2019 CEO's Wrap Up

Dear Valued Members,

On behalf of Hockey ACT I would like to sincerely thank each and every member of our community for being one of the 3,650 people who made hockey their sport of choice for this season. It has been an amazing season consisting of 1,992 matches over the 5 fields. I never cease to be amazed by the camaraderie and inclusive nature of this wonderful sport here in the ACT. Given the quantity of matches and the close nature of the sport we have relatively few issues and that is a credit to our membership.

With such a large number of games comes an incredible number of umpiring commitments to make sure that the matches can go ahead each and every week. I would like to pay special tribute to the work of the Umpiring and Technical Committee for the 2019 season. They have been able to appoint umpires for SL1 Men’s and Women’s competitions for the first time as Hockey ACT continues to work towards appointed umpires for all matches. While we are still some distance from achieving that goal, the work they are doing is bringing us a step closer to making it a reality. Another first for the sport was appointing Tech Bench Officials for the CL1 and CL2 grades for the first time. On top of that they UTC have been involved in delivering our nation leading JOEY’s junior umpiring program. 76 junior umpires have been undertaking education and mentoring session as they begin to work towards becoming badged umpires. A huge thank you to the participants, mentors and educators for their enormous work in delivering this program. The aim is to improve the standard of umpiring across all grades in the ACT and this program is working hard to make it a reality.

Last but not least I would like to say a huge thank you to the countless number of volunteers working on their club committees and Hockey ACT committees to help ensure that clubs have teams and that competitions reflect the standards that the community expects. There are many countless hours put in but 100’s of volunteers each and every week to make this sport happen and to those people thank you and I hope you enjoy your summer break.

Just a reminder to all that Hockey ACT will again be conducting an end of season survey in the coming weeks. This survey has been critical in the planning of winter competitions and planning the future direction of the sport in Canberra. If you could please take some time to complete the surveys it would be very much appreciated. We don’t always make the correct decisions but the more feedback we can gather the closer we will get. Your opinion is exceptionally valuable and we would appreciate you taking the time.

However for those in the community that believe that too much hockey is never enough, just a reminder that indoor hockey, summer social hockey, masters and J-Ball nominations are all now open. If you are keen to get involved please don’t hesitate to contact the Hockey ACT Office and our staff will be more than willing to assist you scratch your hockey bug this summer. For those looking for a hockey free summer please enjoy your break and the 2020 season will be commencing in late March.

Again on behalf of Hockey ACT I would like to say a huge thank you for your contribution to hockey in the ACT in 2019. Each and every one of you make the game great and contribute to keeping this wonderful, inclusive, family friendly sport alive. We are very appreciative of your contribution.

Warm Regards,

Rob Sheekey