Girls U16 Squad
The Squad
Welcome to the Under 16 Girls Squad! We are a large squad with girls of all ability levels in the Years 10 and 11 age group (girls turning 15 or 16 during the school year 1 Sep to 31 Aug).
Some girls may be joining us not having played club hockey before and some will have trialled for the England Squad. We have a large training group and three teams entered into leagues and make sure that all girls can develop and thrive according to their interests and ambitions.
Training
- Training normally takes place from 8pm-9.30 on Friday evenings at Charterhouse (GU7 2RS) but will be at Guildford HC for at least the start of the 2020/21 season: 8pm-9.30pm.
- Please encourage your daughter to arrive early (15mins) to warmup and register at the beginning of each session to ensure we get the full 1.5 hours of training time on the pitch.
- Our Junior Section coaching is led by GHC Director of Hockey, two-time Olympian Dan Fox, who guides our coaching team given his deep experience of playing and coaching at top level. The coaching is delivered by a team of pro and experienced parent coaches.
- Our coaches work closely with the girls to give feedback on what is working well and identify areas for improvement. They also coach the teams on the Sunday in matches and share feedback with each other on a weekly basis.
- Many of our girls also play in our Ladies teams (Saturday leagues). Have your daughter ask her coach about opportunities to do so if she would like.
- School holiday skills courses are also available and encouraged during school half-term breaks; see Juniors page for details.
Matches
- All girls are encouraged to play in 11-a-side U16 matches. Additionally, all of the girls are able to participate in Ladies matches if they so wish - indeed on any weekend you will find some of our U16 girls are currently representing GHC in any of our 6 Ladies teams.
- Our Under 16 Girls are entered into three leagues managed by the Home Counties Junior Hockey League:
- Tier 1 (previously known as Premier)
- Tier 2 (previously known as Regional or League)
- Tier 3 (previously known as Development)
- We also enter at least one team into the England Hockey Junior Championships, also known as the 'National Cup'. The girls have a chance to progress from local to regional to national level through these competitions.
- The three league teams play different opposition teams. In theory one league is stronger than the other but we check for each match and try to get the right level team for each opposition to make the best competitive games. The Cup competition team will be the best possible team we can select on the day in order to try to progress to regional play-offs and national finals.
- We aim to get games for those who are available (but might not achieve this every Sunday). Selection is based on a combination (on a given Sunday) of types of fixtures, strength of opposition teams, positions played and the availability of the entire squad on the day. We strive to make sure that each girl is playing in teams and matches that will develop, challenge and build confidence.
Communication
- GHC Website - Squad fixtures and results can be accessed through this webpage. There is a page for each league team (the Cup teams are in the Premier and League "C" lists). Please also check the website for other information about the club and latest news including match reports.
- Teamo - Please register in our new club management tool, Teamo. Details here.
- InTouch - this is our weekly newsletter pusblished on a Friday during the season. It takes only a minute to glance through what's happening at the club and has lots of other information that may be of interest. To see latest ediditons, please see the Home page (left hand side below the twitter feed). Please email if you are not receiving InTouch.
- Social Media - follow us and share your GHC news on twitter, facebook and instagram
Coaches and Management
James Bennett is a GHC Men's 1 Player and professional coach, leading the squad from week to week.
Ross Fergusson is also a GHC Men's 1 Player with years of experience coaching.
Other experienced assistant coaches will be supporting the squad with Dominique Pilling leading the parents communications and other squad management tasks.
