Archive for April, 2010

Pre season Minkey registration days have now all finished. Thank you for everyone who has registered. If you are still interested in your child attended Minkey in 2010 please let Nikki know via email  minkey@waverleyhc.org.au

**Note all players from Pennant D or Metro teams who do not know where and when they are playing to email andrewskillern@hotmail.com and he will reply ASAP.

Hola amigos de la bonita ciudad de Barcelona!!

For those that don’t know me, I’m Seb Mutimer from the Men’s State League 1 team and the new Sponsorship committee member within the club – I thought I would put up a post on the website

Since the end of the last season I have been in Europe: travelling, learning Spanish and playing hockey for around ten months – An amazing experience that I will never forget for the rest of my life.

My aim for the trip was to live in another country, become part of the culture, learn its language and discover a new brand of hockey to improve my game for Australia. In between all of this I have travelled extensively throughout Europe for 10 months including: Germany, Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, England, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Morocco, Portugal and Spain (where I live in Barcelona).

I have been asked a million times which is my favorite country, an impossible task to pick – If I had to choose though, it would be a dead heat between Portugal and Spain, purely based on the experiences, people and culture that these places hold.

During my time over here I have met some amazing people that will be lifelong friends as well as experiences I will never forget. The incredible music festival in Amsterdam on my birthday, La Carnaval in Sitges Spain, skiing the Dolomites of Italy, Las Fallas Festival in Valencia, Las Semanas in Sevilla, Oktoberfest in Munich Germany, Paris whilst it is snowing, New Years in Barcelona, watching the greatest soccer team of our time (Barcelona FC) playing in Camp Nou, the parties in Scandinavia, the mind-blowing culture shift of Morocco and the beautiful beaches of Portugal as well as skydiving over the Algarve coast – just to name a few!

On to the hockey!

The dream to play and live overseas was helped along by a good Spanish friend I met and played against a few years ago in Melbourne – Borja Campos who played for Doncaster SL1 and also plays for the National Barcelona team and is my roommate. He organized me to play for the Masculina Primera Barcelona Equipa, my registrations, licensing and accommodation – which made everything amazingly easy for me!

Before Christmas two of my best friends (from Amsterdam) and I were playing for the Segundo division, as we arrived 2 rounds into the season and due to licensing and international player rules we were not allowed to be promoted until after Christmas – during this time we bought the Segundo division to the top of the table.

We now play for the Primera Division in a tightly contested 12 team division where the next three rounds can decide between playoffs and relegation for 6 teams (two up two down relegation system). So the stakes are high at the moment and training as amped up a bit!

The Barcelona FC has been a great club for me and is well organized with 2-3 trainings a week, a physical trainer for an hour before training, two water base grounds (with one commencing resurfacing recently) as well as free access to the Barcelona physio (same one the soccer players use!) in Camp Nou. We also travel around Spain to play clubs in other cities, such as Valencia and Madrid. These trips are all expense paid over the weekend and are a fantastic experience.

I have around 3 weeks left in my trip and it’s going to be busy. A trip to Valencia to play Valencia HC, a flight to Nice to visit some Australian friends, watching the Champions league of Barcelona FC as well as the Handball for Barça, heading to Amsterdam for Queens Day with my Dutch mates and another skydive!

It has been something I will never forget and urge all younger players to consider it after their schooling or graduate programs as a gap year. If you want any info or have any questions im always around the club to have a chat and share my tips and experiences. I will be seeing you all around the club very soon!

FORÇA BARÇA!

Ciao ciao, bueno suerte equipos de Waverley!
Sebástian

Click on any picture for the full size, have toooooo many pictures to upload but here is a couple.

Do you know the whereabouts of your “Panther” key tag membership medallion?

If not, start searching as you will require this medallion in season 2010 to obtain possible club discounts and the chance to win spot prizes.

For those members who don’t have a medallion, when your 2010 fees are paid, which includes membership of $50 you will receive a medallion and 2010 tag.

For those who have a medallion, upon payment of your 2010 fees you will receive a 2010 tag.

So fill out a registration form – pay your membership fees and become a member of the BEST hockey club in Victoria.

Junior uniform orders are now ready to be collected. Uniforms cannot to be taken without payment in full.

There will be 2 Uniform collection nights at clubrooms on:

• Tuesday 13th April 5.30pm to 7pm
• Thursday 15th April 6.30pm to 8pm

Payments can be made by credit card/eftpos or cash.

The Bert Batch Cup is an annual trophy played for between the Waverley and Camberwell Hockey Clubs SL1 Men’s teams. The hosting of the match alternates between the clubs each year when it is the turn of the host and the match is fixtured at their venue. This year the trophy will be played for at Camberwell in round 1 on Saturday April 17 at 2.00pm. All members are encouraged to attend the game on that day and support our players as they strive to win the trophy again.

 The Bert Batch Cup was instigated as a mark of respect for Bert Batch, a teacher and trainer of many up and coming Waverley champions. The idea was formulated as Waverley members believed the efforts of Bert should not be forgotten as the club continues to prosper, as Waverley would not have risen to where it is today without the input and effort of Bert Batch. Bert took Waverley Men from a struggling A reserve team to an A grade/State League 1 Club. Camberwell Hockey Club was approached as it was through the 1980’s and early 1990’s when the Batch family were of prominence at Waverley that the Waverley and Camberwell Hockey Clubs dominated the scene. The history of this era is

SL1 Men’s Premiers

1981               Waverley

1982               Yarra Valley

1983               Waverley

1984               Camberwell

1985               Waverley

1986               Camberwell

1987               TEM

1988               Camberwell

1989               Waverley

1990               Camberwell

1991               Waverley

1992               Camberwell 

Although there are two winners above that have broken the sequence, there was only on instance when neither Camberwell nor Waverley was not in the final.

 Winners of the Bert Batch Cup

1996                 Camberwell

1997                 Camberwell

1998                 Camberwell

1999                 Waverley          

2000                Waverley

2001                 Camberwell

2002                 Waverley

2003                 Waverley

2004                 Waverley

2005                 Waverley

2006                 Waverley

2007                 Camberwell

2008                 Camberwell (Match drawn)

2009                 Waverley

2010                 ?

U15 Boys Practice Match vs Southern United
7:00pm Friday 9th April (6:30pm warmup) at Farm Rd Moorabbin

U17 Boys Practice Match vs Southern United
7:30pm Friday 9th April (6:45pm warmup) at Waverley HC

All players in the U15 and U17 squads are expected to attend.