Women Premier League

Women’s Premier League - Ross Sudano

The season started way back before Christmas 2020.  We gathered to meet, talk through preseason training and do our first gym session together as a squad, and unfortunately ended prematurely as we entered lockdown 6 after our 10th game for the season.

Our goals for the season were

• We not me – team first
• Want to learn
• Aspire to contribute – valued for what you bring to the team
• Celebrate the success within the team
• We are having fun and being successful

During preseason we worked on our fitness, style of play and getting to know all the players involved in the squad. We entered the season with a strong fitness base, understanding of how we were going to play and individual roles within the team.

Right from our first session together, the level of engagement, enthusiasm and willingness to challenge ourselves was evident across the team. This continued through the season (even in mid-winter as we did our running sessions in the car park across the road) in both training and on game days. We managed to blend a group with different skills and abilities into a team that was beginning to think and react as one on the hockey field.

Our 3 wins were all good wins. Our 3 draws were all winnable and with the learnings gained from these we will be better positioned to turn these draws into victories in the future. Our 4 losses were all against good teams where we learnt more about ourselves and our game style (myself included) and what we need to execute to take points from each of these teams. I have no doubt we have the talent to challenge these teams into the future as we continue to improve. Whilst we didn’t get to play out the season, I was particularly pleased and impressed with how our game style continued to develop, culminating in a loss to Mentone in what was our last match, where the girls played their best level of hockey for the season.

Equally importantly, our focus on team, individual contribution, desire to learn and having fun never waivered during the season. I can only thank each of the girls for their individual efforts, support and contribution over the full season.

I would also like to thank Dwayne for taking on the role of team manager early in the season and then Jordi who valiantly stepped in as team manager later in the seasons. 

Finally, a special thank to Sam who provided strong support and input into game style and training.

Thank you to everyone involved over a particularly challenging year and I look forward to seeing you continue to develop in coming seasons.