The O35s Interdistrict Ladies Tournament was held at Kilgraston last Saturday. Spirits were high despite rather dismal weather, however the Midland squad (comprising an Olympic Bronze medallist, a few current Scottish Masters players and 7 Kinross players) was unfortunately unable to retain the trophy. Lots of money raised for charity, and with any luck some new Midland strips!!
Well done to Bart and his Midlands teammates, who came home from the boys’ interdistricts with a gold medal. Bart, sharing the goalkeeping duties, only let one goal past him in the whole tournament, which is hugely impressive.
Izzy and the girls had a tougher time of it, coming away in fourth place.
The first Dads and lads session of the summer kicked off over the weekend, with a few more or less wary dads and other assorted beginners pitting themselves against some lads, most of whom were “lads”, which is to say they were either daughters, or adults who just needed an extra runaround.
Great fun, particularly with Gerrold showing us how hockey is played in the Netherlands. Apparently it’s very much like the way it’s played in the Kinross Gentlemen’s Second Team, although as the picture below shows, the Dutch have added hockey “chic”.
Roll on next Sunday. Drop us a line if you’d like to join in.
The traditional end of season bash took place at the clubhouse last Friday, with much swankiness and glamour on display, and that was just from the Gentlemen’s Second Team.
Dougie ended his term of office as president with a moving speech about his bladder issues, as well as covering all of the season’s major events and achievements, and handing out thanks and gratitude to all. Beth revealed herself as something of a raffle ninja, getting through dozens and dozens of prizes in an astonishingly short time, and despite the fact that the Ukrainian cognac kept reappearing on the table of prizes yet to be awarded. The non-alcoholic mulled wine, now long past its sell-by date, reappeared for the fourth year running.
Most importantly, this year’s gongs were handed out to worthy winners, and the awards ceremony was full of the usual gushing acceptance speeches and streams of running mascara (that was the Gentlemen’s Second Team again).
Winners this year were as follows:
| Mens | Ladies | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Most valuable player | |||
| Firsts | Grant Ogilvie | Amy Weatherup | |
| Seconds | James Fenna | Joanne Pearson | |
| Top gun | |||
| Firsts | Grant Ogilvie | Vicky Carver | |
| Seconds | Douglas Ogilvie | Wendy Symington | |
| Players' player | |||
| Firsts | Lachlan Scott | Alice Lamont | |
| Seconds | Andrew Montford | Shona Graham | |
| Most improved player | Joe Jennings | Fiona Rae | |
| Young player of the year | Ben Volland | Nikki Dall | |
| President's award | Susie McIntyre | ||
Here is a photo featuring some of the winners, and also a few people who just wanted their photos taken.
Special thanks to Vicky Carver for organising everything so beautifully.
Same time next year?
Congratulations to everyone who did the hockey leaders course at KAS a couple of weekends ago, in many cases dragging themselves away from their revision schedules in order to be there.
We are now looking in pretty good shape for coaching staff for the kobras.
We’re thrilled to announce that Soho Wealth have agreed to sponsor the men’s and Kobras section of the club for another three years.
Many thanks to Steven McColl for his continuing support (both on and off the pitch!)
For youngsters, one of the joys of playing for a small club is the chance to push on quite quickly, as creaking legs among the older contingent create opportunities.
So there was young William, expecting a season of gentle paced goalkeeping in Div 4, but instead getting pushed on to play in Div 1 with the firsts. And here he is savouring his first victory at that level.
It was freezing cold for the girls Dev Squad game against the ladies seconds last night. That was bad enough, but the ladies had put out a very strong team too. So all in all, it was a pretty tough evening for the girls, who came out on the wrong end of 4-1. Still, a good time was had, and lot was learned and, to compensate, there was pizza from La Cigne in the clubhouse afterwards.
The girls may have come second in the hockey, but they are undoubtedly champion pizza eaters (as no doubt all the best athletes are).
Great works were done at KAS this morning, with a small but hardy group of volunteers turning to learn the ropes of pitch maintenance. We ran the drag mat over the pitch and the leaf vacuum round the edges, treated the moss, swept debris from round the outside of the boards, inspected the nets and the banners, cleared gunge from under the gate grating and sprayed some weeds.
It was just over an hour’s work to do everything required, so hopefully not too onerous. We hope we will be able to make this a regular date in future so the pitch stays in top condition. Many thanks to all those who took part.
Duncan and Angus Nichol
Gerrold Kuijpers
Wendy Marshall
Kate Bayne
And three generations of the Jennings family!
The pics are courtesy of Joe, who caught Gurdi and I in “supervisory” mode.
It was top entertainment at KAS on Monday night, with the girls development squad (or Kinross Khaos, as they are to be known) taking on our social team, the Korinthians.
It was to be a story of youth versus experience. The girls obviously brought a lot of youth to the game, and it’s fair to say we were all a bit taken aback with how much running and harassing they were able to keep up. I’m not sure a Kinross team has collectively moved so fast for many years.
The Korinthians, under Lindsey’s tutelage, demonstrated their canniness by only putting on ten players for the first half, no doubt hoping to lull the wet-behind-the-ears teenagers into a false sense of security.
And a sense of security the girls certainly had, being 3-1 ahead at half time.
In the second half, the Korinthians played their trump card, putting on an eleventh player, and the result was a much tighter affair, with the girls only finding the net once.
Final score 4-1 to the girls. Thanks to apprentice umpires Gemma and Anna who kept things well under control.
Various members of the KHC coaching staff are looking slightly smug tonight, with the news that the player of the year nominations for the Scotland U16 boys and U16 girls both include former Kobras.
“Taught ‘em everything they know”, declare the aforementioned coaches (slightly implausibly)…
Congratulations to Amy Salmon and Alex Wilson.
