Following the excitement of last weekend’s Super Cup, the stage is perfectly set for the opening weekend of the Leinster season and specifically for our men’s firsts and seconds and the junior sections who all return to action.

The firsts produced some great hockey, winning the title that returned to the club after a four-year absence and they will hope to carry that form into the 2013/14 campaign. They start off with a tough derby encounter against Corinthian at 1pm on the front pitch with a slightly new look. Paul Fitzpatrick has joined the coaching team with Joe Brennan as they aim to push on from last year’s encouraging season. Irish international Jonny Bruton has also joined the squad and will bring his strength and conditioning expertise to the table.

The 2nds start their season in division two against Pembroke following promotion last term. The 3rds, 4ths and 5ths will contest the Johnson/Walker Cup with their league seasons starting in a fortnight’s time. The 3s and 5s were also promoted last year so this is the perfect opportunity to get in gear for the new season.

It all makes for exciting times at the club with plenty of social events on the horizon. The Cocktail Party is on October 19 while we have the Dream Auction on November 15. Come up and join the fun!
Stephen Findlater Mens Captain

Last weekends SuperCup was a great opening to what I have no doubt will be a memorable season!
This year myself and Stephen aim to bring hockey firmly back onto the priority list. With the new structure we couldnt be in a better place to do this. With the schedule jammed with top hockey and the bar jammed on Saturday night it was exactly the start we wanted!

Socially we have great plans, the 1st of which is the Great Gatsby themed cocktail party on the 19th of October, the all important Dream Auction fundraiser on the 15th of November and a pavilion lunch before Christmas. Each of these events is open to all, including junior parents. We want our club to be a second home to all our members families so that Three Rock becomes known for our warm welcomes as well as our top class facilities.

With all our senior coaches on board its not long now til the serious stuff kicks off! Everyone has been working hard during the summer and in pre-season to ensure every player gets the most out of their time here. Im delighted that 2 of our senior coaches will also be coaching the juniors as this will ensure continuity throughout our ranks.

Best of luck to every single player, from juniors to vets and enjoy every minute! We hope to see all the pavilion members and some full families up supporting and enjoying the facilities throughout the season. I look forward to making some new friends and catching up with old ones and hope you will all join me in doing the same!
Siobhan Madeley, Ladies Club Captain

Hi All,
Greetings to all for the start of the new hockey season. I am sure you are refreshed and ready for 2013-2014 after the Summer break, definitely one to remember as far as good weather is concerned. To those returning from last season and to any new members, I would like to extend a huge welcome.
The very best of luck to the players, coaches and managers this year. I wish you success in your matches. Enjoy both the hockey and the camaraderie afterwards. Here’s to a successful season for all the sections- Ladies, Men, Juniors and Vets.
I am looking forward to seeing (and hearing) pavilion members on the sidelines, supporting all the teams, having a chat and making the most of our great facilities for a sociable “gathering”, to use the phrase of the moment.
Thanks to the Council and Committee members and other volunteers for their continuing work to make TRR run smoothly. Let us all do our best to show our appreciation by supporting the club functions. The Great Gatsby theme of the annual Cocktail Party on 19th October should bring out all the glamour.
Welcome, once again, to the new hockey season.
Ailis Kennedy
TRR President.

This weekend sees the official start to the season for our mens firsts and seconds!

The 1sts will hope to build from their Supercup win last weekend with a home fixture v Corinthians at 1pm

The 2nds meanwhile have a tough start with an away game to Pembroke at 3.30pm.

All other teams in the club will also be busy as Selection Saturday takes place for both men and women. The ladies 1sts have a friendly v Loreto at 11am on the front pitch, while the 2s also take on Loreto at 1pm on the back. The 3s and 4s will play selcetion games between 3 and 5pm. The mens selection day for the 3s -5s will take place on the back pitch between 11 and 1.

The juniors also all return to action this weekend with the boys u16s from 6.30-8 on Friday, the 8s-12s between 9 and 10.30, and the 14s on Saturday between 5.30-7. The junior girls will play on Sunday between 10-12.30 on both pitches.

Please see below a note from Irish Hockey on the Coca Cola Thank You Fund:
Dear Hockey Enthusiast,

Could I please ask you to take the time to vote for Irish Hockey H3 programme – we have been shortlisted for the Coca Cola Thank You Fund.

You can only vote once and it only takes a few minutes. Please ask friends, family, colleagues to do the same. The funding from the Coca Cola fund is hugely important to getting this project off the ground and of massive benefit to the development of hockey and helping our RDO’s deliver on these ideas.

Irish Hockey have been shortlisted for the Coca-Cola Thank You fund and to get there we need your vote! This is for our Healthy Heart Hockey Project bringing a healthier lifestyle around the country please vote by clicking here and choosing the hockey project or for more about our project click here

Thank you in advance.
Katie.

http://origin.coca-cola.ie/community/thank-you-fund/thank-you-fund-voting-form.html?thanks

The committee are very excited to officially announce that this years fundraiser will be a Dream Auction that will be held on the 15th of November.

For those that are unaware, this year the committee has been set a task of fundraising €11000 within their budget. This money will be put directly into the fund for new hockey pitches. The front pitch will need replacing in May 2014, and the back pitch will need replacing only 2 years after this. It is crucial for us to replace these pitches with new, high quality surfaces to ensure that we maintain the top quality facilities that we are known for.

This event is being headed by John Findlater, with help from committee members.

Now is the time for every club member, parent, spouse and friend of someone in the club to help us buy into the clubs future. Take this chance to buy, sell and network while at the same time developing our club.

The concept involves offering a dream or an item for auction either on the night or before. The auction itself will be held in the clubhouse on the 15th of November when bidding will take place on all the dreams on offer. We need a list of over 150 items to run the event. Some sample dreams or ideas are listed below. Before the event we will be sending out a catalogue of what will be on offer.

Please start putting those thinking caps on for what you can bring to this important event! We will continue to update you over the next few weeks with more info. This event is open to club members, their friends and others so please do your best to spread the news far and wide about this!

You can place an ad in our auction catalogue to promote your business (€200 for a full page), and it will be prominently displayed on the night. Draft catalogues will be available at the cocktail party on October 19th.

Please contact John Findlater ASAP with any offers you have, any questions, or any ads you wish to place in the catalogue.

John.findyoulater@gmail.com, or 0868395734.

Sample ideas/dreams
Help/mentor business start up, office space
Tickets to a sports event, concert, theatre show
Holiday cottage for a week or weekend
Coaching session, fitness plan, physiotherapy sessions, umpiring, massage
Video a hockey match/take photos of events
Gardening or mowing grass, cutting wood, gardening advice
DIY, carpentry, plumbing
Cook dinner, floral arrangement, cooking lessons
Help make will, pension or financial advice
Prepare documents for planning permission
Web design
Transport services, limo trips, act as a taxi
Child minding or dog walking
Rounds of golf
Give grinds
Beauty treatments
Lessons
Wine
Food hampers
Career advice
Decorating/painting
DJ for a night
Shop or restaurant voucher

16 teams and 35 games over 3 days; the SuperCup has returned with a bang!

After a 4 year absence, the task of getting the tournament up and running seemed like a tough one, but with the help of many volunteers, the much loved preseason event ran excellently last weekend.

Siobhan Madeley and Joe Brenann did trojan work in getting the project off the ground, and ensuring it ran smoothly. They were helped greatly by Alastair Haughton, Barbara Snow, Shane Madeley and Stephen Findlater. Mandy Bools, John Findlater and Frazer Morris were on hand to keep the matches running on schedule, while Emer Keogh videoed over 13 games on Friday and Saturday. There were too many people carrying out umpiring duty from both our own mens teams and others to mention, but we are truly grateful to everyone that chipped in and played their part this weekend.

On the business side of things our ladies 1sts were narrowly defeated by Genesis in the first game of the tournament, with a controversial single goal being the only thing to separate them. A draw with Bray followed on Saturday before gaining an impressive 2-1 victory over PEmbroke 2nds. Our two young guns Sadie and Aoife shone by knocking in both goals, in their first performances for the senior side since moving up from u16 level. The semi final on Sunday morning proved to be too much as they lost 0-3 to the eventual winners Pembroke. Jody returns this week to carry on with Nathans excellent work as their pre-season continues for a number of weeks.

The mens 2nds had a tough task with Annadale, Corinthians and Monkstown in their group. They fell 2-0 to Corinthians on Friday night, and 3-1 to Annadale on Saturday morning before gaining an exceptionally impressive win over Monkstown in the evening! It wasnt enough to see them through to the semis unfortunately but for a young team ready to take on Division 2 this year, the tournament was an excellent platform from which they can hope to build on.

The mens 1sts meanwhile will be happy as they became overall winners of the tournament on the mens side. They ran out wins against Fingal and Belfast Harlequins before narrowly losing out to Pembroke 1-2 on Saturday night. They were drawn against Monkstown in the semi final which they won 1-0. They then played the final, their 5th game in 72 hours, against Pembroke which they won 4-2. Peter Blakeney was crowned Player of the Tournament, winning a hockey stick which was kindly sponsored by Ed Sports.

in the ladies div 1 competition, results were tight. Ulster Elks finished 4th in the group but won their semi against Hermes before winning the overall competition by beating Pembroke. Canadas most capped player Stephanie Jameson won player of the tournament, which was also kindly sponsored by Ed Sports.

Once again a big thanks to all who made the weekend happen. Below are some of the kind tweets we received:

‘Fantastic well run and respectful tournament – delighted to have been part of a great experience over the last 3 days’

‘Thank you everyone @TRRHC for a great weekend. I hope we are invited again next pre-season!’

‘Thank you to TRRHC for a great weekend!! Great hockey and fun by all involved!!’

‘Huge thanks to all the Rovers for the organisation, food and craic this weekend. Pass on our thanks to all those who umpired as well.’

‘Great weekend of hockey, thanks so much to everyone for having us @TRRHC, great start to the season!!’

This weekend sees the return of the Supercup and it is back with a bang! Sixteen teams will compete between Friday and Sunday with matches running all day in a jam packed schedule.

The organising committee of Siobhan Madeley, Stephen Findlater, Joe Brenann, Shane Madeley, Alastair Haughton and Barbara Snow have been working hard for a number of weeks to ensure the highest quality tournament possible.

They have attraction some excellent quality teams in each section of the competition.

On the mens side last seasons powerhouse of Monkstown will be on hand, and are pooled with TRR 2s, Corinthians and Annadale. The other pool sees Rovers 1sts take on last seasons table toppers Pembroke, along with Fingal and Belfast Harlequins.

The womens side sees a division 1 and 2 competition run separately. The consistently strong Loreto will take on fellow IHL competitors Hermes and Ulster Elks, along with Pembroke who have a number of new faces to their side.

The div 2 competition sees our own 1sts take on Pembrokes very strong 2nds, along with Bray and our frequent rivals Genesis.

Matches are 28mins a half, and must be finished within the hour.

A junior clinic will be run between 2.15 and 3.15 on the Saturday on the back pitch. Our mens and ladies 1sts will be on hand to coach our boys and girls u14s and u16s. All within these age groups are welcome. There will be burgers after the clinic and the chance to watch our top teams in action for the rest of the day.

Rahcel Sterling will be on hand to provide her usual delicious food and there will be entertainment on Saturday night. The bar will be open all weekend.

Even if you are not playing be sure to get up and watch a great festival of hockey. It’s a great test for our teams before the start of the season.

The schedule can be found attached at the end of this page

Committee notes from August

The club are hoping to set up a new account for subs to be lodged into. Details of this will be made available in the coming weeks. We are looking to into setting up online banking. Bar vouchers to go with this years subs are being ordered.

Juniors will return to action on the weekend of the 13th-15th of September. Letters will be sent to parents outlining our new family offer of 2 for 1 pavilion membership for them.

Garda vetting is still being processed. Some forms still need to be returned before they can all be sent to the IHA

Ed sports will open on the supercup weekend. This year he will stocking Reece tracksuits for all members. There will be a link to his website soon, he is in the process of completing this at the moment.

The dream auction has been set for November 15th. Our pitch is being replaced in May 2014 so we desperately need funds to go towards this. This event will be our main fundraiser with all proceeds going to the replacement of the front pitch in May 2014. Simon Walker will commence work on the programme while John Findlater is leading the team on the event itself. More details will follow, a big club effort will be needed!!

Stephen and Siobhan are looking for venues for this seasons club dinner which will be held closer to the end of the season this year

The supercup schedule has been finalised. There will be a clinic with our mens and ladies 1st XI for all our u14 and u16 children on the Saturday. This will take place on the back pitch between 2.15 and 3.15 and is open to all within these two age groups. There will be burgers after and all are welcome to then watch both teams in their remaining games that day. It’s a great chance to learn some skills from our top players.

Ladies season training times
As from Wednesday 11th September, until then training for all will be from 7.30pm.

3rds and 4ths 7.30-8.30 Mon
1sts and 2nds 7.30-9.30 Mon

1sts and 2nds 7.00-9.00 Wed
3rds and 4ths 8.30-10.00 Wed

We also have 7-7.30 so we can use this for corner training and GK training or extra training for important games!

The reason behind using only one pitch is to give our new club manager the possibility to get the back pitch rented and income in!

The front pitch must be replaced in May 2014, so there is a big push on to get income in for that and to ensure we have a sufficient sinking fund to then replace the back pitch.

South African Inter provincials
Well done to Stephen West and ex-Rover Pierre de Voux on winning the IPT in South Africa last week. Western Province contained a number of current and ex South African internationals including Pierre, Rhett Halkett and Andrew Cronje. They won the final on Saturday afternoon after already having to play 29mins of the semi that morning after torrential rain caused it to be abandoned the day before. Coming from 3-1 down they won 4-3 and clinched the final 1-0. Well done lads!

Mens 3rds-5ths Selection
On September 14, we are hosting the Johnson/Walker Cup with games for the men to act as an aide to get players back into the season and also aid selection for the new season. Times to be confirmed dependent on men’s 1/2s who start their league games that day.

Baby Boom
Congratulations to all our members who have recently welcomed some bundles of joy into the world over the past few weeks.
Congratulations to Ravi Surajwanshi and Emma on the birth of their daughter, Wendle and Juliette on the arrival of their baby boy and to Pete and Sue McConnell on the birth of their boy also.
We look forward to seeing all these baby Rovers in action in a few years time!

Sports volunteer development programme
Now in its 3rd year, this popular training programme is an initiative of the UCD Athletic Union Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Sports Partnership and UCD Centre for Sports Studies. The aim is to equip volunteers with the skills to effectively contribute to the management and development of their club. By providing quality training to participants it is hoped that the programme will create a culture of active leadership and will assist participants to become positive roles models within community and UCD sports clubs.

Programme participants must be over 18 years of age and currently be, or aspire to become, actively involved in an organisational or administrative capacity in a sports club within Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County or UCD club. Twenty places will be made available in 2013. Ten of these places will be reserved for those from sports clubs based in the County and ten for members of UCD sports clubs. The programme fee is €75.00, which covers all of the courses and workshops.

Programme Content:
o Sports First Aid
o Child Protection In Sport
o Sports Inclusion
o Volunteer Recruitment & Management
o Structures of Sport in Ireland
o Club Finances
o Sports Governance
o Sports Sponsorship
o Communication & Media
o Event Management

The programme will be delivered between September and November 2013 with all sessions taking place in UCD. Participants will be required to attend all ten workshops and seminars over three evenings and two Saturdays totalling 20 hours.

To download an Application Form or get more information on this programme just log on to www.dlrsportspartnership.ie or contact Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Sports Partnership at sportspartnership@dlrcoco.ie or tel. (01) 2719502. Completed forms must be returned by the 6th September 2013.

One thing many teams in the club struggle to get week in week out is umpires. On the ladies side we introduced a rota last year so that all ladies 1sts and 2nds must umpire a 3rds or 4ths game during the year. This will be repeated this season once again.

With this in mind and to help any umpires in the club that would like a few pointers, Ali Keogh will run a small clinic on Satuday September the 28th.

Ali recently received her FIH international badge so hopefully knows a thing or two to guide people in the right direction.

The clinic will be run in conjunction with the mens 1sts home game v UCD. The agenda will include:
– tools/positioning/usual tips
– clarification of rules
– observation of umpires in action.

It will commence at 12.15 and finish at roughly 3pm once the mens game is over. You will be watching a lot of the mens game as part of it.

The clinic is open to all members but only 30 places are available this time around. If interested please contact Ali directly on alisonfkeogh@gmail.com. It is suggested that all ladies 1/2s attend.

All of our little rovers will be returning to hockey on the weekend of the 13th – 15th September!

The u16 boys will be on the front pitch on Friday evenings 6.30-8pm

The junior boys u8-u12 will play on Saturdays 9-10.30

The u14 boys will line out on Saturday evenings 5.30- 7pm

And all junior girls will take to the pitch on Sunday mornings between 10am and 12.30pm. U8, u10 and u12 will play 10- 11 with u14s and u16s to 12.30

Details on the season fixtures will go out in a few weeks once all Leinster meetings are completed.

Teams for the supercup tournament have been announced!

In total 16 teams will take part in the tournament from the 6th to the 8th of September.

On the men’s side three rocks 1sts and 2nds will compete with Annandale, monkstown, Pembroke, Corinthians, and Belfast harlequins. The final team will be announced shortly. The teams will be split into two pools with the finals being played on Sunday.

The women’s competition will be split into a division 1 and a division 2 pool. The div 1 pool will see Pembroke, ulster elks, loreto and Hermes take on each other. Three rock will host genesis, bray and Pembrokes 2nds in the division 2 pool.

It promises to be a jammed packed and top quality tournament.

The schedule of matches will be announced shortly!

Three Rock Rovers will be well represented at this weeks inter provincial tournament (IPT) in South Africa.

Current players Jody Hosking and David Storey line out for North-West while Stephen West and previous forward Pierre de Voux are representing Western Province.

The tournament takes place between the 25th and 31st of August in Cape Town. The tournament will showcase current and previous South African internationals amongst the players and so is great practice before our current players arrive back for the start of this season. More details can be found here. http://www.sahockey.co.za/

Best of luck lads!