After the success of last season, with the women’s team gaining promotion to the BUCS South Eastern 4B league and the men’s team narrowly avoiding relegation from BUCS North East London Tier 5, UEL Hockey are ready to go again after a well-earned summer break.
Positive Outlook
UEL Hockey took part in a mixed friendly tournament on Wednesday 3 October to begin practicing for the season ahead.
Out of the three games that took place, UEL could only take a win from one. Despite results not turning out as hoped, there was a positive outlook for the team.
Speaking to Rising East, UEL Men’s Hockey captain, Isaac Charles remained optimistic despite the loss, “We only got better. Let’s keep this momentum, work hard in training, and push for our first league matches next week” he said.
The Year Ahead
Both the men’s and women’s teams have their first game of the 2018/19 season on Wednesday 10 October.
The men’s team kick off the season with a home match against Kings College London 4th which begins at 15:30 at Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis centre, which coincidentally hosted the Women’s Hockey World Cup earlier this year.
The season opener for the women’s team begins with a match against University of the Arts London 1st, starting at a later time of 17:00 at the same venue.
This season, UEL Hockey are set to have a mixed female and male team competing in London Universities Sport League. Fixtures for this are yet to be confirmed.
New Recruits
Recruitment is key for the team ahead of the season, especially the women’s team whose main focus is to have enough players each week, after struggling to field enough players in previous seasons.
Following UEL Hockey’s attempts to enlist new players at Freshers Fair a little over a week ago, it appears their efforts were not in vain as new additions to both the men and women’s team were evident at training last Monday.
The team was so impressed with fresher, Jack Styles’ performance during the matches, which included netting a goal for his side; he was voted their player of the tournament in his debut game.
Styles was more than pleased with his start in hockey and, “hopes that this positivity continues throughout the team for the season”.