​Dear DHC enthusiast,
Happy New Year! We hope you had a nice few days off with family and friends! We take this opportunity to take a moment to look back on what we achieved in 2018, and look forward to 2019!
The first half of the season flew by! Our numbers of members are still constantly growing and we are happy to welcome so many new players to the club! Both on the Ladies and Men’s side we even had players on the waitlist to play. We hope that for the second half of the season we can give everyone a spot to play games on the weekends. We are also always thankful to the students that join us, and share their (still young) energy with us, and even make some of the winning goals!
After great results of last season we had some teams moving up a Division. For the Men’s A it is a tough competition, we have had some hard-fought games and wins this season. Our Men’s B are leading with the most wins in the first half of the season, great job! Maybe not awarded by many wins yet, both Ladies teams are improving with each game, and I am sure that the wins will come in the second half of the season!
Our kids club has expanded over the first half of the season as well, and under the great guidance of Zeeshan and Kelly-Ann achieved their first tournament runner-up place & player of the tournament awards! It is amazing to see how quickly the kids pick up the game, and get more and more feeling for scoring goals, while also trying to find their favourite position on the field!
I am proud to see that the club is still the place for young and old to get together, enjoy the sport and also enjoy the many socials organized by our social duo! From Halloween, Sinterklaas and Christmas with the kids, to borrels and Tung Po dinners with the older. Where every time newbies to Hong Kong are welcomed as well.  Let’s keep this positive spirit for 2019!
We are looking forward to the many more games to come in the second half of the season, and of course the many chances we will get to get together for a drink on our socials.
On behalf of the whole DHC committee we wish you a healthy 2019 with many enjoyable hockey games, goals & third half winners!
 
Cheers,
 
Liesbeth van der Zee
Chairwoman DHC

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Happy new year to all of our DHC mini hockey stars, ladies and gentlemen. I wish you all the very best for the New Year 2019.
 
We had a successful season 2017-2018 which gave us great pleasure and determination for this season 2018-2019. 
 
This season DHC recruited a lot of new faces and in a very short amount of time and I am happy that we were able to balance our teams during the first half of the league. Both the Men A and Ladies A teams had a great challenge this season because of their last year promotions, and therefore we needed to change our game. We tried new tactics and had tough times in the beginning when we faced some of the top teams in the league early on in the season. But I can proudly say that our players have great adoption skills! They picked up the new tactics and skills very well. As we were going on the break, we finally started getting the results: in the last game our Men A won by 5-0 and Ladies A won by 2-1! Great effort of both teams!
 
Also important, our development teams, Men B and Ladies B, where we have some very new players, had great results. Especially our Men B was unbeaten for the last 6 games!  I am very delighted with their performance. Our ladies B also had their moments when they played very close games against the top rivals, however we are still working hard on improving, in this team that also has many beginners.
 
I am proud of the huge turnout we had for the summer trainings where we had more than 40 players at a time. Great news is that we have received back our training slot on Tuesdays, so that our players can make the training time again and keep the numbers high in 2019 as well. 
 
Our Mini hockey (“Stars”) stepped into a new age group U12 and we are looking forward to recruit U12 players to make this group bigger. In season 2018-2019 DHC mini hockey has 4 age groups, (U6, U8, U10, and U12), with lots of talented kids!  I am proud to mention our U8 player James got the best player Award in the tournament in November 2018.
 
In the end, I would like to thank all the Coaches, Trainers, Parents DHC officials and our visiting players who helped us during the first half of the season for playing, coaching, and helping out. Thanks once again and looking forward to see you all in New Year.
 
Good luck everyone for the 2019.
 
Best Regards.  
Zeeshan Ali
FIH High Performance Coach
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CONTINUED BELOW

2018 was a year with two sides for DHC’s A team. On the one hand they had an excellent streak (pre-summer) and crowned themselves as champions of the second league. Post summer (after promotion to the first league) they struggled to align themselves with the middle-ranked teams of the league. But above all it was another fun year with the club full of laughter, friendships, innocent flirts and farewells. 

DHC’s prettiest team gathered quite early to convey their best wishes to each other for the new year. They quickly realized that there was an overall surplus of about 28 kgs (of which 1/4th was accountable to Michael) compared to their last game in ‘18. So it was clear they had to put in a big effort to get the victory today. The line-up was solid, yet there weren’t many substitutes available today due to the absence of van Mil (started his dormancy), Captain Sjoerd (wear and tear), Dorus (bear hunt), Daan (God knows) and DHC A’ most sensual player (as per 2018’s survey held among the women section): José. 13 players in total had to do the job today. Including new members Daan, Alexander and Skip (welcome guys!). 

Rhino were the first to go on the attack and entered the opposition striking circle a few times. DHC struggled to keep up with Rhino’s fast passing game. Rhino’s untamable number 10 dribbled into DHC’s circle and found the net. He was the creator of much of the good play of Rhino today. However, after the first quarter of the match DHC kept the field smaller defensively and offensively and could finally keep up. The match was 20 minutes old when the Dutch finally did something back. Gijs collected a pass in the head of the attacking circle from Koene and shot the ball hard into the short corner of the goal. 1-1! A few chances followed for DHC, but shots by their attackers got blocked by Rhino’s goalkeeper. It was in the final minute of the first half when Rhino scored their second goal of the day, after immature play in the defensive of DHC. A tough talk followed during half time in which DHC agreed to be more aggressive in the switch overs. 

The first chance of the second half was for the Dutch after a nice solo from Berend which resulted in a short penalty corner. Merijn found the goal with a hard drag flick. 2-2! More chances followed for DHC and defensively they didn’t give anything away anymore. With 10 minutes left on the clock, DHC made their 3rd goal of the game. A sublime tip-in from Gijs after a strong pass from Koene at the side of the pitch. It was thanks to an absolute team effort that the result never looked in doubt during the second half. DHC didn’t give away any chance the second half!

With this good start of the season DHC is climbing the league table. No doubt that they will stay in the league if they keep on fighting the rest of this season like they did today. 

Our team is looking forward to Friday’s pub quiz about the DHC and it’s members. One will be surprised about the questions and answers concerned to van Mil’s troubled childhood, Dorus’ sexual uncle, Koene’s violent history and Kluijtman’s escapades in the deep jungles of South East Asia. 

Yours,
DHC A

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Interested in watching our Men's A and B teams run about this Hockey Season? Find our Fixtures & Umpire Duties on our Results Page. The Men's teams are really excited for taking on First and Fourth Division this year! Bring it on! 

All the best boys! 

March 25th. The 84th day in the year 2018, or for the Chinese readers under us: the 37th day in the year of the Dog. A quick look on Wikipedia teaches us that March 25th is historically quite an uneventful day, except in 1958 when on this date a processor of the European Union was established.  But after today, the 25th of March would be known for the day that DHC A (men section) became THE champion of the second hockey league in Hong Kong. The overcrowded trophy case of the Club and most of its individual A team members was about to increase.

A lot can be said about DHC’s A team. Some interesting facts you should know about them:
• The number 1 position in the league had been permanently captured since the second play round, however the league’s number 2 had been catching up closely since the winter break. DHC therefore needed to win their last match against KCC to become the champion!
• Thomas ‘Wanchai Warrior’ Kluijtmans had the doubtful honor of the least minutes played this season for the Club, shortly followed by Rene van Mill (also known as ‘The Ghost’ for obvious reasons). Two very rare species. If we combine their total number of minutes on the pitch this season, the outcome will show us the exact number of women Michael shared his bed with during University, which by the way, is also close to zero. 
• The Dutch National Anthem played shortly before commencement of the last game, and especially its reference to ‘German Blood’ (The Dutch sing in the first line they are of German Blood), had a dual significance because of the two German star players in the team. After half a year playing with them, we can confirm it is true what they say about the Germans: no sense of humor. But brilliant hockey players!!
• Sjoerd Reniers proudly worn the ‘captains belt’ around his arm this season. We have heard from his wife that he sleeps with this belt around his arm all year through! And yes, it is true that Sjoerd’s Linkedin page makes a reference of being our captain. It is to be hoped for the team that he continues. Great job, Sjoerd! 
• DHC A is the most productive team in their league this season, with a massive total number of goals scored. 75. Gareth made it to team topscorer by netting 15 of them. - Personal facts about my team members’ productivity other than on the pitch are available with me upon request. Some of them are very interesting -
• DHC A conceded one of the least number of goals this season in their league (27). Credits to DHC’s goalie Frank Li, who had an excellent (and perhaps boring) season. For those who are interested in collector’s items: Frankie’s unwashed toque shall be auctioned during the General Meeting in May. Stay tuned!  
• Apparently, the mailbox of the DHC has been flooded this year, mainly with questions related to the status of Berend. The DHC board regretted replying to all this fanmail that Berend actually has a girlfriend (of the non-inflatable sort). However, if you are female in the age category of 50-59, have blond hair and size 42 or above, you stand a little chance for a flirt (every Friday evening at Pastis might be your best shot!).  

Anyway, let’s get back to DHC A writing history. Many spectators found their way to Kowloon and were responsible for a fantastic atmosphere hanging over Kings Park’ stadium, where the game begun at 6 PM local time. DHC took the initiative immediately after the first whistle blow, and it didn’t take long before they started to create chances. Marius converted a rebound into a goal, after a shot of Gareth which got saved by KCC’s goalie in the fifth minute. DHC’s defense was resolute, though KCC got a huge chance not much later. A long ball from their sweeper reached KCC’s attacker which took a shot from the head of the D. Fortunately for the DHC, the shot just went wide.

DHC quickly wrestled their way back into the game. Julian passed the ball to Koene who dribbled into the D and shot the ball in the far corner (2-0). After about 20 minutes DHC scored their third goal of the day, which came off Tom’s stick after a nice combination with Marius. 

DHC continued their attacking game resulting in 2 penalty corners, but unfortunately, they failed to make use of both opportunities. 

After about half an hour Berend made the score 4-0, thanks to a superb solo via the side and on baseline. Thanks to his quick hand-eye coordination he managed to mislead the goalie and pushed it high into the net (4-0). If goals could be framed, then this one would surely have made it into Hong Kong Museum of Art’ spring collection.

Shortly before halftime, KCC managed to make a goal as well. After a personal mistake in DHC’s defense, KCC was awarded with a penalty corner which they converted with a bit of luck.

As the break arrived, Ali readied some stern words and suggested some new tactics. DHC began strongly in the second half. Thanks to the tireless running of the midfielders & attackers, Julian was able to pass the ball into deeper positions. Berend, Koene, Gareth, Tom, Marius and Daan were all unlucky with shots on goal which went narrowly wide or got saved. Also the 2 penaltycorners which DHC got awarded within the second half, were not converted. 

Defensively, DHC worked hard as a unit – marshalled by Sjoerd & Michael – denying the opponent space in attacking areas. KCC wasn’t able to create any chance in the second half.
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The 4-1 end result was certainly justified, and in fact could and should have been higher. 

I think it is appropriate to say thank you to our trainer Ali, all of the board members and obviously our very own captain. It is because of their efforts that we can play on a weekly basis.  

It was a pleasure playing with you all, DHC A. My conclusion of the past 7 months (and the preceding 8 seasons) is that we are a bunch of nutcases with a shared interest in chasing a small ball with a stick and drinking a beer afterwards. I am looking forward seeing you on the remaining activities. 

Until then.
Koene

PS: For all whom missed the epic championship battle: there is still a chance to see the DHC heroes of today shining on April 15th in their Cup game. Cards are personally being taken care of by the undersigned, while goals are personally guaranteed by all of our strikers (rumors has it that even Daan promised to score one goal, although that could have been the champagne talking – after all alcohol and overconfidence are close siblings).  

Dear DHC enthusiast,

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas. It’s that time of the year where we all wind down and spend some extra time with friends and family. It is also the time where we reflect on what we enjoyed most and make plans to make 2018 even more awesome than 2017!

Fortunately, DHC is in good shape due to all the effort from our members and volunteers. In this mid-year update some of these volunteers have provided their view on the first half of the season, which can be read on the following pages.

Personally, I look back at the first half of the season with pride. This season 18 new ladies and 10 new men joined DHC. Furthermore, the kids club has grown tremendously to 32 kids who enjoy learning the game every Saturday morning. With great numbers come great results. After great results last season, and building our ladies teams in the first division, the HKHA recognized the potential of our woman’s section and promoted our A team to the Premier Division. But it is not only the women who are doing great! The men’s A team has not lost a game this season and is well on track on becoming the number one of the league. The men’s B secured a couple of new talented international players, which led to good results.

Behind the scenes a couple of DHC online marketing gurus are constantly updating our social media presence to provide you with the latest updates and ensure that potential new players know that we are the most fun club to play for. We are active on Instagram, Facebook (where we reached 500 fans for the first time in the history of the club) and have an active blog on our website http://www.dutchhockeyclub.hk You don’t have to remember this link as due to the above and some excellent SEO writing, DHC is the first club who pops up in the search results when Googling Hockey Hong Kong.

Most importantly, I am happy to see that under the excellent guidance from Ali we now have a weekly training attendance of over 30 active players who all enjoy the game and sometimes a drink afterwards. There were many socials and I feel that the club spirit is peaking! Let’s bring this great positive vibe with us to 2018!

On behalf of the whole DHC committee we wish you a healthy 2018 with many enjoyable hockey games!
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Cheers,
Michael Koppert
Chairman DHC

​Check out our More Chaos Video here, and if you would like a copy of our newsletter in PDF, download below. 

Ho Ho Ho  
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Merry Christmas and happy new year to all of our DHC MINI HOCKEY STARS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. Wish you all the very best for the New Year 2018.
 
This year 2017 DHC grew tremendously which brought us some outstanding performances and results. Especially our DHC Ladies A team, who qualified for Premier Division through great effort and dedication. Our Men A are still unbeaten and are on top of the league till the end of the year, which is very impressive. Our men and ladies’ development squads did a great job in their games and their results are quite impressive too.
 
We had great number on trainings and matches, which is very positive sign for DHC especially our development team players attend all the trainings, keep the number high in next session of the league in 2018 and I am very hopeful that in coming days DHC will be one of the biggest Clubs in Hong Kong.
 
I am so happy with the efforts from all of our players which gave me a lot of motivation to work harder. Keep the moment in 2018 see you all in New Year.
 
Best Regards, 
 
Zeeshan Ali
Field Hockey Player- Coach 

Ladies A – written by Charlotte Brearley
The Ladies A's have got off to a flying start in the first half of the season, having played 9 matches and only losing 1. With a number of new players joining at the start of the season, the team quickly gelled and were a force to be reckoned with, both on and off the field!
 
With Ali’s excellent guidance, we have scored the (joint) highest number of goals of any team, had a rock hard defence and ran rings round the opposition. And off the field, we have barbecued, hot potted, had lots of pitch side ciders (the team’s preferred tipple), dressed up for beer fest and celebrated Christmas festivities. 
 
All members of the team have trained, played and socialised hard which has made for a brilliant first few months. We are very sad to say goodbye to the incredibly talented Maud, Emma and Charlie, who have all been a huge asset to team and will be sorely missed. Thank you girls!  
 
The wonderful team spirit, the dedication and silky skills have led to a mid season promotion to the dizzy heights of the premier league post Christmas. A well deserved outcome and a challenge we’re chomping at the bit for! 

Ladies B team – written by Tiffany Lo
The Ladies B Team was up against quite a challenge this year. Many players from the last season were unable to play again this season either because they moved away, has clashing work schedules, or even some to start a family or move up to the A team! On that note, we definitely benefited from the aggressive recruitment efforts of Liesbeth, Sarah and Kelly-Ann to name a few.
 
We welcomed a lot of new players from far and wide as well as some from other local clubs, but as a result, a lot of work needed to be done to form cohesion and structure within the team. To add to the challenge, we retained our position in the First Division in Women's Hockey and were up against a lot of really tough competitors, most of whom had been training and playing together for much longer.
 
Unfortunately, this has been reflected in our first half-season results, having won just 1 game out of a total 9 played. Regardless of the result, the team has been having fun with every game, with incredible highlights such as our newbie to hockey, Bonnie, scoring her first two lifetime field hockey goals in our win against Aquila A. Aside from that, training numbers have been strong, and with plenty of social events building up team spirit, I'm certain we can finish the next half-season strong. 
 
Also, a big congratulations to the Ladies A Team on completely smashing the First Division and being promoted to the Premier Division for the next half-season!

Men’s A team – written by Sjoerd Reniers
“Men Dutch A, re-grouped, re-motivated and going very strong in the 2nd division of the league” 
 
After our relegation last season from the 1st to the 2nd division there were some doubts how the team will cope with that, whether players would leave or not? 
 
However, at the start of the new season all of our core players showed up and together with some fresh players we immediately started to form our Dutch A team for this season. From the beginning the team showed motivation, dedication and fighting spirit. The number of players for both the training sessions and the matches were higher than they have ever been in last season! Which resulted in the following astonishing figures so far:
 
No 1 in our league standing! 
Out of 12 games, we won 10, drew 2 and did not lose a single match! 
 
This result naturally contributed further to our already high team spirit. After our Christmas break we unfortunately will miss some strong (students) players who returned to the Netherlands to finish their studies. Nevertheless, we are confident and more focused than ever to become CHAMPIONS this season! Go Dutch!!!
 
Men’s B team – written by Bas Fransen
Men Dutch B had a good first half of the season with 5 wins, 3 draws and 5 losses, clearly with an upward trend, also thanks to the outstanding coaching of Ali.
The team has been welcoming a number of great new players, such as The Young Four (Tom, Gavin, Angus and Eric). And new players keep joining the team.
Dutch B now represents 7 nationalities (!), has definitely the potential to do great in the second half of the season!

What a great start to the hockey year for our Junior Hockey section! We have been blessed to be back at Happy Valley on Saturday mornings, with Coach Ali, his assistants and weekly Senior section helpers all contributing to a growing hockey community. The kids love how Ali puts his drills together, and our U6 kids especially love the fun hockey games where they get to run around and chase their friends.
We welcomed back a number of our previous kids, one of which (Gigi) celebrated her birthday with a Dutch Hockey Cake and have grown to a squad of 32! We celebrated Halloween with a dress up themed Christmas morning, and so far this season we have had two hockey tournaments run by HKFC and HKHA where we entered U10 and two U8 teams in each. Each team improved significantly from the first tournament, some amazing goals scored and growth in each player.
We look forward to the remainder of the season, and are looking to run some summer coaching through Easter and beyond to keep those who are interested active during the summer season. We would also love to have an U12 and even U14 team next year, so if you know any kids who might be interested in joining the spirit of the Dutch.

Kelly-Ann McHugh

The DHC 2017/18 season got off to a great start in August with a sizzling BBQ at Shek-O beach to welcome in the new season. With a great turn out from our Men's, Ladies and Junior players and parents old and new the Club mixed and mingled enjoying (sort of) the scorching hot day and staying cool with some drinks and a swim before we got the coals burning and the steaks on! A fantastic effort from all who helped shop for food, cook and make sure drinks were topped up. Although there is not much recollection of what really happened towards the end of the night, sore heads the following morning definitely suggest it was an all round success.
 
With the teams now well acquainted and training underway we kicked off September with our first monthly Club social at our Sponsor's bar Mokum! This is where it pays to be early as the first few drinks are always on the Dutch! It was great to see the new players come out to get involved in some "third half" team bonding and once we'd drank the pot dry and had our fill of Bitterballen in Mokum, the keen (and still standing) headed on for some late night dancing and the always inevitable 2am kebab (how our ladies made it to the game the next day is still a mystery)!
 
After a busy October and a false start on the much anticipated annual Oktoberfest, we finally got a Club social in the calendar for early November with Lederhosen and Dirndl's donned and litre of beers in hand this is always one of the funniest nights of this season! Based on the blurred photographic evidence that came through, if you missed this event you definitely missed out, there was German bands with dancing and beer swigging and hilarious carnage to boot, even the journey home which practically took and hour and costs in excess of $300 didn't put a dampener on the night! 
 
With all our teams ending this half of the season on a high (especially for our Ladies A securing a place in the Prem Division from January) we made sure we celebrated properly with a good old fashion local Christmas Party at Tung Po Cooked Food Market. A great turn out from both the men's and ladies’ squads. The party carried on well into the night hitting our usual LKF side street bar for a boogie to the band and as always, 3am kebabs!

Sarah Noonan

We are always looking for new players! Please invite your hockey friends to our training sessions or one of our many social events. We have attached the following flyer to this newsletter. Feel free to share around in your network! Connect with us at our Membership page.

In just about perfect weather, our Dutch B Men put up a great game against Hong Kong Football Club Hockey G team.

The Dutch B Men fought hard with only 12 men against the 16 of the HKFC, Dutch B won 2-1 with two amazing goals of Ben Lammens.
 
Check out the continuing team spirit that is our Dutch B Men with pics of the game, including one of the 3rd half (!) ending for some at 3 AM!!!

What an awesome start to the season!

​Bas Fransen

The two mens teams had to forgo their Tuesday training (the Ladies had over 30 attendees!) for games at Lok Fu on the 17/10/2017. 

Men's A played a hard fought game with a 1-1 draw against Recreio A, whilst the Mens B team (4th Dvision) had an unfortunate loss against Aquila C 0-3. 

As always the Men's B team were great team sports and got a fantastic group photo with Aquila at the end of the game. 

Keep the spirit up! ​

The Dutch Men's B won a tough game against Elite C, with a great goal by Ewout Stumphius and a 1-0 victory! 

The Men's A team are lavishing being in the 2nd Division this year it seems, with a mighty win against Elite A in the heat of midday. The Mens A team was visited by longtime Hockey Legend Frank van Ginkel, who provided some great half time feedback. 

Did you catch the action on our Instagram story? @dhchkhockey 

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DUTCH DELIVER AGAINST CRICKET CLUB
(HONG KONG CRICKET CLUB 1 - 3 DUTCH MEN's A)

It was all too hot to handle for the Hong Kong Cricket Club; as the Dutch secured a winning start to the season. The match was played in +34 degree heat as the two teams did their best to create chances in an end-to-end game of hockey. 

As usual against the Cricket Club, the Dutch were expecting a tough game against a well-organised and fit team, and this is what they got. Both sides struggled to play their nicest hockey in a first half under the beating sun, but both sides creating a series of decent attacks. Big gaps opened in the Cricket Clubs defence as the Dutch took an early lead in the first 20 minutes; Van Mil getting the opening goal at short-distance. But the first half was to end equal as the Cricket Club were gifted a goal of their own, a touch of football from the Umpire’s feet allowing a break-away attack that led to a one-on-one goal. The first half ending 1-1, with both sides very sweaty and totally exhausted.

The tempo was raised immediately in the second half with both teams refreshed and perhaps that a slight percentage increase in performance could bring a positive result in this game - the heat was draining and demanded that extra boost of energy. Dutch took the lead within the opening 10 minutes as Van Mil opened his second scoring account for the season following a string of passes that started out-wide and finished just inside the circle. The Dutch defence and attack was being connected well by Jules, driving forward the attacks at every occasion. With just over 15 minutes left to guarantee a win from the game the Dutch kept their ability to keep creating chances. Following a string of pressure at in the Cricket Club's half, Berend added a  beautiful backhand shot in the high left corner of the goal. 

So the Dutch are off to a winning start! 
With a few players still to come back next weekend it is looking super positive for the season 

Gareth Welsh
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