End of Season Newsletter 2018-2019

Welcome

Dear DHC members, supporters and fans, 
Time flies when you are having fun, and with that another hockey season has flown by. It seems like only a few weeks ago that we got together for the DHC kick-off tournament, where we conquered the August heat on an early Saturday morning to kick start the season! Now we are almost back to that same temperature, but enjoying it more on the yearly end-of-season junk!
 
We started the season with great enthusiasm and record-high turn-out training sessions in which Zeeshan skillfully managed more than 40 people! A very exciting start and loaded with energy, the teams all went on to play their leagues.
 
I am proud of how our teams stand in the competition: Ladies A completing their first full season in prem, Men A being able to manage the 1st division and even challenge the top teams, Ladies B keeping their heads up though playing a tough season, and Men B remaining the most social team, socializing with the opponent and fans after the games.
 
I am also proud of the little DHC Stars community that Kelly-Ann, the kids and parents have built. Rain does not matter for these young stars, all they want to do is play hockey! Especially during the tournaments the kids could display all that they have learned over the season. With a few summer sessions coming up, we hope we can take the enthusiasm on to next year!
 
We had some difficulties with the training times this season, but a big thanks to everyone making an effort to make it, even though dates and times were not the easiest. It is this enthusiasm for the sport and the club that makes the club so great to be a part of. It is exciting to see all the new members that have joined, and immediately have offered their help, whether it is coaching the kids, organizing a social or joining the committee for next year!
 
I hope that you enjoyed this season as much as we did, and that we will see you again on the pitch after the summer! It is with great confidence that I hand the club over to the new committee 2019-2020!

On behalf of the whole DHC committee,
Kind regards,
Liesbeth van der Zee
​

From the Coach

Dear DHC Members,

In season 2018-19 we faced many challenges in the beginning and it took us almost half of the season to get where we were looking for. Even though we had a tough start,  we also learned to fight back and to work as a unit and here I would like to congratulate the committee members and the trainers who helped me to get through.

Mini Hockey
This year we started a new group of U12 players witch is a great sign of club growth,.This year we had a large number of mini members, it was a great learning experience for our youngsters. I would like to thank Kelly Ann for putting so much efforts behind it so is our trainers, helpers and parents.  

Ladies and Men
I am doing this review together because I can proudly say that we had an amazing season , where not only we played amazing hockey but we held great successful social events. All 4 teams did their best in whatever capacity they were. We had success in all levels. It took some time but at the end we did very well, and I would like to thank you all for keeping faith and believe in me. It was a great success because of your support and dedication.
I would like to thank all of the players who were part of DHC in 2018-19 and will not be part of us in 2019-20. I wish you all the best for your upcoming life events, you were great sport and we DHC will miss you all.

I am very excited to see all of you in coming season bring your friends to our club as we will be looking for new recruits so looking forward to see you all in August 2019, enjoy your summer break, Cheers.
 
Zeeshan
​

Updates from the captains

Ladies A – written by Katherine Gatherer
The ladies A were promoted and started in the Premiership this season, taking on the likes of Valley A with multiple international players. But we had our own high level hockey players from Holland and a very creative coach to make the most of our talent.
 
We finished 7th out of 8 teams which isn’t bad considering we only just entered this division.
Throughout the whole season we had a strong willed, fighting team on the pitch but a supportive team-spirited bunch of ladies off the pitch which gave a really nice balance to this incredibly challenging season. A challenge that we definitely rose to, with the highlight being our convincing 3-0 win against longstanding premiership team KCC A.
 
We had 3 draws over the course of the season but our win came towards the end of the season when we really started to come together as a team and all our fight and hard work paid off. Our solid defense held off so many goals against our challenging opponents – Amelie with her super low tackles and calm head getting the ball out of the D, Bregje with her ability to stop shots on goal with an upright stick whilst jumping in the air, her giraffe like reach, and her foolproof deception slider. Then we have Inez and Jade who never give up, always battling for every ball, Inez spinning quickly on the spot to make that extra tackle and Jade batting every ball back up the field.
 
Our defensive midfield who do whatever they need to get that ball from the opposition, Pleuni and Suze just put in everything they’ve got, pure grit. If there’s not a good pass on they can travel the up the pitch, always looking for the best option to lay off the ball, whilst pirouette-ing away from any opposition defenders that close them down.
 
Charlotte with her silky skills in the middle and new-comer or returner Kelsey easily run rings around the opposition, and Lisa, Liesbeth, and Kelly-Ann giving them options and running constantly on the sides. Liesbeth with her incredible cross pitch hit always well placed and Kelly-Ann’s deep balls, often received well by our receptive forwards sprinting out to meet it: Emma, Marlot, and I.
 
Our attackers didn’t always get to touch the ball that often but Emma and Marlot made themselves a challenge to mark, timing their runs out wide to get away from their defenders and cutting in to the P spot or post to give an option when we got the ball into the attacking D.
 
I think you can see there is a common description for all the A team ladies, and that is determination, drive, and fight. Massive well done to everyone on the team for progressing so well in the premiership this year and keeping such a positive attitude despite the high level.
 
Kat Xx
 
 
Ladies B team – written by Tiffany Lo
This year marked our third season fighting our way in the First Division. We once again welcomed a lot of new-joiners to our team. Numbers and attendance were steady throughout most of the season. Through Ali's trainings, we built up our hockey skills and plays, and with consistently playing together as a team over the season, we built up team cohesion and our own rhythm together. We fought well in some tough matches, and managed to tie against some strong competitors like HKFC D. Despite some dominant performances and marked improvement, we were unfortunately unable to pull a win this season. In more sad news, we will also be seeing many of our team members leaving Hong Kong to pursue new adventures in other places. That being said, next season will be a new chapter, and based on our strong improvement evidenced through the season, it will be exciting to see what we are able to achieve going forward!  

 
Men’s A team – written by Gijs Aarts & Scipio Heijman
Dear Fans, Hockeyers and Friends,
 
The hockey season has come to an end and what a season it has been. After a long adventure team A has managed to make it to the 6th place in the 1st division!

After a tough start we worked hard to make a well-deserved come back. At the beginning of the second half we started all the way from the bottom of the league table. Luckily new players joined the team to help win a couple of matches. After a few exciting games with excellent saves, sharp shot penalty corners and jokes we were able to win and climb a couple of places. With all the coaching, help and exercises from Ali we managed to keep up the good spirits and finished the season with a good ending.
In the cup we unfortunately did not make it far. After a promising first half we lost the first match 6-2 from KCC. First we wanted to blame the heavy rain but then remembered we are Dutch.
I am already looking forward to next season. Besides the hockey DHC is a club where people come to have fun. The Tung Po Christmas dinner, after match drinks, horse races and other events have all been great and are a good way to meet new people. Before the season officially ends we are going to have fun one last time at the end of the season Junk boat party!
We want to thank all the fans for their support and cheers, we could not have done it without you! We really hope to see everyone again next season. Special thanks to all the players that are leaving the team and club after this season, we wish you all the best.
 
 
Men’s B team – written by Bas Fransen
Why we ended up number 4
If you look at the league results of the men 4th division, you can see Dutch B ended up, according to our friends at the HKHA, number 12 out of 16. This needs an explanation, especially with an amazing first half of the season, an amazing team and some say, an amazing captain.
The ones who ended up number 1 and number 2, clearly did not belong in the 4th division, all mostly ex premier league players. The only thing I can say is that we definitely won every 3rd half after playing those numbers 1 and 2.
Secondly, we got 7 penalty points for still totally unclear reasons. Without those penalty points, and without taking into account those teams that clearly did not belong in the league, we ended up number 4!
Jelmer ended up in the top 9 as top scorer, impressive indeed as previous season he was goalkeeper. He clearly knows how to read the opponent goalkeepers.
Good to see the spirit of the Dutch B; most will stay coming season and I am looking forward to that.

DHC Hockey Stars - Junior Section - Kelly-Ann McHugh

The DHC Junior section is ever growing, we are now circling 40 kids on average per half of the season. In 2018-2019 we established our first Under 12 team which often had kids from age 9-13. As such this was an incredible learning experience for the kids, often playing with kids significantly taller and experienced than our group. We also had a group have their first game in Under 10 division, and our budding Under 8 team managed to make it to the Knock-out finals in the first tournament of the year.  
 
The second half of the year had a significant number of tournaments in it where the kids all got to participate in various game formats. The Valley Tournament at the end of the year was one of our most attended with four teams (U6, U8, U10, and U12), the tenacious U6’s did so well having more games than any of the other age-groups! It really was a chance for our 4-6-year-olds to really get out there and chase the ball. Thanks to Valley for their amazing umpires who really made it a fun game as opposed to being all about the rules, thoroughly enjoyable! A select group of our squad joined the GCIS Hockey All Stars Friday tournament where they got mixed by age group (U10 and U12) with other schools/clubs to form teams based on various nationalities. It was a great opportunity for our more experienced kids to have an opportunity to show their skills across the Hockey community. One of those such players was Hikaru, who is unfortunately leaving us to go back home to Japan, safe travels and hope to see you again when you visit Hong Kong.  
 
Throughout the year we had a great turn out of helpers and coaches. We absolutely require the support of the Senior Club to ensure our Junior Section grows and hockey in Hong Kong thrives. This is critical to us getting senior pitch time as well. So thank you to those that got up early (Hangovers included) to coach our Kids. Special thanks to Gareth, Alex DH, Alex N, Tiff, Nonni, Sjoerd and Jasper who attended & assisted on multiple occasions.  
 
Lastly, the year would not be complete without a Social, so at the end of season we had a family BBQ at Shek-O beach on Kings Day where the parents and kids had a fun beach football match and we all relaxed after the year that has been. Special thanks to Suzanne who not only organised this BBQ but also ensured we all took our turns with supplying Oranges & Coffee throughout the training season!  
 
 
The Upcoming Junior Season 
As mentioned during the mid-year newsletter, if anyone has friends in the U14, U12 category we would love to have them join us, so we can develop a strong Youth Division team as well from 2020 season. In addition, we are looking to add in some mid-week sessions when we can at Kings Park to give our kids some additional training, fingers crossed we can get that through with LCSD. We are also looking for additional assistance both as Coaches and Co-ordinators. I am departing Hong Kong at the end of July so will have to pass the Junior Convener baton to the next enthusiastic individual! Please send me a message at kids@dutchhockeyclub.hk if you can help out!   

Socials - Doris Reuwer

This season has gone by so quick, and the experiences we have shared together are indescribable... But we will describe them anyway!
 
The new year was upon us at the start of this half and that meant for us to have a Dutch style borrel at restaurant 238! To spice things up Judith had demonstrated to be quite the showmaster in creating a fantastic pub quiz for the evening. While some questions were very well answered by the teams, the tricky parts were having to guess which eyes matched which celebrities. With our prime non-player Thomas being the only one who immediately recognised Dutch national female player Maartje Paumen. Maybe a little too quickly if you ask us... The red team eventually won and was awarded prizes of infinite value, crappy medals from the Hema. A big thank you to the people of 238 for letting us host at their restaurant and their delicious Dutch snacks. It is always a sign of a successful night when the owner must ask you kindly but firmly to leave at closing and the evening carried on from there for many...
 
Up next was the horse races, obligatory for Hong Kong! It has become a recurring event for good reason. It is a wonderful place to hang out with teammates and friends and it was truly great to see so many people bring other friends of theirs as well. The bigger the DHC community gets the better! The theme was St. Patrick’s Day and although yours truly wouldn’t even flush their toilet with Guinness some were brave enough to order a couple. Captain Reniers showed everyone how it was done and won big while the others were tearing up their tickets in anger. Thanks to our friends at Happy Wednesday we managed to keep it our most affordable evening of all and it will be a keeper.
Last but very definitely not least, our biggest event of the year! The much-anticipated end of season Junk! We will have 2 boats to set sail on June 2nd with good music, food and (probably) sunshine. This is the ultimate opportunity to share a wonderful day with our teammates and their friends and families. It has always shown to be the most successful event of the year and this time will be no exception. There are still some spots available at time of writing so check out teamsnap for details and join us!
 
Finally, a very big thank you to everyone who helped us organise the social side of the club this year, we are very grateful for your enthusiastic help and are looking forward to the next season.
 
Ultimately thank you to all our members for your participation this entire season, it was truly great to see so many of you bringing along friends’ partners and new potential members to make our DHC community thrive and be the fun club that it is. Thank You very much!
 
Judith and Dorus

Finance Update - Alex de Haseth

DHC has done extremely well this year retaining and attracting new talent. This has really helped the DHC not only to boost moral and team spirit but helped with a healthier financial status of the team for the long run.
While the income from membership fees have increased, the sponsorship has gone down and running costs have gone up. These costs were mainly anticipated as these were relating to the brand new member kits, gear, pitch and coach fees. Despite the hit that the DHC has taken this year the Club still has reserves and is able to withstand this minor bump in the road. There are approx. 2 seasons of costs as reserves built up. We expect that as we have invested significantly this year in kits and gear the costs of this will be little to none next year and thus we will come up to a financial position that we would prefer. Another cost that has shot up significantly is the coaching fees. As DHC has more members than ever we have upped our coach time and thus creating more costs for the Club. That said we are all here to play well and that requires proper coaching. The updated numbers have now been taken into consideration for next year’s budget.
As with previous years the biggest challenge last year (and upcoming years) is sponsorships. We expect Rabobank to continue to sponsor, and as grateful as we are, we really implore each and every one of our members to dig deep into their contact list and find alternative sponsors. I would like to thank Andre Mook, the father of Seppe Mook, who has done DHC a massive favour by doing a donation in kind. Andre has kindly arranged for DHC to have a swanky new branded umbrella that can be used for the years to come. Keep in mind that NO contribution is low enough. Contact DHC’s upcoming Treasurer and Chairperson if you have any leads and need their support.
We all are of the mind that DHC is a place for good fun and great hockey. We maintain the same membership fees as last year, which were HKD 3200 for a full season playing adult (HKD 1,700 for half season), HKD 1,900 for full season playing student (HKD 1,000 for half season) and kids will remain at HKD 2,000 for a full season (HKD 1,000 for half season), excluding summer hockey and certain tournaments.  
We will continue to play at Happy Valley making this a key selling point to future members.
We have put in significant resources this year to get new kits. While this has come at a higher cost, is has given a lot of people the pride to wear the Dutch orange. We hope that our members enjoy playing in their new kit!
As noted earlier the club has grown significantly over the past years. To build on this excitement the social committee has put in a lot of effort to organize various social events engaging all members. I want to thank the social committee (Judith and Dorus) for your work here. I hope that the new social team will continue this tradition to keep the DHC spirit alive and kicking!
The financial report 2018 / 2019 has been signed off by Liesbeth as Chairperson. Next year Alexander Nijdam will become the new Treasurer and I wish him all the best of luck (and patience!) If you wish to become more involved, I encourage you to let Tessa or Alexander know as they would welcome your help with open arms.
It’s been a pleasure being the Treasurer these past years and I am happy to pass the torch to the next generation of enthusiastic DHCers!

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