U17's Reduced Squad Announcement

First of all thanks for the commitment shown in Phase One of our Project 2012 preparation.

I am very pleased in having over 30 players in continuing assessment at National Training, with a large number of these players having also been assessed in the November trip and/or Christmas Camp.

I would like all of you to be aware that as well as selecting players based on the six main areas of the game below, I always look at the best combination to make a competitive England team:

• Attitude
• Discipline
• Fitness
• Individual Technique
• Tactics
• Competitiveness

The players born in 1996 not selected for the "Reduced Squad" should carry on their training to either continue their development and/or be part of the preparation process for the Under 20 squad over the next 3 years, by attending Level 5 on Saturday session at National Training up to September, then moving to the Under 20 session on Sunday.

The players born in 1997 (as well as the 1998 players that have been invited to attend Sunday sessions) not selected for the "Reduced Squad" must carry on attending National Training if they want to be considered for Project 2013.

All the players not selected for the "Reduced Squad" will become reserve players as long they carry on training. This is in case of injury, discipline issues, etc because player(s) will be replaced.

Players selected in the "Reduced Squad" have to make all the training dates on the Preparation Plan up to the date I announce the Final Squad. The 10 players announced in the Final Squad will have to make every training activity, as shown in the Preparation Plan.

Please ensure you read the Preparation Plan carefully to ensure you are able to commit to this. If a player cannot commit to the full schedule then I need to be aware now so that I can replace the player.

Reduced Squad

• Tommy Allander (GK)
• David Jones (GK)
• Guy Osborne (GK)
• Thomas Barry
• Jordan Chambers
• Joshua Gay
• Lewis Greenwood
• Jamie Griffin
• Alex Jones
• Michael King
• Luke Latham
• Scott Neville
• Harry Parfitt
• Rees Parfitt
• Jack Tucker

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Trip To Feira For U13'S, U15'S & U17'S

Under the NRHA Development Plan, we are running 2 weeks training in Feira.

The first week, 21st - 25th November 2011, we will have 23 players involved in 8 training sessions and 4 games against Portuguese teams at Minors and Intermediates levels.

The objective is to make the players more competitive to play for England in the future at Under 17 European Championships.

We will focus on individual technique, tactics and reaction time. Also, we have a great opportunity to train on a full size rink (40 x 20 metres) and play competitive Portuguese teams.

Having this intensive training twice a day for these 4 days will help speed up the progress of these players development into our system and a big opportunity for us to run an assessment on each player.

In the second week, 28th November - 3rd December 2011, we will have 10 players who will have 9 training sessions and 5 games against Portuguese teams at Intermediates and Schoolboys levels.

The objective for this group is to have intensive training to assess the players prior to the announcement of the Under 17 Reduced Squad to announcing in January 2012 as part of the preparation for Under 17 European Championship which takes place next year in Ploufragan, France.

We will focus on fitness, individual technique, reaction capacity and tactics. The players will be working on the tactics in defence and attack to ensure the players fit into our system.

I am pleased to say that these trips are very popular with 42 players registering to attend the November trip. This shows the high commitment of the players with our Development Plan and the support from the parents.

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Ladies Training In Feira, Portugal - October 2011

In October, we travelled to Feira in Portugal with sixteen female players aged between 13 and 24 for a development trip. During our stay we had eight training sessions and played four games against local Portuguese teams.

The objective for the trip was to carry out the first assessment of the Under 17 and Seniors Ladies as part of Project 2015 and preparation for the Under 17 Europeans and Worlds Seniors in 2012. The trip gave us the opportunity to see where we are at this stage and to assess what we need to do to progress the girls in all areas of the game so that we have competitive teams for the forthcoming Championships. The girls gelled very well together both on and off the rink, which helped contribute to four successful days of training. They had a very professional attitude, following the daily plan and focusing on our main objectives.

During the eight training sessions we focused on different aspects of the game. The first two days on passing, shooting and individual technique then the next two days we focused on tactics; individual restricted in defence and carousel in attack. In attack we mainly concentrated on the switch move and screens which the girls did very well in training and tried a few times in the games creating good goal scoring opportunities. We insisted on high concentration levels in our restricted individual defence and on our reaction capacity.

During the games I was very pleased with the attitude of both teams trying to learn from mistakes and work with each other most of the time. The problem we had was to do with fitness, as the players lost concentration we conceded a few goals from mistakes.

The girls in both teams have some good carousel movement and I was impressed to see the Number 4 move done in the games and to see the Portuguese teams having difficulty to stop us.

Whilst in Portugal we played four teams, increasing every day in the grade of difficulty and the results were promising. The Under 17 team won one game and lost the other three games by 2/3 goals difference. The Seniors lost all four games but were again very close; the first three games with 2 goals difference. It was just the last game which was a bigger difference however in this game they played one of the strongest Portuguese teams which included three top Portuguese players.

From this trip I am now much more confident in the way forward to prepare both teams for next year competitions. We will be concentrate on fitness and reaction capacity as our priorities in the next three months and carry on with individual technique and tactics. This way we can have another big assessment in the February trip when we will be playing the same teams again.

Report By Carlos Amaral

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2012 Schoolboys Preparation

The preparation for Project 2012 is similar to the Project 2011,
the plan can be downloaded here

I am waiting for confirmation of the date for the Europeans which I am expecting to be the first or second week in September 2012.

It is imperative for all the players in the project to attend every month National Training both days

Prior to announce the "Reduced Squad" in January we will have two important assessments in the November Trip and in the Christmas Camp (Registration Forms are available at National Training or on my website).

Prior to announce the "Final Squad" we will have two important assessments in the Easter Tournament in Portugal and three days preparation in May Half-term.

All the players named in the "Final Squad" must attend all final preparation which will start with a trip in July.

I will announce the team next week for National Division 1 which takes place on 6th November in Soham.

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2011 Seniors World Championships San Juan, Argentina

Final Report

Since 2001 we have been participating in Group A (6 Championships in total), although we were relegated in 2001 and 2003 and promoted the following year. We learnt lessons from the years when we were relegated and consequently we prepared the team to ensure we would stay up in Group A, 2005 being our best participation. 

Since 2006 I have not been happy with the way we have prepared the teams for the European and World Championships. The lack of commitment from the players due to financial, family and work commitments have made it very difficult for the Senior Team to follow a preparation plan. We have in some competitions turned up without managing to have all 10 players training together prior to the Championships.

This year was even worse as in March we didn’t have enough players that could commit financially to participate in San Juan. We considered not participating in this competition but fortunately we managed to get 10 players who could commit to attend these World Championships. However there were still problems with team training as we didn’t have a practice session with final squad together, the only time we managed to be together was in Argentina for a warm up game.

The reality is that we were very lucky to stay up in 2009 with another bad preparation but as I always said we need to be prepared to end up in Group B if things don’t change. So, here we are back to Group B and now it is time to start new era for seniors.

As a final note at this year’s Championship the team played well together in defence and attack, probably the England Senior Team had more ball possession and produced more goal opportunities, than in previous Championships. Quite often for 75% of our matches we were competitive and sometimes in control, however the reason we lost the majority of these games was due to lack of concentration and competitive fitness, mental and experience in short periods of the games which cost us most of the goals conceded.

We need to become sharper to be more competitive at this level, this way we will convert more of our chances and reduce the period where the team lose the control of the game.

Read All The Reports From The Championships Here

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2011 Under 20's World Championships Barcelos, Portugal


England Finish 11th At The U20 World Championships

Final Report

England participated in these World Championships with one of the youngest teams, 7 players in their first year in category. The objective was to become more competitive to ensure that we will able play for a top 5 place in the European Championships next year, with a possible top 6 finish in the World Championships in 2 years time.

We had a great first game against Chile, which unfortunately we didn’t win. This game would have meant a top 8 finish, but some wrong decisions from the referees when we were 1-0 up helped an experienced Chile team to win.

During the week we performed well showing the team already has the quality to be in the top 8 of this competition, however our group was a very difficult one and third place in that group meant we finished in the same position as we did two years ago.

Now we are looking forward for the next World Championships where our group will be Italy, France and USA. The Italian & French teams will be composed mainly from the players had participated in last year Europeans Under 17 Championships in Northampton, so we will have a good chance at those World Championships with the aim of a top 6 finish.

Read All The Reports From The World Championships Here

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2011 Schoolboys Championships, Geneva Switzerland

England Finish 8th

Final Report

England came to this competition with 10 debutants, 5 of them in their first year of this category.

After a shaky start against France, the team gained confidence, but then the tiredness and inexperience cost us goals at crucial times in the games.

Looking forward the team needs to improve their emotional side of the game so they can maintain focus. On the technical side the players need to improve the strength of their passes, the power of their shots and being more reactive on and off the ball.

We knew this year’s European Championships would be difficult as last year we had a team with 10 players in their final year. We had invested four years of Training & Competition culminating in a successful Championships in Northampton and a Bronze medal. That being said the players from this year have gained a lot of experience of competition at this level and 5 players will form the back bone for next year’s European Championships which will take place in France. The other 5 players have moved in to the Under 20’s category and thankfully with the experience they have gained will make my job harder for the selection next year.

We take away from this competition the knowledge that we can be competitive at this level, as was shown in the first game against Switzerland in the group stage. If we can build on this foundation created this year, we will be looking forward to higher placing in next year’s Under 17 European Championships.

Read All The Reports From The Championships Here

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Summer Camp 1
I am very pleased to say that the Summer Camp 1 achieved all the objectives, improvement in basic skating and individual technique, as well as teaching how to play the game. The players responded very well to all the exercises, even new ones, putting in a lot of effort to make sure they got these right.

This camp was for players registered on the National Training from Level 1 to Level 4 as well as any player up to 14 years old that had never attended a National Training which we have a few.

I am also very pleased to say that I have received lot of emails from the parents giving thanks for the good job done by the coaches and off rink staff and how much their kids enjoyed.

The players worked very hard on the rink and behaved very well off the rink. They listened to the coaches and the helpers, showing that they are improving their understanding of sport mentality, which will help to make England and the home leagues even more competitive in the future.

Summer Camp 1 Awards:

• Player of the Camp – Connor Botting
• Goalkeeper of the Camp – Daniel Beck
• Best Developer from Christmas Camp to Summer Camp – Darcy Quinn-Sekii
• Player of Group 1 – Sian Emslie
• Player of Group 2 – Ryan Norton
• Player of the Day for Group 1 – Ben Davis, Brooke Wright, Noah Latham and Archie Salmon
• Players of the Day for Group 2 – Kieran Constable, George Daly, Kathryn Baker and Calumn Hall
• Rookie of the Camp – Ronan Wright

A big thanks to the Coaching Team:
Carlos Pereira (Gulpilhares Ladies Coach – Portugal), Nuno Moreira (Gulpilhares Premier League Goalkeeper), Mike Neubauer (Germany Ladies Head Coach), Arthur Corr, Joe Wheatley, Kirsty Ingham and Liam Conroy for all the good work done on and off the rink. The players learnt a lot from them as well as enjoyed a lot.

Thank you to the Camp co-ordinator Michaela Parfitt for organising the camp in a very professional way. Her support with the administration and organising the helpers took took away all the off rink responsibilities to ensure I was able to concentrate only on the coaching.

Thank you to the helpers, Lisa Allander, Lucy Rawlinson and Kasia Parfitt for doing such a great job off the rink to the players and coaches.

Finally thank you to the parents in continuing to support their kids to play roller hockey and to be part of our development plan attending events such as National Training, Camps and trips abroad.

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Roller Hockey Fight Against Teenage Cancer
Peterborough Roller Hockey Club would like to thank all those players who attended and or donated to the fundraising event.

The amount raised on the night was £500 which will be split evenly between the two charities Clic Sargent & The Teenage Cancer Trust.

The idea behind the fund raiser was to say thanks to those people who helped Shannon through her ordeal and to give something back so they can help other people.

Unfortunately Shannon had a relapse and was not able to attend as she was in Addenbrooke's hospital undergoing more treatment.

Shannon was a player with Peterborough Roller Hockey Club before turning to dancing with the Posh All Stars cheerleaders. Doctors mis-diagnosed Shannon's leg problems before finally discovering she was suffering from cancer, which ultimately led to her leg amputation.
The attendees were:
Peterborough Roller Hockey Club, Robbie & Tommy Allander, Carlos Amaral, Chinny's Army, Val Conroy, Karl Gay, Andy Locke, John Milne, Rachel O'Reilly, Harry Parfitt & Rees Parfitt, Darcy Quinn-Sekyy, Dale Richardson, Paul Roberts, Harry Southgate & Team Walpole,

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National Training Dates For The 2011/2012 Season

• 20th & 21st August 2011
• 3th & 4th September 2011 - Due To European and World Competitions
• 15th & 16th October 2011
• 12th & 13th November 2011
• 10th & 11th December 2011
• 14th & 15th January 2012
• 11th & 12th February 2012
• 10th & 11th March 2012
• 14th & 15th April 2012
• 19th & 20th May 2012
• 16th & 17th June 2012
• 21st & 22nd July 2012
• 18th & 19th August 2012

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Letter From Julia Williams, Plymouth
I wanted to send a thank you to the NRHA for their support with allowing Carlos to come to Plymouth this last weekend.

On Saturday we had a 4 hour training session followed by our club presentation evening, where we had a good turnout of children who all loved recieving their medals/trophies from the England Coach!!! Sunday was a 6 hour training day for all abilities. On Monday Carlos visited 2 primary schools along with Paul to run some skating sessions which we have had great feedback from. In the evening we had our club training session from 7 til 10pm and Carlos put the seniors through their paces!

Carlos' passion for the sport is undeniable and infectious, he is doing great work with the development of our National Teams and the standard of players is ever improving and i am excited to be a part of the English Roller Hockey future.

This visit has been a huge boost to club morale and we look forward to his further help with expanding and uniting the Southern Region.

Once again thank you for your assistance.
Written By Julia Williams, Plymouth

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Ladies U18's 2011 European Championships Cancelled
The European Committee (CERH) has now confirmed that the Ladies U18's European Championships has been cancelled due to the lack of countries who would like to participate.
The CERH rules state that the minimum number of countries participating in a European Championship should be five.

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Ladies Participated In EC Division 2 League 2010/11
Although we had problems throughout the season to have a full squad to participate in the tournaments, I have to say that the Ladies are now more competitive than in previous years.

For the last tournament of the season at Letchworth we had one goalkeeper (Rachel Milne), five outfield players (Kirsty Ingham, Emily Rawlinson, Emma Gillett, Hattie Ford and Zoe Parry-Wilcocks) and this team gave the best performance of the season. The quality of their game in the restricted defence using counter attacks and the carousel was impressive taking in consideration the average age of the players was 17.

In the game against Letchworth we were down 0-3, the girls never gave up and eventually pulled the match round to win 5-3. They also managed to beat Norwich, which meant that they finished above Norwich in the league.I was impressed with the fitness of the Ladies, considering they played all four games on the day in high temperatures. This tournament showed that our objectives to focus on young girls to have a competitive team in 2/3 years at senior level is the way forward.

Thanks to all the girls that managed to participate during the season in the tournaments.

Next season we will not participate in any of the Eastern Counties Leagues due to the clash with the club commitments, although there is a possibility next season that the Ladies could participate in National Division 1, however I will be contacting all the girls involved in our Development Plan before making a final decision.

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U17's European Championships Final Squad Announced
The final squad has been announced to participate in the European Championships which will take place in Geneva, Switzerland 4th to 10th September 2011

The Squad

• Zach Cunningham (GK) - (Manchester)
• Ed Mount (GK) - (Invicta)
• Ashley Barton - (Invicta)
• Max Dunand - (Ely)
• Joshua Gay - (King's Lynn)
• Alex Jones - (Bury)
• Scott Neville - (Cottenham)
• Daniel Pembrey - (Cottenham)
• Oscar Smith - (Peterborough)
• Jack Tucker - (King's Lynn)

Management

• Head Coach: Carlos Amaral
• Manager/Assistant Coach: Joe Wheatley
• Assistant Manager: Mike Neville
• Physiotherapist: Pedro Lourenco

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U20's World Championships Final Squad Announced
The final squad has been announced to participate in the World Championships which will take place in Barcelos, Portugal 11th to 17th September 2011

The Squad

• Sam Cayley (GK) - (Peterborough)
• Mathew Stearn (GK) - (Peterborough)
• Michael Carter - (Peterborough)
• Liam Conroy - (Igualada)
• Nicholas Flint - (Peterborough)
• Han Wei Lim - (Peterborough)
• Sam Norris - (Bury)
• Sam Norton - (Bury)
• William Smith - (Middlesbrough)
• Josh Taylor - (King's Lynn)

Management

• Head Coach: Carlos Amaral
• Manager: Val Conroy
• Assistant Manager: Martin Conroy
• Assistant Coach: Arthur Corr
• Fitness Coach: Joe Wheatley
• Physiotherapist: Pedro Lourenco

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Marion Bamber (Rose)
Marion was involved with Colchester Roller Hockey Club for around 20 years. For the last 10 of those years, despite her illness, she was instrumental in keeping the Club going, as without her driving force the club would have folded..

Marion will be a great loss to the sport

Everyone who knew Marion, will be aware that she has been fighting with Cancer for many years and never gave in. She was a very brave lady.

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Summer Camps 2011
I am pleased to announce that Summer Camp 1 is now full and Camp 2 is not full yet but considering that Under 20 Final squad and Under 17 Final squad have to register as soon I announce the teams on 22nd June we will have only 3 spaces left.

I can now announce the coaches for both camps:

Camp 1

• Carlos Amaral
• Mike Neubauer (Germany Ladies Head Coach)
• Carlos Pereira (Gulpilhares Ladies Head Coach)
• Nuno Moreira (Gulpilhares Premier League Goalkeeper) - Goalkeeper Trainer
• Kirsty Ingham
• Liam Conroy
• Arthur Corr
• Joe Wheatley

Camp 2

• Carlos Amaral
• Mike Neubauer (Germany Ladies Head Coach)
• Carlos Pereira (Gulpilhares Ladies Head Coach)
• Nuno Moreira (Gulpilhares Premier League Goalkeeper) - Goalkeeper Trainer
• James Taylor
• Arthur Corr
• Joe Wheatley

Camps Coordinator: Michaela Parfitt

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World's Group Seniors Final Squad Announced
The final squad has been announced to participate in the Group A World Championship which takes place in San Juan, Argentina from 24th September till 1st October 2011.

The Squad

• Dan Milne (Gk) - Cambridge
• Ian Morrison (Gk) - Areces (Spain)
• Craig Gibson - Letchworth
• Grant Zaccarias - Middlesbrough
• James Taylor - Bassano (Italy)
• Karl Smith - HBU
• Marc Waddingham - Grimsby
• Michael Ableson - Middlesbrough
• Owen Stewart - Middlesbrough
• William Smith - Middlesbrough

Management

• Head Coach: Carlos Amaral
• Manager: Keith Allen
• Assistant Coach: Joe Wheatley
• Mechanic: Steve Taylor

The team will depart on Thursday 22nd September and will return on Monday 3rd October.

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Report for the February 2011 trip to Feira
Written by Carlos Amaral

As part of NRHA Development Plan we travelled to Santa Maria da Feira, from 20th to 25th February 2011 to run training sessions and to play some friendly games.
On this trip I took a Ladies Under 18's team along with an Under 11's team; there were 34 people in total.


Ladies U18's Team
Goalkeepers: Anne-Marie Lindsay & Kasia Parfitt
Outfield: Alice Osborne, Charlie Botting, Emily Barrow, Emily Rawlinson,
Emily Spooner, Hattie Ford, Heather Dunand and Toni Jones.

Under 11's Team
Goalkeepers: David Jones & Jake Findell
Outfield: Ben Davis, Darcy Quinn-Sekyy, Ed Rawlinson, George Daly,
Jamie Williams, Joshua Osborne, Owen Williams and Sian Emslie.
Kirsty Ingham & Patricia Osborne were my assistant coaches and Lucy Rawlinson was the manager.

Read The Whole Report

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England Show Their Gratitude To The Town Of Santa Maria De Feira
Written By NRHA President Keith Allen

Five years ago the NRHA signed a protocol with Santa Maria da Feira agreeing their support for the development of English Roller Hockey.
This Protocol was signed by the Sports Co-ordinator of the town, The Feira Viva Director, the President of Club Academico da Feira and myself.
This support involves transportation from and to the airport for our players and the free usage of the town's Sports Centre.

In each of these five years, Carlos has taken players involved in his projects, as well as our National Teams, as part of their preparation for international competitions.

These trips have had a significant influence on the improvement made by English players and National Teams.

On the 20th February, Carlos took a group of players for another of his trips.

Read The Whole Report

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Thanks to ACR Gulpilhares & AD Sanjoanense
Written By NRHA President Keith Allen

As part of the trips to Feira for the development of our players and teams, various local Clubs have been very accommodating to arrange games for us in their sports centres.

One of these clubs is ACR Gulpilhares

Read The Whole Report

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New Kit For 2011 Schoolboys Squad
Tuck shop, cake stall, raffles, monthly 100 square draw and table top sale ,along with some extremely understanding and generous support from parents and players of all age groups attending National Training, has resulted in us being able to make our first purchase in presenting the 2011 Schoolboys reduced squad with their National Division 1 playing kit.

The kit ,as you can see, is based along the same style as the traditional England strip carrying the NRHA logo on the front and the player's surname and squad number on the back. Each of the 16 members (4 goalkeepers, 12 outfield players) were issued with shirt, shorts and playing socks and will use the kit for all National Division 1 fixtures, friendly games at home and abroad in their continued preparation for the Championships.

Whilst we still have a long way to go with our fundraising may we take this opportunity on behalf of the players, parents and coaches to thank you for your continued support.

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Schoolboy Sponsorship Deal
England's 2011 Under 17 squad are proud to announce that they have secured a tracksuit sponsorship deal with Powerpro UK. The schoolboys will wear the familiar Nike red & navy tracksuit supporting the powerpro UK logo for all forthcoming events upto and including this year's European Championships in Geneva, Switzerland.

The 2011 players, coaches and management are delighted to be associated with the West Midlands based engineering company, who are specialists in fuel technology, fire pump and generator services.

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Development Teams in Feira - Portugal
This Sunday 20th till Friday 25th February, Ladies and Under 11 will be training in Santa Maria da Feira and playing games around the area.

Ladies Team:
Kasia Parfitt (GK), Anne-Marie Lindsay (GK), Alice Osborne, Charlie Botting, Emily Barrow, Emily Rawlinson,
Emily Spooner, Hattie Ford, Heather Dunand and Toni Jones.

Under 11 Team:
David Jones (GK), Jake Findell (GK), Ben Davis, Darcy Quinn-Sekyy, Ed Rawlinson, George Daly, Jamie Williams, Joshua Osborne, Owen Williams and Sian Emslie.

On this trip I will be assisted by Kirsty Ingham & Patricia Osborne with Lucy Rawlinson as the Manager.

The objective for this trip is to make the girls more competitive, as this year the European Championships are for Under 18's instead of Under 20's, therefore we need to on focus developing the younger girls so that they can participate in an international competition earlier than expected.

The boys training is part of the development project for 2015/16.

During this trip our President Keith Allen will be with us Monday & Tuesday.
Keith and Myself will be attending a ceremony at the Feira Council headquarters with the Sports Co-ordinator & Director of Feira Viva (this Association runs the Sports Centre) and President of Clube Academico da Feira to thank them for their continuing support for our Development Plans. At the ceremony our President will present a plate to the Council and 2 plaques one to the President Club Academico da Feira and other to Feira Viva. This event will be covered by the local press radio and newspaper.

See attached the Preparation Plan for this trip.

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Chris Kay Wins Coach Of The Year

Congratulations to King's Lynn Head Coach Chris Kay for collecting the Coach of the Year Award at the West Norfolk Sports Awards.

Chris attendended the prestigious Awards Ceremony at the Town Hall where he was rewarded for all the hard work he has put into the sport.

Josh Taylor who was a member of the 2010 Bronze Medal winning Schoolboys team, was also nominated in the Young Sports Person of the Year Category.

Although Josh didn't win his category on the night, he was highly commended for his achievements.

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Reduced Squads Announced
For the players that are not named in the "Reduced Squads" , I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for all their hard work and commitment shown.

Please note: all players named in the "Reduced Squads" are now required to pay a £100 deposit.

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Feira Trip - November 2010
I was really impressed with the improvement during the preparation in Feira over the two weeks and this showed at the last National Training. I could see that the players had listened and the improvement could be seen in their tactical knowledge.
Prior to the trip, I did have some concerns with the development of the team up to the competition but now I am confident that we can have a competitive team to play in 10 months time, as long we can continue with the Preparation Plan.

Now boys is time to start work on fitness at home which will help us to work harder on tactics.

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Roller Hockey article aired on Channel 5
Channel 5 showed the 2010 Schoolboys training over at Northampton as part of a show called Your Sport.

The show was aired earlier this week and the episode can be seen on the Channel 5 website here

The Roller Hockey article starts at 6:15

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Ladies U20 European Championships
Darmstadt, Germany

Latest News

England claim Bronze in the Ladies U20 European Roller Hockey Championships courtesy of Switzerland beating France 3-1!!!

Final Positions:

1. Spain
2. Germany
3. England
4. Switzerland
5. France

England lose 12-0 to the tournament favourites Spain
Half Time 7-0

England manage to steal a win against Switzerland finishing 2-1 after conceding the first goal
Goal Scorers
Emma Gillett
Anna Russell

England manage to pinch a draw with the French.
England were leading 3-1 at half time, however were 4-3 down with a minute to go until Beth Cook pulled back an equalising goal.

Goal Scorers
Chloe Stephenson
Beth Cook (3)

England lose their opening game 5-2 to Germany
(Half Time 4-2)

Goal Scorers
Anna Russell
Beth Cook

Reports to follow
More images are available in the Gallery under Ladies U20 Darmstadt 2010

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Ladies World Championships

Ladies Achieve 6th Place At The World Championships

Final Positions Argentina France Spain Germany Colombia England Portugal USA Chile Switzerland Brazil Japan Australia South Africa India Mexico

All the reports from the Championships can be seen here

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Juniors European Championships

Final Positions Portugal Italy Spain France Germany Spain England Holland

Final Report
England finished 7th out 8 teams. We were in a very hard group with Italy, Spain and France, reflected in the fact that all 3 teams played in the semi-finals. Although we had five players playing for first time at Under 20's we improved from last year becoming more competitive and once more proved our system in defence is working very well.
This is the hardest level for us to play at as the other countries have players participating in more competitive leagues, some players already at a professional level.
We had a very bad game on Day 2 against Spain after which a meeting with the players helped change their attitude and although we lost games during the rest of the week we did play consistently, having one of the best performance against the Champions Portugal.

I would like to emphasise that this team's preparation was solely carried out in England and that as a result we missed out on training abroad which would have helped with reaction capacity and attack organisation.

All the players had a very professional attitude on and off the rink which made me feel that we are going in the right direction and we are ready to take one more step forward.

Now it is time to look forward to the World's next year in Barcelos (my home town) - Portugal. The preparation will start at the next National Training with open sessions up to December 2010, then in January 2011 I will announce the reduced squad. Players born in 1992, 1993 and 1994 must attend open sessions to be considered for the reduced squad and ultimately the final squad.

I will present a preparation plan at the next National Training.

All reports from the Championships can be viewed here

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Seniors European Championships

Final Positions Spain Portugal France Germany Italy Switzerland England Austria

Final Report
I was disappointed with the lack of preparation for this competition due to finding dates where all the players could be available. I understand the work and family commitments as well as finances, however to have the honour to play for England and even more at this level against professional players we need to change our attitude regarding the preparation.

We had 1 training session only with all 10 players together.

I can say now that I am working on a Preparation Plan for the World Championships in Argentina next year and the players will be invited to attend training from February / March and to follow a plan to be considered and to then be selected.

During the week England improved their team play and pace in the game making us feel that we played the first 3 games and used them as training to create the automatism which was shown in our last 3 games.

Overall we finished 7th out 8 teams but we felt that we could have at least finished in 5th place, as the team was much more competitive by end of the week and felt like we were ready to start a competition.

Players have to understand that to play at this level, fitness is one of the areas that has to be worked on a lot, which will make it easier to put in place our systems and to become more competitive.

One last thing. For the first time I am going to mention the refereeing in this competition, as the referees were very inconsistent and not aware of the new rules as in some countries last season they still played under the old rules. This in effect was a Senior competition but was actually training for the referees!!!!!
I understand there is a transition period to get used to the new rules, but we need to be more selective with referees.

Read all other Match Reports from the Championships here.

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England Claim Bronze At The European U17 Championships

Final Positions Spain Portugal England Italy Switzerland Andorra France Germany Austria

Read all the reports from the Championships here.

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Ladies U20's Team Announcement
I am pleased to announce the Final squad to participate in the
Ladies Under 20 European Championship in Darmstadt, Germany.

• Kasia Parfitt (GK) - King's Lynn
• Rachel Milne (GK) - Bury
• Abbie Morley - Norwich
• Anna Russell - Plymouth
• Beth Cook - Middlesbrough
• Chloe Stevenson - Middlesbrough
• Emily Rawlinson - Bury
• Emma Gillett - Bury
• Hannah Barrow - Ely
• Louise Holland - Middlesbrough

Management
Head Coach: Carlos Amaral
Manager: Lucy Rawlinson
Assistant Coach: Kirsty Ingham

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What a Great Camp.....
I am very pleased to say that this camp achieved all the objectives, improvement in basic skating and individual technique, as well as playing the game. The players responded very well to all the exercises, even new ones, putting in a lot of effort to make sure they got these right.

The players worked very hard on the rink and behaved very well off the rink. They listened to the coaches and the helpers, showing that they are improving their understanding of sport mentality, which will help to make England and the home leagues even more competitive in the future.

A big thanks to the Coaching Team:

• Eduardo Castro (Barcelona Senior Coach)
• Pol (Spanish player)
• Arthur Corr
• James Taylor
• Peter Marshall
• Joe Wheatley
• Kirsty Ingham
• Patricia Osborne

for all the good work done on and off the rink. The players learnt a lot from them as well as enjoyed a lot.

A very big thanks to the Camp co-ordinator Michaela Parfitt for organising the camp in a very professional way. Her support with the administration and organising the helpers took take away all the off rink responsibilities to ensure I was able to concentrate only on the coaching.

Thank you to the helpers, Lisa Allander, Pam Jones and Lucy Rawlinson for the such great job done off the rink to the players and coaches.

Finally thank you to the parents in continuing to support their kids to play roller hockey and to be part of our development plan attending events such as National Training, Camps and trips abroad.

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National Squads Announced
The Final squad announcements for Ladies & Juniors can now be seen on the National Teams page

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National Teams
The reduced squads for National teams have now been updated, with only the Seniors left to organise.
All news concerning squads will be available in the National Teams section

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Funding for Clubs Workshop
I would like to thank Karen Jones for the great presentation she gave at last month's National Training Weekend on Saturday.
I have received numerous comments regarding how helpful the workshop was.

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Grupo Desportivo de Sesimbra
I received this email from Presidente of Grupo Desportivo de Sesimbra saying:
“On behalf of the Board and I, we would like our thank you very much for England Intermediates and Schoolboys brilliant participation on our 25th International Tournament - Praias de Sesimbra 2010. It was a big contribution towards the great success of this year's tournament making our tournament even more prestigious.
The great success of this tournament as well as England performances were well recognised by everybody.”

Read the report on Sesimbra Here ....

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Sesimbra 2010

ANOTHER GREAT TRIP FOR ENGLAND ROLLER HOCKEY

Once more we participated in the Sesimbra International Tournament over Easter. This year they organised their 25th Tournament and it was an honour to be invited to present 2 teams, Under 15's and Under 17's.

We departed from Luton on Wednesday 31st March in the morning arriving at Lisbon around midday and returned to England on Sunday 4th April.

During our stay we had 3 training sessions, 2 warm up games on the Wednesday evening, one for each team against Sesimbra, which gave us an opportunity to play all the players and try different tactics and team combinations. The results were good as Intermediates drew 1-1 and the Schoolboys won 6-1.

The Management Team:

• Head Coach: Carlos Amaral
• Assistant Coach: Arthur Corr
• Manager: Joe Wheatley
• Assistant Manager: Mike Neville

Read More Here ....

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James Taylor - All Stars Game In Italy

James Taylor was selected to play in the All Stars Team against the Italian Select team. This was a great achievement for an English player to be selected to play alongside top players in the world such as: Argentinians Velasquez & Garcia and the Brazilian player Cacau.

James said ‘ It was obviously a pleasure to be considered one of the best foreigners in the Italian Premier League.
There are over 30 foreign players currently playing in the Premier league, so to be selected was quite an achievement’.

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Referees Meeting - 20th March 2010

I would like to thank all of you who gave up your time to attend the Referees meeting at Peterborough on the 20th March.

Some of you came considerable distances, on a Saturday, to be there, which shows the level of dedication that there is in the country for our sport.
I would like to thank you, not only for attending but also for the positive contribution that all of you made to the proceedings. As a referee, I found it most helpful and I hope that, as long as I remember the decisions that we all made, I will become a better referee.

As the person who arranged the meeting and put together the Structure Document, it really is encouraging and motivating that so many of you found the meeting really worthwhile.

I would like to assure you all that this will not be a one-off. The dates for the Referee Courses will be put on the National Calendar. The dates for the trips abroad for Referee Workshops will be put on the National Calendar.
The dates for the three meetings, like the one that we have just had, will also be on the National Calendar.

Again, a big thank you, for those of you who attended on Saturday and I am sure that together we can re-build the credibility of, and respect for Referees in England by a more consistent application of the rules through better and regular communication between Referees.

Keith Allen - NRHA President

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