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Saba Continue Support for Irish Women’s Hockey Team

The Saba Restaurant Group has announced renewal of their official partnership with Hockey Ireland.

Award winning Saba Restaurants and Saba To Go have announced that they will continue their Official Partnership with the Irish Women’s Hockey Team.

Saba will continue to fuel the teams training sessions and games as they prepare for the Tokyo Olympics 2021. For the last two years, the Saba team has worked closely with the team nutritionist and management to provide meals and nutrition for the players. At this level every detail matters.

Saba’s owner Paul Cadden has said: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with Hockey Ireland at this exciting time. We have got to know this inspiring group really well and we are thrilled to be part of their journey fueling the Green Army towards the Tokyo Olympics 2021.”

Hockey Ireland’s CEO Jerome Pels has said: “It is fantastic to have the continued support of Saba Restaurants and Saba To Go as an Official Partner. The Saba team have worked with our team Nutritionist to ensure that the meals provided to the team are ideal for their training and recovery as they prepare for a very demanding summer of international hockey in 2021. With the European Championships and the Olympics to prepare for, we are delighted to continue this partnership knowing that high quality nutritious meals are being provided to help the team prepare.”

SoftCo, Park Developments & Saba Restaurants Host International Women’s Day Lunch To Celebrate The Irish Senior Women’s Hockey Team 6/3/2020. Pictured is Chloe Watkins, Katie Mullan and Deirdre Duke
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

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Interpro Competitions Cancelled

Following a meeting of the Inter-Pro working group with representatives from the Provinces, Competitions and High Performance on the 9th of February, Hockey Ireland has declared this year’s U16 & U18 inter-provincial competitions as cancelled due to the on-going restrictions related to COVID-19.

Hockey Ireland High Performance will continue to lead out on the junior age player development programmes at both National and Provincial level to ensure the provincial players remain on a development pathway – where possible scheduling challenge games between the provinces and subject to Government restrictions in late spring / early summer.

Hockey Ireland is in regular communication with Government authorities and international hockey bodies and is monitoring Government advice and restrictions on an ongoing basis.

The Inter-Provincial programmes will return in the 2021-22 season in a revised year-round competition format for the various junior age groups.

Hockey Ireland would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding during this time and appreciates the efforts many of the players who are training while at home.

Please keep safe. For further information on Covid-19: https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus/coronavirus.html

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

 

If you have any further queries, please email info@hockey.ie

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Safeguarding 2 Club Children’s Officer Course

Date: Monday 01/03/2021

Time: 6.30pm to 9.30pm

Venue: Zoom Online

Cost: €20

Recommendations from Sport Ireland are that every club involved with children and young people should appoint a Club Children’s Officer. This person should be child centred in focus and should have as their primary aim the establishment of a child centered ethos within the club. They are the link between the children and the adults in the club and also take responsibility for monitoring and reporting to the Club Management Committee on how club policy etc. impacts on children and their Sports Leaders.

The Club Children’s Officer should have the following functions:

  • To promote awareness of the Code of Ethics and Good Practice for Children’s Sport in Ireland within the club and particularly among the children and their parents/guardians. This could be achieved by the production of information leaflets, the establishment of children’s/age-group specific notice boards and by regular information meetings for the children and their parents/guardians.
  • To influence policy and practice within the club in order to prioritise children’s needs.
  • To provide an accessible resource to children through the creation of forums.

It is essential that those who wish to attend the Safeguarding 2 Club Children’s Officer (CCO) Training have attended the Safeguarding 1 Awareness/Child Protection Training workshop.

It is recommended to have at least one Club Children’s Officer per club or if there is a large number of both boys and girls in the club, to have two Club Children’s Officers – one male and one female.

Cost:The cost for this course is €20 per person.

How to book: Please email nationalchildrensofficer@hockey..

*A laptop/ipad/smart phone along with a good internet connection is required for this course. 

As demand for places is high, please make every effort to give enough notice of cancellation. Please note that there are no refunds if you fail to attend on the night. 

 

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Hockey Ireland Statement on EYHL and Schools Competitions

Hockey Ireland EYHL & Schools Competitions Update 5th Feb 2021

Following a meeting of the Board on the 3rd of February, Hockey Ireland has declared this year’s EY Hockey Leagues abandoned, due to the on-going restrictions related to COVID-19.

Hockey Ireland Chair Eric Brady stated: “unfortunately this has become an inevitable decision as COVID-19 continues to impact on all of our lives. We know that this is very disappointing for all clubs and players, but we simply no longer have the time to complete this year’s leagues.  However, we are continuing to look at other avenues that may provide players and clubs with competitive hockey at some stage, should this become possible.”

Hockey Ireland and the four provinces will work with clubs to look at alternative competition formats which may provide players with an opportunity to play hockey later in the year, subject to Government restrictions.

Hockey Ireland is in regular communication with Government authorities and international hockey bodies and is monitoring Government advice and restrictions on an ongoing basis.

CEO of Hockey Ireland Jerome Pels said: “We are committed to bringing hockey back to our clubs and players and will be creative and flexible to provide some form of alternative competition should we be cleared to do so by the relevant authorities. Hopefully, hockey activity can resume at some point this season and players may return to the pitch as soon as we exit higher level restrictions”.

The EY Hockey Leagues will return next season in September 2021 inclusive of all teams as for season 2020/21.

In addition to the abandonment of the EY Hockey Leagues for the 2020/21 season, the following schools’ competitions have also been cancelled for 2020/21:

·         Kate Russell
·         John Waring
·         June Smith

·         All-Ireland Schoolboys

Hockey Ireland would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding during this time and appreciates the efforts many of you are going to in order to continue training while at home.

Please keep safe. For further information on Covid-19: https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus/coronavirus.html

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

If you have any further queries, please email info@hockey.ie

 

Statement re EYHL and Schools Competitions Feb21

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RIP John McDonough

Hockey Ireland is very saddened to learn of the sudden passing yesterday of John McDonough. John served as a Board Director of Hockey Ireland until as recently as 2020, and was widely respected for his love and work for hockey in Ulster and across Ireland.

Described as “a stalwart of the local game with many friends in the Ulster Hockey family”, John was a member of the Queen’s University Men’s HC Irish Senior Cup winning team in 1972 and then played for the Belfast YMCA/Holywood 87 Men’s Club and afterwards coached at the Harlequins Ladies Club.

We send our sincere condolences to John’s wife Margaret, daughter Jenny (Harlequins Ladies HC), and son Andrew, together with the larger family circle, at this most difficult time.

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Hockey Ireland Online Autism in Sport Workshop

This New Online Autism in Sport workshop will provide participants with an understanding of autism focusing on the delivery of sport. The course content is designed to help participants to recognise and understand key areas of consideration and to look at practical strategies which will help to include people with autism in sport.

Who is this workshop for?

Sports leaders, coaches, volunteers, teachers, principals, special needs assistants (SNAs), parents or anyone who has an interest in making their sport accessible and inclusive for people with Autism.

Topics covered include:

Autism and The Autism Spectrum, Communication, Environments, Understanding Behaviours, The TREE Model and The Autism Passport.

Upcoming course details:

  • Next Upcoming Date: 18/01/2021
  • Time: 7.00-9.30 pm
  • Location: Online Via Zoom
  • Cost: €10pp

Please email inclusion@hockey.ie if you would like to book a place on this workshop

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Hockey Ireland COVID-19 Update December 30th

Hockey Ireland Coronavirus (COVID-19) UPDATE regarding Government Announcement on Changes to COVID-19 Restrictions.

30th December 2020

The following changes have been made to the Hockey Ireland Covid-19 guidelines given the latest announcement on Covid-19 restrictions made by the Irish (ROI) Government.

Under Level 5, individual training only is permitted, within a 5km radius of an individual’s home. No matches or group training sessions are to take place.

The exemptions to this are Elite sports*.

Elite sports are permitted to continue behind closed doors. For Hockey this has been defined as the National Senior Men’s and Women’s Programmes. They are permitted to train and play behind closed doors.

*Please note: This category has been defined by the ‘Return to Sport Expert Group’ which has been established by the ROI government to provide guidance to Ireland’s sporting bodies to prepare for the phased return to sporting activity.

Competition/matches may not be played at any level.

December 30th 2020 Covid Update

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Hockey Ireland Receive Further Funding from COVID-19 Supplementary Funding for Sport

The newly elected Board of Hockey Ireland had its first meeting on Wednesday 16 December by conference call.  We have all been affected by COVID-19, in these difficult and uncertain times, the Board as part of our ongoing work with Sport Ireland are delighted to announce that Sport Ireland has approved the allocation of €400,000 in response to our application under the Covid-19 Supplementary Scheme in the Republic of Ireland.

Further guidance will be given to Clubs and Branches regarding their applications in January 2021. We would like to thank the Government and Sport Ireland for this additional round of funding, which is crucial to the sustainability of the hockey community during the difficult circumstances caused by the Covid-19 restrictions.

For the Ulster Clubs, Sport NI and the Department for Communities has launched a £25 million Sports Sustainability fund and applications by hockey clubs can be made via Ulster Hockey.

Hockey Ireland is fully focused on the return to hockey; with recent announcements in relation to vaccines there is great hope as we move in to 2021. The Hockey Ireland Board has approved the outline of a submission to the Government that will be aimed at increasing hockey activity as a virtually non-contact sport and allowing for competition when it would be safe to do so.  We are seeking priority for school aged players and hopefully we will be allowed return to competition in the early stages of 2021.

The Board would like to thank the clubs, branches and volunteers running our sport under the Covid-19 protocols, who have been successful in the safe and compliant running of training sessions and games. This will help to support our argument that we can run our sport safely.

It has been a difficult year and no doubt there will be more challenges ahead. However, we are looking forward to the opportunities ahead with great optimism and excitement.  In particular, the prospect of seeing the Irish Women’s hockey team playing their games in Tokyo next summer. On behalf of Hockey Ireland, we would like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

 

The Sport Ireland Press Release can be found HERE: https://www.sportireland.ie/news/eu58-million-in-covid-19-supplementary-funding-for-sport

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