Chichester coach helps England hockey vets to win

CHICHESTER hockey veteran Andy Barnes coached the England over-65 team to gold in the European championships.
By The Newsroom
Published 14th Sep 2015, 09:00 BST
England's over-65 hockey squadEngland's over-65 hockey squad
England's over-65 hockey squad

The grandmaster enjoyed a clean sweep of wins, beating Italy 9-0, Wales 6-0, Belgium 5-0, Germany 2-0 and Holland 1-0.

They survived 30C temperatures and raging storms and, playing full matches each day, they were great ambassadors for England.

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Next year they will travel to Australia for the world championships.

As it did this year, Chichester HC will host them for a final warm-up in April – hopefully that is again a lucky omen.

There wre other local players involved in other age groups at the Euros.

Peter Ross and John Longden played for over-70s, who took silver, while Kim Howarth was involved with the over-60s, who won gold.

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The ladies’ section of Chichester Priory Park HC held trials for the upcoming season and the numbers were astounding. There was a real mix from seasoned players to younger ones – 42 in total.

For Tina Keartland, the ladies’ section club captain, it was amazing to see the response as for the past couple of seasons Chi have struggled to maintain teams consistently each week. There are four teams plus the Cannons’ development squad.

They played three 25-minute slots rotating people to see how everyone played with each other. Now, the teams will be decided and as the new Sussex League starts in two weeks it’s all go.

There is a big season ahead and hopefully each side will push for promotion out of their respective leagues.

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All results and fixtures plus other information on Chichester Hockey Club can be found at www.fixtureslive.com/hockey and www.chichester-hockey.co.uk/

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Related topics:EnglandItalyBelgiumGermanyWales