Ladies of Wessex!!

It is with mingled sadness and joy that I write this entry to the blog; sadness that it is now Christmas and I am at home, away from all your beautiful faces... But joy of all that I am about to write as I look back at the past term.

The seniors all came back during freshers’ week for pre-season training. Some days were hotter than others and some days we were more hungover than others but all the same everyone worked very hard so we could hit the ground running when the season began.

Then, as always, at the bunfight and trials we picked up another outstanding bunch of freshers. I must thank you all, without you our club wouldn’t be what it is and your enthusiasm and dedication at training, on the pitch and every Wednesday night is incredible so keep it up!!

Pre-season games proved an enormous success; the 1st XI started with a 3-3 draw to a very strong Chichester 1s side and then beat Portsmouth 1s 4-2. The 2nd XI had 2 incredible wins – a 12-0 win over Chichester 2s and an 8-1 win over Portsmouth 2s! The 3rd XI played against the 4th XI winning 2-1 and then beat the medics 3-1 and the 4th XI also played against Portsmouth 3s and won 8-0.

Socials a plenty have taken place this term and there has maybe one out of 12 weeks where we haven’t dominated with our songs in Clowns or taken over Wessex corner in Jesters. Keep up the attendance levels ladies we can’t have any of the other clubs thinking they’re better than us can we?! Highlights include the annual 3-legged pub crawl where many of you seriously did get to know the men of the hockey club, others include freshers’ circles, team Halloween socials, the American football pub crawl, the Christmas social and that’s without even mentioning the Christmas Ball – an absolutely fantastic night in itself! Thanks must go to our social sec Miss Buckley for all her hard work and hangovers she has put in for all us over this term, dedication and love for Wessex = still vomiting at 4pm on a Thursday whilst planning the Christmas Ball!!

Actually on the pitch now; all teams have got off to a cracking start and for this we must remember all the hard work Bakes has put in, for all the nights in the freezing cold and pouring rain where he has stood for 2 hours in his little bobble hat, we must say thank you!!

The 1st XI captained by Helen Brook currently sit at 2/6 in 2A, with a record in BUCS that reads: played 6, won 5, drawn 1 and lost 1 and are now due to play Bournemouth in the 3rd round of the cup.

The 2nd XI captained by Clio O’Sullivan currently sit at 3/6 in 3A, with a record in BUCS that reads: played 6, won 3 and lost 3 and are also through to the 3rd round of the cup and will face the local rivals of Southampton Solent.

The 3rd XI captained by Harriet Clarke currently sit at 5/6 in the same league as the 2s, with a BUCS record that reads: played 5, won 1 and lost 4 and unfortunately were knocked out of the cup in the 2nd round by Bournemouth 1s who are in the league above them.

The 4th XI captained by Emma Parker currently sit at 6/8 in 4A, with a BUCS record that reads: played 4, won 1 and lost 3 and are through to the 3rd round of the cup, beating Bath Spa 1s away 3-2.

The 5th XI captained by Emma Layton are facing their first competitive season in Hampshire division 6 and have so far played in 9 games, drawing 1 of these and scoring 8 goals, a great start to the season for a team made up of many ladies who are beginners to hockey.

Saturday Squad remains the place to be on a Saturday afternoon! Captained by Jo Madeley Saturday Squad has a record so far of; played 10, won 7 and lost 3. They have scored 38 goals and are currently 2/10 in Hampshire division 2 – promotion is beckoning... safety (!)

The indoor team captained by Laura Ayre has also had fantastic start to the league and currently sit at 3/9, having played 6, won 3, drawn 2 and only lost 1 game, scoring 16 goals.

The mixed side captained by Rachel Ibbotson has yet to start any competitive games as the cup begins in the New Year. However, they have played in 2 friendly games, winning and losing 1 each, bring on the cup!!

An absolutely enormous thank you must go to Meg; I know you are all very aware of the hard work she puts in for us, but just stop and times that by about 10 and you may have a more accurate idea of what she really does. Her job hasn’t been made any easier for her during this difficult time for the AU – it’s like she actually is the King... Only joking, let’s not make her head any bigger (!!)

Ladies, it is a pleasure to have spent this term with each and every one of you and all this leaves me to say is have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

For the STAG, and as always, it’s a pleasure ladies!

Lurch xx

PS – sign up for tour; it WILL be the best 4 days of your Wessex year!!

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