Saturday 18th & Sunday 19th May
The player list for National Training is now available to download here
The schedule for National Training is available here
Fees
As announced last month the fee from this month will be £13 to attend one session per player and £9 for any subsequent session in the same weekend. Siblings will pay £9 for any training in the same weekend.
Dr. Fernando Graca, President Of CERH Visiting Us
We are honoured to have visiting us at National Training the newly elected President of the Committee European Roller Hockey.
NRHA President, Keith Allen, is a member of CERH and few weeks ago during one their meetings held in Lisbon presented a report regarding our Development Plan which impressed all the members.
Referees Workshop Run By Luis Rei
Luis Rei will be running workshops at National Training on both days.
The objective of this workshop is to understand the intention of the rules of the game. Referees and parents come along and get involved. Parents pop in while your child attends National Training.
The workshop will be open from 10:30 hours each day
Inviting Players For Trials On Next Level Up
A separate email will be sent to players to invite them for a trial on the next Level up. When I invite players to the next session they will still remain in the level they are listed in, but for that particular month they will attend the session they are invited to instead of the level they are listed in. The reason for this is so that I can assess the player in that level. The player will not move up until I list them in the next level. There will always be several players that I need to test at the next level, so I will not always invite the same players each month, I will use a rotation system.
After the assessment, which may be over a few months, I will make a decision based on my principles of the game and player development. It is not always beneficial to a player to move to a level that is not the right level for him/her at that time. The parents/players tend to feel that it is better for the player to always play in a higher level, this is not correct and by playing in a level that may be too advanced for them, may mean that that player will not develop in the right way or could regress the player.
Finally I would like to say that although I always have the final decision, I always take on board the comments and advice from the Assistant National Coaches.
Important Information
We set up the seating so that benches are available for players and parents/adults to sit down and also create an area between the benches for the players bags, therefore please can you ensure that bags are always kept in this area at all times and not placed outside on the walkway. Also, when parents/adults are helping the kids to get ready, please ensure that you are always inside the benches. Players, can you also help to keep this area tidy by keeping your equipment/clothes inside your bags.
Coaches will be responsible for the players during their session, however parents/adults are responsible for their kids whilst they are waiting for their own session or their siblings.
We will ensure that the bins are always available, so please ensure that rubbish is always placed in the bin and not left for others to pick up. If the bins are full, please let Marisa know.
Also I have now booked the classroom on Saturdays to give an opportunity for parents and other adults to work/read in a quiet area, so if you wish to use this facility, please log in and out with Marisa. Please be aware that the classroom is not accessible to kids.
Can I also remind players and their respective parents/adults of the following:
- No skates to be worn off rink, unless it is your session
- No balls are allowed off rink (this includes footballs/tennis balls)
- The second rink is off limits to everyone, unless it is for a training session supervised by one of the NTW Coaches
NRHA Level 3 Coaching Course
At the Inter-Regional Competition being held at the Bushfields Sports Centre, Peterborough on the 4th, 5th and 6th May, I will be running the NRHA Level 3 Coaching Course.
The course will comprise 6 hours split into two sessions of three hours each with a one hour break.
The course will be run each day over the three days.
Session Times:
- Part 1: 10am - 1pm
- Part 2: 2pm - 5pm
The Coaching Course contents include:
- Club Organisation
- Fitness
- Tactics
- Set-up Moves for Training Exercise
- Goal-keeper Specific Training
I will assess each Coach to decide whether a practical test is required or not
If it is required this will be carried out at a National Training Weekend within 3 months of the course
The cost for attending the course will be £50 each
Please let me know as soon as you can which sessions/days you would like to attend.
u17's European Championships
The Under 17 European Championship has now been confirmed as taking place in Alcobendas, near Madrid, Spain between 2nd and 7th September 2013.
The “Final Squad” will be announced on Thursday 30th May after 3 days of preparation at Bushfields Sports Centre, Peterborough. The Preparation Plan Dates can be found here
Easter Trip To Feira (Portugal)
Ladies, Under 15’s & Under 17’s Participating In The Carvalhos Easter Tournament
This year the Carvalhos Easter Tournament is in memory of Anabela Silva, goalkeeper for the Carvalhos Ladies Team, who passed away suddenly at age of only 19 years old. The tournament will take place on Thursday 28th, Friday 29th and Saturday 30th March 2013, the programme for which can be seen here.
The objective for this trip is continue the preparation for the Project 2013 team for the Under 17 European Championship, which takes places this year in Madrid (Spain) and to continue the development of the Ladies Team.
The Ladies will arrive in Portugal on the evening of Wednesday 27th March and will return on Sunday 31st March in the morning. The Ladies will have two training sessions in Feira on Thursday - One morning and one afternoon session, before leaving to play an evening match against Paco de Rei. On the Friday and Saturday they will then participate in the Carvalhos tournament as can be seen from the schedule.
Ladies Team:
Kasia Parfitt (GK), Rachel Holmes (GK), Kirsty Ingham (Captain), Abbey Morley, Alice Osborne, Emily Barrow, Heather Dunand, Jocie Greenwood, Toni Jones and Zoe Parry-Wilcocks
The Project 2013 “Reduced Squad” will also arrive in Portugal on Wednesday afternoon, but will be returning next week on Tuesday 2nd April in the evening. The Project 2013 team will have four days of preparation in Feira on Thursday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday consisting of seven training sessions and four friendly games, as well as playing two games in the tournament. The full schedule for the project can be seen here.
For the Easter Tournament, the players born in 1998 who are part of the project 2013 “Reduced Squad” will play Under 15’s and the players born in 1997 will play Under 17’s. To ensure that we will have two full squads attending the tournament I have invited a further three players to be part of the Under 15’s Team.
During the friendly games the "Reduced Squad" players will rotate playing Under 15’s or Under 17’s
Under 15’s Team:
Charlie Oakes (GK), Kieran Mackay (GK), Alex Mount (Captain), Callum Soper, Connor Botting, Joshua Branchett, Max Osborne, Robbie Allander, William Foreman and William Rawlinson
Under 17’s Team:
Robert Amos (GK), Tommy Allander (GK), Harry Parfitt (Captain), Jordan Chambers, Josh Webb, Lewis Greenwood, Luke Pickering, Nicolas Pembrey, Sam Lightfoot and Thomas Barry
Finally I would like to congratulate Mark Greenwood, who has been invited to referee at the tournament. This will be a great opportunity for him to referee alongside some of the best Portuguese referees.
Summer Camps 2013
2nd - 5th & 9th - 12th August 2013
Four Spanish players are now attending Camp 1 with another attending Camp2There are still a few places available, so I would encourage you to register as soon as possible as these will be issued on a first come first served basis, only being guaranteed on receipt of the registration form and deposit.
The first camp will commence on Friday 2nd August and finish on Monday 5th August 2013.
This will be open to the following groups:
- Level 1 to Level 4
- Ladies Development
This will be open to the following groups:
- Project 2014
- Under 17 Final Squad
- Under 20 Reduced Squad
- Ladies U17 and Senior
u20 & updated u17 Preparation Plans Available
Under 20's Preparation Plan
After we won the bronze medal in 2010, our next major target was the World U20 Championships with a very competitive team. But, to achieve this "very competitive team" we need to have a good preparation and it will be very important to have your 100% commitment. (financial, time off work or college, etc).
As you can see our preparation is based on National Training Weekends, Summer Camp and a trip to Feira for the Final Squad at begin of October, 2 weeks prior to start of the Worlds, to ensure we can have increase the levels of competitiveness and fitness. The "Reduced Squad" will be announced after February National Training.
Project 2013: u17 Reduced Squad Announced
First of all thanks for all the commitment shown on first phase of preparation for Project 2013.
I am very pleased in having over Thirty players in continuing assessment on the National Training, with a large number of these players having also been assessed in December trip and/or Christmas Camp.
I would like all of you to be aware that as well as selecting players based on 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 1998 not selected for the "Reduced Squad" must carry on attending National Training if they want to be considered for Project 2014.
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 a 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 and then the Ten players announced in the Final Squad will have to make every training activity, as shown in the Preparation Plan. The reason I am saying this is that if a player cannot commit to the full Preparation Plan then I need to be aware now so that I can replace the player. Please read the Preparation Plan carefully to ensure you are able to commit to this.
Reduced Squad
- Tommy Allander (GK)
- Robert Amos (GK)
- Charlie Oakes (GK)
- Thomas Barry
- Connor Botting
- Jordan Chambers
- William Foreman
- Lewis Greenwood
- Sam Lightfoot
- Alex Mount
- Max Osborne
- Harry Parfitt
- Nicolas Pembrey
- Luke Pickering
- William Rawlinson
- Callum Soper
- Joshua Webb
NRHA Notice: Caps To Be Awarded
Sunday 16th December
The NRHA would like to re-introduce the awarding of Caps for every player representing their Country at both World and European International Championships.
This season we have competed in the following:
- European U17 Championships in Ploughfragan, France
- European U20 Championships in St. Omer, France
- European Senior Men’s Championships in Paredes, Portugal
- World Ladies Championships in Recife, Brazil
- World Senior Men’s Championships in Canelones, Uruguay
We would like to present the Caps at National Training Weekend on Sunday 16th December at 3.45pm and hope that as many of you who have been part of the teams for each of these Championships can be present.
Keith Allen
In The Hotel With Their Medals
Canelones, Uruguay
Seniors World Championship B Final Report:
Main Objective Achieved With Promotion To Group A
Although we had problems putting a team together, I was very pleased that we managed to have enough preparation for this competition. This included two games against Manchester RHC to help raise levels of fitness and tactical awareness enabling us to be a very competitive team.
We had to change seven players from the last World A's in Argentina, however we still played good hockey proving that our development plan is working well, as the team played the system that we have been working toward in England for the last five years.
Despite the fact that we lost the first game against Egypt, due a nervous start in the competition, we played the rest of the competition as a very competitive team. We had one to one meetings with the players to relieve the pressure on them and their hockey improved with man to man restricted pressuring the man with the ball creating good counter attacks which a few culminated with some great goals. We also had a lot of ball possession and this enabled us to score goals from good set up moves.
The performance of the team during the week was very good and one the big factors was the good team spirit off the rink which obviously includes the management.
Well done to the boys for their promotion to Group A and now it is time to start preparing for our participation in Angola next year.
View All The Scores Here
Ladies World Championship: Recife 2012
Final Report:The main objective of participating in these World Championships, was to provide experience to the team which included seven players attending for the first time at Senior level. We are working with the Ladies under Project 2016 to be a very competitive team in three years. This is why we had one of the youngest teams in the competition.
On our way to Brazil, we had three days preparation in Feira to finalise the details on our tactical side and give them some competitiveness. During these three days we played Portugal, (which finished 4th in this competition) and two Portuguese clubs, Sanjoanense and Carvalhos. Having two training sessions per day followed by an evening game the girls did very well against Portugal only losing 6-0, after being 0-0 at half-time. Then we played the two clubs and the results showed improvement on our tactics and competitiveness.
The only problem we had during this preparation was the fitness level of the majority of the players which affected the reaction capacity to create more counter attacks and moving off the ball to a position on the rink to create pass lines.
We arrived in Brazil on the Thursday two days prior to the competition started, ensuring we adaptes to the local weather and time.sWe played seven games in the Championships and I have to say that I was disappointed with the attitude of the team. The players never adapted to the weather or the floor. Adding to this our low fitness level and lack of experience, we never performed up to our expectations considering that we'd had a good preparation during the previous twelve months.
I have no doubt the Ladies are improving very well to achieve our objectives in three years, but my disappointment in this competition is mainly because most of the players didn't try hard enough to compensate the problems mentioned above.
One the biggest problems for this team was a lack of sport mentality, with he players never showing confidence and belief. Also, I didn't feel that they gave 100% in the games seen by their lack of movement off the ball. Lots of times we won the ball and the player with ball skated instead of sprinting and the other three stayed behind, not moving to try to create a counter attack.
As final note I would like to say that despite the results I am still focusing on our main objective, which is to develop a team for the future and I am still well motivated to run Project 2016 as we have such young talented players.
Read All The Reports Here
Portugal Win the U20 European Championships
England Finish 7th at the u20 European Championships
Day 6 Results:The Final
Portugal 4 - 3 Spain
(Half-Time 2 - 0)
3rd / 4th Playoff
France 3 - 2 Germany
Game Abandoned after the German Coach suffered a suspected Heart Attack. The teams in the spirit of Fair Play agreed a draw and a joint 3rd place
5th / 6th Playoff
Italy 5 - 3 Switzerland
(Half-Time 4 - 2)
7th / 8th Playoff
England 5 - 4 Holland
(Half-Time 2 - 1)
Goal Scorers:
- Michael Carter
- Liam Conroy (2)
- Josh Taylor (2)
Noisy Le Grand Tournament
On 22nd & 23rd September, the Ladies Senior team participated in this tournament playing France, Germany, Switzerland and Noisy Le Gran, with 2 games each day.We used this tournament to start the final stage of the preparation for the Ladies World Championships, which will take place in Brazil in November 2012.
The objective was to assess level of fitness and areas of the game that we need to focus on for the rest of our preparation. I am very pleased with the team bonding off the rink which helps to get the best during the games.
The results were not the main objective and this tournament worked almost like a pre-season preparation. On Saturday we lost 2-1 to Switzerland and then 4-2 to the home team Noisy le Grand (one the best French Ladies Team). On the Sunday we lost 2-0 to Germany and 6-0 to France, both these teams finished in the top 5 at the last World Championships.
The notes that I took from this competition are the fact that we need to focus working on fitness and reaction capacity. The players need to understand that when we tackle a ball we need to react with longer sprints to ensure that we can create advantages in attack and create a counter attack. Also, we need to focus on shooting and the player in the front of the goal. There were many opportunities in all four games where we didn’t our opportunities, due mainly reaction and position of the player in the area. Although we have a very young team participating (average age - 18 years old) the results showed that we can look forward positively to having a competitive team in the world Championships working on the areas of the game that I mentioned above.
England Seniors 2012 World Championships Group B
Final Preparation For Canelones, Uruguay
We are now in the final stages for preparing the Seniors to participate in the World's B.
The objective is to gain promotion by finishing in the top 3 in this competition.
Currently, we have no information from the International Committee regarding how many countries are participating.
England Team:
- Philip Bingham GK (King's Lynn)
- Sam Cayley GK (Peterborough)
- Dan Butcher (HBU)
- John Jones (Middlesbrough)
- Ricky Jupp - Captain (Letchworth)
- Peter Lonsdale (Middlesbrough)
- Jack Pinheiro (Sanjoanense, Portugal)
- William Smith (Sanjoanense, Portugal)
- Owen Stewart (Middlesbrough)
- Grant Zaccaria (Middlesbrough)
- Manager: Keith Allen
- Head Coach: Carlos Amaral
- Assistant Coach: Joe Wheatley
| Date | Day | Description | Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 06/10/12 | Saturday | Final Squad Training 2 Days Preparation | Rainbow Centre Middlesbrough | 12-14 & 16-18 |
| 07/10/12 | Sunday | 12:00 – 15:00 | ||
| 21/10/12 | Sunday | National Training Weekend | Bushfields | 15:00 – 18:00 |
| 04/11/12 | Sunday | Final Squad Training - 1 Day Preparation | Ross Peers Soham | 16:00 – 18:30 |
|
22/11/12 23/11/12 | Thursday & Friday |
Departure to Uruguay BA209 to Miami & AA989 to Montevideo | Heathrow
Montevideo |
Depart 13:35
Arrive 11:20 |
| 24/11/12 To 01/12/12 |
Saturday
To Saturday | World Championship Group B |
Canelones
Uruguay |
Daily Plan
Will be issued |
| 02/12/11 04/12/12 |
Sunday
Tuesday |
Return to England
AA984 to Miami & BA1527 to Heathrow |
Montevideo
Heathrow |
Depart 23:10
Arrive 07:45 |
Seniors European Championship Final Report
England Finish 7th At The Seniors European Championhips
The cost to each player for participating in both the European and World B Championships in the same year could have been £2,300 and also involved taking around 3 weeks holiday from work. For these reasons we prioritised the World B Championships and decided not to participate in the European Championship. This was a big decision for us, as this would be the first time that England would not have been represented in competition. All the preparation for the Seniors has been organized to start in September.
For the last 3 years we have struggled to find enough senior players to be part of the teams and this year was no difference; which makes a selection process no-existent! I always wait for my President / Manager to tell me who is available and sometimes we don’t even have 10 players.
Our participation in these European Championships was a last minute call. We were requested by the Presidents of both the European and Portuguese Federations to participate due to a lack of numbers; the competition wouldn’t take place if there were less than 7 countries present.
The request was made to our President at Cup Finals Day in Herne Bay and both Keith and I discussed the possibility of finding a suitable team to represent England. Although the costs were all supported by the European and Portuguese Federations we still found it hard to put together a team. Although our feelings were that we shouldn’t come as the competition was in jeopardy of being cancelled, we did all we could to find a team and provide them with 2 days preparation prior to our arrival in Portugal.
The Team: Ben Howes (GK), Sam Cayley (GK), Ricky Jupp, Matt White, Liam Conroy, Owen Stewart, William Smith, Grant Zaccaria, Karl Smith and Jack Pinheiro
So, we are here and we had our first 3 games with the following results:
- Sunday, 9th – England 0 - 9 Italy
- Monday 10th – England 1 - 5 Germany
- Tuesday 11th – England 1- 21 Spain
On the positive side the team has created lot of goal scoring opportunities in every game and the consequence of not scoring has cost us a large percentage of the goals we have conceded due to counter attacks. I have to say that England played their best game so far against Spain. Despite the result, I saw an England creating good attacking moves with good ball possession in attack making sometimes more than four passes before losing the ball or shooting on goal and this against the best team in the world for the last 5 years.
I can’t question the commitment, the passion and heart of my players. They gave everything in the game against Spain showing improvement from the previous two games were the players showed their nerves and obvious lack of training.
So, let’s forget the results. I am thinking positively with a view to the World B Championship as six of the players are here in Portugal and we have been training every morning in the Sports Centre near Paredes as part of our preparation.
England's Results At The Championships
Game 6: France 7 - 1 England
(Half Time 3 - 0)
Game 5: England 1 - 23 Portugal
(Half Time 1 - 12)
Game 4: Switzerland 13 - 0 England
(Half Time 5 - 0)
Game 3: England 0 - 9 Italy
(Half Time 5 - 0)
Game 2: England 1 - 5 Germany
(Half Time 5 - 0)
Game 1: England 1- 21 Spain
(Half Time 5 - 0)
Christmas Camp 2012
 |
Places are now available for this year's Christmas Camp. Any players interested in attending should download and complete the: and return to me as soon as possible. |
U17's European Championships - Ploufragan, France
Final Placings:
- 1st -
Spain - 2nd -
France - 3rd -
Portugal - 4th -
Italy - 5th -
England - 6th -
Andorra - 7th -
Germany - 8th -
Switzerland
Objective Achieved - 5th Place
England 2 - 1 Andorra
(Half Time 1-0)
On the back our victory against Switzerland we carried our good form into the 5th/6th position play off with Andorra. Another solid game for England with our tactic of man to man restricted pressuring the man with the ball whilst still creating good goal scoring opportunities which we failed to take during the first half.
The players took on board what was said in the tactical meeting regarding the defensive system, allowing us to create good counter attacks and continuing with good ball possession getting in to our set up moves.
Our first goal came from a set up indirect free hit and was nothing more than England deserved.
Despite Andorra equalising with a lucky goal the maturity of our team really showed. They never put our heads down and continued to play good attacking hockey resulting in the winning goal with two minutes left on the clock.
We have shown two things this week without doubt:
- We have a good competitive team
- We had a fantastic group of supporters, which were awarded by the organizers a trophy for the best crowd of the competition
Goal scorers:
- Josh Gay
- Jack Tucker
1st September 2012
- 7th/8th Playoff Game: Germany 6 - 0 Switzerland (Half Time 1-0)
- 5th/6th Playoff Game: Andorra 1 - 2 England (Half Time 1-0)
- 3rd/4th Playoff Game: Portugal 4 - 1 Italy (Half Time 2-1)
- Final: Spain 3 - 2 France (Half Time 2-1)
Open Session In Herne Bay
On Friday 8th June I ran, assisted by Arthur Corr and Patricia Osborne, two open sessions at The Bay Arena Sports Centre. The first one from 08:30 until 10:30 hours for Under 9's and Under 11's and then the second session from 10:30 until 12:30 hours for Under 13's and Under 15's.
I was very impressed with the numbers turning up, boys and girls in total 64 of which 10 were goalkeepers. Also, I am very pleased that the players attending these open sessions were from most of the clubs from the region, HBU, Herne Bay, Invicta, Farnham and Maidstone.
I am pleased with emails that I received saying that their kids enjoyed the training sessions.
I am looking forward to organise the next one, however I will try to get 3 hours sessions instead of 2 to allow us to work on different areas of the game.
Finally I would like to thanks Patricia for organising this event.
Congratulations To James Taylor
James playing for Bassano (Italy) was the first English player to win a European League Club Cup.
It is particularly nice for me to see a player who I trained from 9 years old to achieve a such a level of expertise in a professional sport abroad. Well done James you have made your country and myself very proud.
Joaquim Santos (PATOLEIA)
The England Development Squads attended the Tournament in Carvalhos, Portugal over Easter.
| Juniors | Youth | Intermediates |
|---|---|---|
| 1st - Lavra | 1st - Valongo | 1st - FC Porto |
| 2nd - AAEspinho | 2nd - Oliveirense | 2nd - CH Carvalhos |
| 3rd - England Squad | 3rd - CH Carvalhos | 3rd - J.Pacense |
| 4th - CH Carvalhos | 4th - England Squad | 4th - England Squad |
All teams played qualifiying matches to see if they would play for 1st & 2nd place and unfortunately lost their qualifiers:
The Intermediates 9-0 to Porto
The Juniors lost 4-1 to AAEspinho
The Schoolboys were unlucky losing out on a Golden Goal 3-2 to Valongo
View The Tournament Results
Playing for 3rd place in their groups:
The Intermediates lost 2-1 to Pacense losing out on a Golden Goal
The Schoolboys lost 5-0 to CH Carvalhos
The Juniors finished with a 5-3 win over CH Carvalhos.
England Training For Northern Region
On 26th February 2012, assisted by Arthur Corr, I ran an England training session in Manchester using the same format as at a National Training Weekend. This was set up for North West players and the objective was to run sessions for players that cannot attend the usual National Training in Peterborough, due to financial or other reasons. This was a great success and gave me an opportunity to assess players for the NRHA Development Plan.
I would like to thanks Bruno Sosa for his great helping in organizing this the day of training and helping with the administration on the day. I would also like to thank Paul Colton for letting us have the sports centre for the day.
Finally thanks go to the Manchester coaches Peter Atherton, Lois Piltz and Alvaro Gonzalez (goalkeeper trainer) for their great help on the day, assisting Arthur and myself.
Click here to see report from Bruno Sosa and visit the Manchester Page in my gallery to see photos from the day