Great Southern Griffins

Hockey Chairperson's Update

I am writing to you as Griffins Hockey Chairperson, with a welcome to hockey for 2024.

We had a great Season Launch event a few weeks ago and started our official season last week with 114 junior and 33 senior players.

I am honoured to have been asked to take this position on, and would like to acknowledge the hard work of previous committees, and in particular, the vision of Adam Scott, who have all put enormous amounts of time into building this club to where we are now. I am certain the club is at a very exciting point: with more teams than ever - including senior entries - we are ready to build a lasting community that our players and volunteers can look forward to each year.

I would just like to share a few points with you, as we begin our season.

1. We are one club

The committee is very focused on creating a community that is larger than any one team. We want our players to understand that when they pull on a Griffins shirt and step onto the pitch, they are part of something bigger than just a ball-game: they are joining with each other to commit to a community that looks out for each other, as well as a club that looks outward to care for our sport and community at large. We have one goal: as many people as possible enjoying themselves through the best sport in the world.

We have made a few changes this year to support this. We will begin this year with a phased introduction of a whole of club development and game-plan, focused on building a cohesive approach to skill and tactical development from our juniors @ HookIn2Hockey leading eventually through to our senior teams. This will also include some mentoring for coaches and hopefully student leaders over the next twelve months. We will also be adapting the way our 10/11/12 and 7/8/9 groups work together: with these groups sharing training times, we will be working together as whole squads, giving as many of our children as possible access to our expert coaches and role-models.

We are also acutely aware of the limited turf time all our players have, which impacts directly on their skill practice time. We are excited to introduce an additional whole-of-club training session: open to any Griffins players to come down and work on their skills.

An optional session, it will be a mixed age and gender, student led, skills-focused session with coaching guidance on Tuesdays from 4.30pm to 5.15pm at the ALAC Turf (Starting Week Three - 30 April).

2. We live our values

As a committee, we will be focused on ensuring our actions lead by example, and that our seven club values guide all our decisions; as well as the choices of all our players, managers and coaches. I’ll be making some time to address this with all our junior teams at training sessions in the next fortnight, but if you have a chance you might go over these values with your children before the season starts.

3. Player Safety

A reminder that players without shin pads or a mouthguard will not be permitted to train or play. If you still need to pick up gear, consider dropping past our club sponsors at Totally Surf and Sports. We have also provided each team with faceguards for penalty corner batteries. Players are strongly encouraged to utilise these at training sessions so they are used to them for game days.

4. Social Media

Could everyone keep checking in to our Griffins Hockey Facebook Page for updates. Our Social Media Manager, Natalie Vesey, will be posting regular updates each week on games.

If you have any questions please, don’t hesitate to reach out to the committee (hockey@griffins.org.au). We are always looking for more volunteers, as well as sponsors, to help us get this great show on the road…!

Thank you to all the families for taking on the challenge of organising their kids sporting dreams, and to all our players for taking up a stick for 2024.

Griffins Committee Members 2024

Chairperson - Carl Meuller

Vice Chair - Alex Fergie

Secretary - Carolyn Cunningham

Treasurer - Karen Fergie

Registrations and Uniforms/Equipment - Tanya Wilson

Registrations - John Taylor

Social Media and Fundraising - Natalie Vesey

Coaching Development and Equipment - Brodie Sarre

Coaching Development - Michelle Ericsson

General Committee - Jane Cunningham

Hockey Wine Fundraiser - Orders Open Now