Separate at Birth - Reunited 122 Years Later
The game of hockey was still in its infancy when Wimbledon Hockey Club was founded in 1883. Less than three years later, in January 1886, Edward Agar, a co-founder of the Club, convened a meeting at a central London restaurant to create a hockey association. A set of 19 rules, based on those adopted by Wimbledon, became the basis of all hockey played within the association. Soon after, in 1889, Wimbledon Ladies' Hockey Club was formed and has since become the oldest surviving ladies' hockey club in the world.
Fast-forward more than a century and Wimbledon Hockey Club remains one of London's finest hockey clubs. A lot has changed, however, and as one would expect, it hasn't always been plain sailing. A difficult period at the beginning of this century led to Richard Creed and Richard Holliday producing their now infamous 'Call To Arms' brief, the aim of which was to arrest a decline in the fortunes of our flagship teams across the Club. In summer 2007, decisions were taken to appoint a Director of Hockey, co-fund a fantastic new Tiger Turf pitch at KCS (to include better playing, changing and parking facilities) and to create a more structured coaching programme at all levels. The beneficial effects of these initiatives were significant and immediate. The Club's first Director of Hockey, Australian international Trid Woodhouse, led the Men's 1s to two successive promotions and his successor, GB Olympian Ben Marsden, continued the trend with a third promotion in as many years, propelling the Men's 1s into National League in 2010. The Men's 1s, still led by Ben, currently boast 2 Olympians including Ben Hawes who is training towards London 2012.
The success hasn't stopped there. The Men's 2s, 3s and 4s are all currently playing in the highest leagues in the Club's history. The Men's 6s has been re-launched as a development side focusing on encouraging juniors who are transitioning into the senior game. This focus on junior development has become paramount across the Club, with junior players in every squad from the Men's 1s down. The Men's Vets' teams (recently re-launched appropriately as 'Masters') have also enjoyed renewed success in recent seasons.
On the Ladies' side, the appointment of an elite Spanish coach last season brought double success with both promotion for the Ladies' 1s into South Division 1 and victory in the EHB Trophy, with hopes for further promotion this season under the guidance of new coach Sarah Kelleher. The successful launch of a development side last year has meant that junior players are transitioning into the Ladies' teams with ease and such is the strength of the junior section that there is currently a waiting list of girls seeking to join the Club. Much of this development and coaching is led by members of the incredibly successful Ladies' Vets' team who won the National Over 40s Trophy last season.
Earlier this year, the Men's and Ladies' sections united to form a joint hockey club for the first time in our extended history. The benefits of this are already evident with unified objectives, shared initiatives and combined efforts on coaching, umpiring and financial matters.
The future of Wimbledon Hockey Club is more promising and exciting than ever. Should you wish to get involved - playing, coaching or supporting - please visit our website at www.wimbledonhockey.com
