County Hockey at St Benedict's

Published on isbi School News dated Wednesday 4th of December 2013

Hockey was introduced as a major sport for girls at St Benedict's School, Ealing in September 2011 and the boys took up the sport in January of the following year. Just prior to that a full-size AstroTurf hockey pitch was completed in March 2011 at the school playing fields in Perivale.

A couple of years on, there are eleven girls and eight boys from the school playing at county hockey level or above. Most of them also play club hockey, as do many other pupils at the school. Hockey at St Benedict's has indeed come a long way in a short time.

County Girls: Emily Sawyer (Under 12), Cerys Edwards (U13), Nite Gula, Inez McGrath and Robyn Mellor (U14), Sian David (U15), Monica Clifford, Annabel McCosker, Miranda Pattison-Hudd, Lola Stewart and Hannah Vaughan (U16).

County Boys: James Ball and Conor Moon (U13), Alex Curtis and Max Mellor (U14), Louis Delsol and Tullis Ross (U15), Sam Loveless and Kyle Maroo (U16).

Monica Clifford and Alex Curtis both advanced to the regional stages last year and will be hoping to do the same or better this year.

Much of this is down to the Head of Hockey, Nikki Woodroffe, who joined St Benedict's School in September 2011 and is now the acting Director of Sport. She has been joined by Jaz Nijhar, the current Berkshire JRPC Head Coach. The coaching team has been further strengthened this year by the arrival of Brad Heuer, a current Zimbabwean hockey international goalkeeper. Heuer and Fitness Coach Myles Stringer are running weekly sessions for the county players aimed at providing specific hockey fitness. The work done during these sessions relates specifically to county physical assessment criteria.