annual Dunfermline City preseason tournament took place on Sunday and we sent a mixed a ability team down to try their luck against a host of other local sides. It's fair to say that we came second quite a lot, but for a team fielding several people who had only been playing for since the summer and three youngsters it wasn't bad at all, with performances improving throughout the day and we came away with a victory in our final game against the hosts.
And what a nice time we had too. It was just stress-free fun from beginning to end.
We should take note of the fearless performance of Finlay McColl, who got stuck into everything that moved, and to Ollie and Pete, who managed to floor each other in a spectacular wipeout that showed the opposition that we really meant business. Oh yes, and to Bart and William, who alternated in goal and kept us afloat until we remembered how to play.
Some pics below. Many thanks to Gerrold Kuijpers.
Congratulations to Rachel Leslie, who has been selected for the Midlands District U16 training squad.
There were another four former Kobras spread across the U16 and U18 squads.