​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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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!
​
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  
​
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.

This year, the Ladies B welcomed a lot of new players to the team, hailing from all corners of the hockey-playing world. Having trained and played at different times and different styles, forming a cohesive team would be the biggest challenge to tackle right off the bat. That being said, enthusiasm, hard work and support has not been in short supply since the start and training attendance has been at an all-time high!
 
It was the fourth game of the season and after 3 hard-fought games which unluckily ended in losses, the Ladies B were looking to finally pull the big W against Aquila A. We played the first half strong and steady, managing to keep most of the possession of the ball. A solid defense led by our former captain Amélie kept our defending circle relatively spotless, while a strong midfield pushed the ball up and gave us several circle penetrations and goal opportunities. However, we just could not manage to convert them and the first half ended in a 0-0 tie.

We picked up the pace again in the second half, with centre-mid ‘Dr. Dre’ putting us on the scoreboard and giving us a new wave of confidence. Despite many failed attempts to penetrate our circle and convert goals by the opposition, they managed to squeeze a goal by our defense, tying the score and putting the pressure on. Not giving up, we persisted in attacking their circle, which gave our newest player Bonnie the opportunities to tip-in not one, but two of her first ever goals in her budding field hockey career, and putting us firmly in the lead. The team swarmed her in celebration and morale shot ‘through the roof’. To top it off, Emma, slammed in a final shot for good measure to seal our long-awaited and well-deserved victory.
 
Unsurprisingly, Bonnie was unanimously voted woman of the match by the team. Nonetheless, the victory is a testimony the hard work and undying spirit from all our players who have never given up or stopped smiling from the get-go!
 
Looking forward to a fun and fantastic season ahead ladies!
 
Tiffany Lo
Ladies B Captain

On a scorching hot Saturday afternoon, the Dutch women’s As took to the Happy Valley pitch for our first game of the season against Aquila As. With a number of new players to the club and only a few training sessions under our belt, we were prepared for some disorganisation on the field, a battle with the heat and a game of finding our feet. But we needn’t have worried! The team gelled quickly, communication was strong and the work we had done in training really paid off. 

We took control of the game very early, with the forwards and midfield making it incredibly difficult for the opposition to break through our press. We controlled possession and where they did break through, our defenders were well organised and strong in the tackle. Before long, our persistent attacking led to a short corner, which Liesbeth smashed straight into the goal taking us to 1-0 up. Play continued in our favour, with good passing and some excellent skills from many of the players. One attack led to Charlie receiving the ball on the inside of the D, she demonstrated her silky skills, skinning the keeper and pushing the ball to the back of the net. 2-0 up for half time! 

After a half time pep talk, plenty of water and an entire packet of energy tablets (never before happened!), we returned to the field to continue what we’d been doing. The second half was much the same as the first - we dominated possession and our press kept the opposition at bay. When they had any opportunity at attacking our defenders worked their magic and Lan saved the day in goal. Our persistent attacking meant we had lots and lots of chances on goal. A strong keeper on their team and a little trouble converting some of these chances kept us goalless for a lot of the second half. But patience eventually paid off… Maud, who dominated the right side of the field throughout the game, received the ball and used her pace and skills to dribble into the D. She looked like she was going to slap the ball, but quickly realised she had little space so she dodged a few more players and reverse hit the ball taking us to 3-0. 

The whistle blew for the end of the game just as Aquila had been granted a short corner. In true team spirit everyone used the last of their energy to quickly close the opposition down and clear the ball. The game was an excellent start to the season - all players worked hard, worked together and just about survived the heat. The victory and the dehydration certainly made that post match beer taste even better! ​

Charlotte Brearley
Ladies A Captain

Hong Kong Hockey Association have released their 2017 Field Hockey fixtures for the Women. These have been updated on our respective teams 'TeamSnap' accounts. 

If you haven't yet been added to TeamSnap then please send us an email Contact DHC. 

You can view the Women's Hockey Fixtures here: http://www.hockey.org.hk/WomenFixture.asp 

and the Men's Fixtures will go here: http://www.hockey.org.hk/MenFixture.asp 

Don't forget our first training sessions of the year are at Happy Valley Hockey Field 11 (e.g. Hockey Field 1) this Sunday and the following Tuesday. Again, let us know if you don't knwo about these and we can send you the details. 

If you don't know how to find our fields, check out our PitchFinder page!

The Senior season kicks off in just over a month. Have you started pre-season fitness as yet? 

Join us for our pre-season drinks on August 19th 2017 - contactus@dutchhockeyclub.hk for more information! 

We are now taking enrolments for our Mens and Womens teams. Are you always struggling to get enough game time? Wanting to have a more social season, but still participate at a high level? All four of our teams are willing and able to accept new players. 

English is our core language, so don't stress if you think we all speak dutch (I'm a Kiwi!!!). 

Send us a message and we will let you know when our first trials and games are! 

Let's create some competition against the larger clubs in 2017-2018, come and join the DHC! 

​

Last Tuesday the DHC (Dutch Hockey Club) Committee gathered for their 67th AGM at the Indian Recreation Club, thank you to everyone who attended, it is great to see the club grow!

For the full report, please email us.

Highlights AGM
This year has been an exciting year with many social highlights.  Against all expectations we managed to have four teams in the competition and attracted many good new players. We kicked the season off with the spectacular tram party through Hong Kong, joined the Octoberfest celebrations as a club, set up monthly drinks in Mokum and finished the season off with an unforgettable junk party! Special thanks to our sponsors Rabobank and Mokum and all the people who helped out with organizing this season.

We are very happy to have found many club members who volunteered to make this season even better! This year’s committee will exist out of: Michael Koppert  (Chairman), Alex de Haseth  (Treasurer), Ali Zeeshan – (Trainer / Coach / Kids club), Liesbeth van der Zee  (VP Ladies), Sarah Noonan  (Marketing), Kenneth Chau (Convenor), Thomas Kluijtmans  (VP men), Kelly-Ann McHugh (VP kids) and Dorus Reuwer (VP special events). The men's A team will be lead by Sjoerd Reiniers with support from Thomas Kluijtmans and Bas Fransen will be the captain for the B team. 

During the AGM it was agreed to increase the membership dues to HKD 2900,- per year for adults and HKD 1900,- for kids. Membership fees for half a season are 1500 for adults and $1000 for kids (correction from previous email). Students will receive a 50% discount. Membership will be waived if you help us to find a new sponsor, more information can be found below!

Important please read!
We are actively recruiting new players! Sarah has drafted an overview of organizations with contact details to approach. We also discussed the importance of our sponsors to ensuring we continue to be the longest standing club in Hong Kong

Upcoming events (more information will be shared in due time)
Start of the season BBQ | 19 August 2017

Training sessions | 29 August 2017, 5 & 12 September

Team formations | 8 September

First match of the season | 15 & 16 September

We are also trying to organize a couple of friendly matches with other clubs during the summer and more information will be shared by the team captains.

We are looking forward seeing you next season!
 
Kind regards,
 
The DHC Committee 2017-2018
 

This season the Ladies B had a tough but exciting season in the first division. Three years since the B team was set up, we made it to the first division. Every match we fought hard, especially during the matches against the Ladies A. After an eventful season, with our beloved captain Pien (Caroline Schikker) moving back to the Netherlands, exchange students coming and going, and welcoming several newcomers we ended the season with two amazing tournament: Easter 6s and the 5 a-side tournament. Together with players from the Ladies A we remained undefeated during the 5 a-side tournament and even managed to keep our goal spotless (thanks to Sarah Noonan)! This season was a hard one, but the team spirit remained!

Well done to the girls who made Top Scorers in 1st Division:

Florence & Pien

See you all again next year!

Amélie Li

During Easter weekend, the DHC Hockey Club pulled together a team of non-travelors to rock the HKFC Easter 6's. A weekend mostly about a few beers between games and socialising, the team did well considering how many in the club couldn't make day 2! A wonderful spit roast dinner put on by HKFC on the final prizegiving, the typical hockey boat races, and only one major injury, it was definitely a lot of fun. 

So if in 2018 you don't want to travel far for Easter, consider sticking around for the 6's.