President Report
Presidents Report 2011
Tuesday, 11 October 2011 21:46
Undoubtedly the highlight of our year was the Womens A grade premiership (back to back) which saw a terrific grand final match take place against St Marys last weekend. The girls probably did not play to their full potential on the night, but to their credit they put in one hell of a gritty performance. It was an extremely close and exciting game that didn’t really go our way at all until we scored the equalizing goal with 40 seconds to go in regular time. This forced the game into extra time and with 2 mins to go in the first lot of extra time, controversy struck with the Saints GK being awarded a yellow card. We had plenty of attack and were finally rewarded with the winning goal about 2 mins into the 2nd half of extra time.
We also finally took home the Womens B grade premiership trophy again for the first time since 2005. The girls backed up their terrific semi final win against Saints with another strong performance that saw a nice blend of experience and youth blitz the St Marys defence.
Our Womens C red team made it to the preliminary finals but unfortunately could not produce the goods on the day. The C white team had a strong 2nd half of the season which saw them finish 6th on the ladder.
The C Mens team put in another solid season finishing 4th and making it to the preliminary finals which saw them in a tough game against St Marys. Unfortunately they could seal the win to get them one step further into the GF.
Our Mens A and B struggled all season with mainly a lack of numbers, but probably more importantly a lack of commitment. I sincerely hope we can get back on track for next year and a few more of our senior players make an effort to be committed to help blood a good group of juniors coming through the ranks again.
Three out of four of our junior teams made the finals. Our U16 girls won their semi final and went straight through but lost the grand final to NUTS convincingly who came from 3rd place. U16 Boys lost to Banks in their preliminary final as did the U13 girls against NUTS. The U10 boys finished a close 2nd to NUTS.
Overall, on the field we had a very successful year with all of our teams and their final placings listed below:
Mens A 6th U16 Boys 3rd
Mens B 5th U13 Boys 5th
Mens C 4th U10 Boys Runners up
Womens A Premiers U16 Girls Runners up
Womens B Premiers U13 Girls 3rd
Womens C Red 3rd U10 Girls 4th
Womens C White 5th
The other main reason for our success would have to be our coaches. We have always been very proud of the fact that our club provides good quality coaching staff to all teams and this year was no exception. I would like to thank all coaches (and managers) and acknowledge the time and effort they all put in throughout the season.
Mens A Micheil Brodie U16 Boys Craig Burgemeister
Mens B Jim Rowe U13 Boys Grant and Cris Dahlin
Mens C Phil Roberts U10 Boys Audrey Hill
Womens A Kim Ainslie U16 Girls Amy Porter and Jane Young
Womens B Nathan Smith U13 Girls Karen Markos
Womens C Red Steve Rowe U10 Girls Caitlin Porter
Womens C White Micheil Brodie U8 Tracey Parker
As well as our success at a club level, we have enjoyed continued success with providing players, coaches and managers to the NT state teams that participate in National Championships each year. The list of these people is quite long, so I will not attempt to name them all, but I will highlight that in addition to Leon and Jeremy Hayward entering the national scene in the past two years, also keeping it in the family is Robert and Elizabeth Duguid. Robert is in the national development squad along with Jeremy and Leon and is currently on a tour of the US. Lizzy is now a Hockeyroo and a member of the AIS.
Because of the disjointed season we had it was a bit difficult to run any social events. We aim to turn this around in 2012 and will be planning a couple of big nights throughout the season and will be looking for support from all club members for these events. We held a Shennanigan's Quiz and Harvey Norman BBQ which was organised by Stacy and raised about $2000 at both. We probably raised another $2,000 at our 2 Saturday morning club duty days at hockey. A big thanks to all those involved in organising these events and co-ordinating volunteers to help out when required. It is a very true saying that many hands make light work and as a club, we need to ensure that all members support these types of events and lend a hand when required.
Our major sponsor in 2011 was Steve Rowe of SRA IT. Unfortunately for us, but I guess well earned for Eric Fleay, the doors of Quality Aluminium were closed so that Eric could retire, so his sponsorship of the club has ceased after many years of support. Tony Hill and Specsavers has also been our junior sponsor once again. A big thank you to these three people and their businesses for their support.
Finally, I must thank my committee for all their hard work and dedication to the club. Dave Cotton as Mens VP did a fantastic job in rallying the mens side of the club together and keeping them in line with paying fees and getting teams organised each weekend. Karen Markos as the Womens VP didn’t do a lot but was there if needed. Jodi Brodie and Tiffany Fordham got sucked in by my pleading speech last year about more people putting their hands up to volunteer their time and took on the jobs of Secretary and Treasurer respectively. Marie Kirkwood as our Junior Co-Ordinator has also put in a lot of time and effort. And finally, Stacy Porter was our social co-ordinator. Everyone did a fantastic job to keep the club running smoothly and successfully.
In conclusion, I would just like to say how proud I am to be your club President and look forward to our continued successes both on and off the field for many more years to come!
Thanks and go Tahs!
Kim Ainslie
WHC President