Women's Wrap Up

The 2024 season, while challenging, has provided opportunity to reflect on what makes a strong women’s section and how we encourage the flow of junior players into senior women’s divisions and support masters teams to ensure all age groups are represented. We're so thankful to all our players for their support and flexibility this season.

We have secured promotion to Womens Premier League which will bring new challenges as we seek to consolidate our position in the top grade. 

Our coaches - Natesh Sukha, Wil Nolan, Leanne Downer, Jenny Eager, Emilie Pause, Bec O’Reilly and Pip Dudley - have done a lot of work in the background each week to ensure each team had enough players, were competitive and provided opportunities to develop game skills. Thank you for all your effort, time and patience this season.

This year we introduced a women’s committee - Jenny Eager, Fiona Tomas, Bonnie Boness, Chelsea Hodgson, Bridgette Allen, Emilie Pause and Zoe Westmore. Having such enthusiastic and dedicated helpers has made the season run smoothly. 

We also have to thank all the volunteers who manage teams, help in the canteen, cook BBQs and help run the social events. Thank you to all those that have contributed to such successful events such as Drag Bingo and Trivia nights. A special thankyou to Michelle Durrant for organising and printing the training tops.

While the Pennant grades had to work hard to hold their positions on the ladder the Vic League teams both experienced success and were involved in finals with the reserves making the grand final. Performance is not always about making finals but the opportunity for development of our next group of hockey players so we saw a lot of junior girls coming into senior hockey. The strength of our master’s players in these divisions passing their skills to the next generation was also lovely to see. We also had mothers and daughters playing together which reflects our strong family culture.

Challenges

The drop to VicLeague 1 meant adjusting to a different standard of competition, requiring a shift in training and strategy. We also needed to work to maintain pennant grades for 2025, to keep our important development pathway for up and coming players. Growing our membership saw junior players being integrated into the senior ranks to ensure a sustainable pipeline of talent. Additionally, it helped to foster a strong competitive culture within the club which is crucial for motivating players, developing resilience, and ultimately being ready to return to Women's Premier League in 2025.

Successes

Australian representatives:

Masters: Trish Young, Mary Lofthouse, Bridgette Allen, Sandra Marshall, Megan Boyd, Cheryl Malcolm, Leanne Downer (coach)

Victorian Representatives: 

Master’s : Kris Tulloch, Trish Young, Mary Lofthouse, Sandra Marshall, Lue Hansen, Jo Bowden, Bridgette Allen, Cheryl Malcolm, Jane Whiter, Kim Davie, Fran Moodie, Megan Boyd, Leanne Downer (coach)

Junior Representatives:

Anika Selvaratnam, Emma Constantinou, Lucy Constantinou, Pippa Leishman, Ella Dunkley

HV Women’s Vic League One Team Of The Year:

Asha Newstead, Emily Tulloch, Tabitha Billingham

National Championships Umpires:

Georgina Kennedy, Annabel Kennedy, Tamsin McLean, Sabriah Petersen

Planning for 2025

Planning is already underway to ensure the next 3-5 years see the women’s division develop, grow and experience success. We are excited to be able to maintain the strong club culture and sense of family that makes playing for TEM so special.