Dear Club Member,
I hope you and your family are well since our last contact, I know the last few weeks have been difficult for everyone especially for those who have been taking part in home schooling. I hope the family keep fit classes and the content available through the website and social media have provided a fun outlet for you all.
We have not yet been given any guidance from Hockey Ireland or Leinster Hockey as to what may happen when restrictions are hopefully eased by the government however at this point we think it is safe to assume there won’t be any competitive hockey until the 2021-22 season. Given the current restrictions are in force until the 1st week of April we will not be running Easter camps however we do hope to be in a position to run camps over the summer holidays. The details for these proposed camps will be circulated when they are finalised.
The committee are looking at a number of options of how to provide fun and safe hockey for both our junior and senior members once we are allowed. How this will look is unclear but we presume training in pods of 15 like before Christmas will be necessary.
Depending on government restrictions we plan to run Sunday training for our junior members in lieu of the training sessions that have been missed so the season will not finish at the end of March as normal but this is all still to be finalised. For our senior members some form of social hockey in the evenings or on Saturdays are some of the options being considered. As soon as we get guidance on what is allowed we will get our plans out to you all.
There is lots of work going on in the background as always, we have submitted a grant application for sports capital funding for training and technical equipment which will benefit all teams. Our YouTube channel is live and content is being added all the time.
For our junior members a skills and exercise session on zoom has been set up on a Sunday morning. If you are interested please log in to Clubzap and find the chat group for skills and activity.
For the month of February, we set a challenge to any club member who wanted to be involved; to walk, run or cycle 125km this could be done alone or as a family. Our aim was to raise €12,500 to be split between LauraLynn and Enable Ireland. We were delighted to surpass our target and be able to support 2 very worthy charities.
We hope to be in touch very soon with plans for the resumption of hockey but until then keep well.
Caroline Daly
President Avoca Hockey Club