Ball Hockey UK’s VP (Development) Rob Clayton was originally part of the GB Mens squad until personal circumstances meant he had to pull out of the tournament. Like most of the UK’s ball hockey fans he kept in touch with the action via the webstream of the games. Here’s his ‘View From Back Home’. ------------ I don’t know about you, but I find watching the GB teams a difficult, but compelling, experience. I’ve always been a nervy viewer of sports when I am supporting a team, but this is something different. Actually knowing so many of the players for me makes the enjoyment, but also the nerves, all the more intense. I felt like I hit every ball with the team. I was originally picked to make the trip, but had to drop out due to personal reasons, and again this just added to emotions when viewing the games at this year’s tournament. For a moment though, let’s forget the hockey and talk logistics. We aren’t talking about a trip to Eastern Europe here, we are talking about a £1.5k per player trip to North America. In the main players had to fund the trip with little or no sponsorship behind them. Every player deserves a pat on the back for this. There is someone else though who really goes through the ringer on all of this – Ali Cree. Not a great lover of sleep at the best of times, Ali worked tirelessly on this project, particularly in the final weeks of build up. On three occasions he drove to Nottingham from the North East to sort out the financial elements of the trip. STOP PRESS: GB Trip to Newfoundland Doesn’t Happen Without Ali Cree. Factual Facts! Onto the hockey. What made an amazing difference this time round for the viewer back home was the coverage on the live streaming. The action itself was great, but the way in which the commentators (big shout here to Kris Abbott) engaged with the fans back home made this a much more personal experience for the viewer. I think there has been, and will be, lots of articles and stories from the teams that will capture how they felt the games went. I know the men’s team wanted to do better than they actually did, and I wouldn’t expect anything else. For me though they were in every game, which I don’t feel has been the case in the previous two tournaments. I feel they had the better of the play in at least two of the games they lost. Having more players would have helped, but the lads did us proud. The ladies team looked better organised this time around. They took some heavy defeats against the world’s best teams, but nonetheless stuck around to get a well deserved win. Personal highlights for me? The men’s win against Hong Kong, when actually they could no longer qualify for a medal game, was great stuff. Some of the players who played less during the tournament got more time and did us proud. Liam Jacques also had his first start and looked the part. The whole performance made me proud of the team. The highlight for the ladies team? I guess this is an easy one really, the OT win against Greece capped off a campaign that they should view as a great experience. This tournament took the ladies team on a further step from Bratislava 2011, and I feel it will stand us in good stead next time round. So, what next? As the majority of the two squads take a big deep breath and soak up the experience of a lifetime, the hard work at ‘BHUK Towers’ goes on. We have an new member of the executive committee in the form of Susan Laing. Final touches are being put to the 2nd Junior Nationals on the 6th of July in Rotherham. Discussions on a tournament for University teams will ramp up. Plans for a autumn tournament for under 21′s, ladies and veterans continue. The announcement of the arrangements for the ‘Road to the Nationals 2014′ will happen soon. We hope that the London Crusaders will be going to the World Club Tournament later this year as our National Champions of 2012. Decisions will be made on the plans for GB representative teams at next year’s World Juniors and Masters (Veterans). Plans to launch a Johnny Tulip range of sportswear and a fragrance will be announced. OK, so one of those things isn’t true (as far as I know), but I think you’ll agree there are lots of things to keep us interested over the summer, while we aren’t watching the re-runs of our team’s excellent endeavours in Newfoundland of course.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 20:29:25 +0000
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