Category Archives: Play With Us

The Victorian Govenment’s Community Sport and Recreation Awards for 2014 provided an inspiring look at the vast array of sporting and recreational activities available in many Victorian communities. The Awards program included the announcement of the Community Sporting Club of the Year.

We are thrilled and very honoured that Newtown City Hockey Club has been named Community Sporting Club of the Year.

The Community Sporting Club of the Year Award is valuable recognition of the programs which the Club offers, which encourage any interested person to try hockey, regardless of age, skill level or experience. The Club aims to share the enjoyment and social interaction which comes with a team sport played in a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere.

The Club is particularly proud of the Joeys and Saturday Social programs.

The Joeys program for children aged 3 to 5 provides a solid base from which to develop skills and game play with a strong focus on fun and small games, for children who will move on to play in more organised competitions in the next few years. The young players have strong support from mums and dads too, with many parents getting involved and helping teach these future stars.

In its second year, the Saturday Social program has grown in popularity with increasing numbers of players turning up for a game of hockey in a fun, relaxed, non-competitive environment where everyone is encouraged to have a go. It has successfully attracted the participation of people who would not normally have signed up for a competitive sport.

The program has allowed the senior people of the Newtown Hockey community to join in – parents and grandparents of players enjoying playing a fun sport with their children and grandchildren. Some of these players have not played hockey since university or high school days, so it’s great to see them getting out and active and having great fun. It’s also fantastic to see the parents who have never played hockey before, but who join in because their son or daughter has begun to play. A number of these players, having experienced the relaxed atmosphere of the Saturday Social games, and having discovered ‘I CAN do this’, have gone on to play in the regular winter hockey competitions.

And of course, the afternoon tea that is shared by participants after the game is an added attraction.

These programs, together with the Mixed Masters program for men and women aged over 35, which commenced in 2014, has seen an influx of new members to the Club, with 92 new members joining during the 2014 season. This has seen the Club maintain a position as the largest hockey club in regional Victoria.

Continued Success

The receipt of this award, Community Sporting Club of the Year, has added further excitement to what has been an extremely successful and pleasing year for the Newtown City Hockey Club.

The Club’s strong focus on junior development has paid off this season with 21 members of the Club participating in Regional (Western Wildcats) and Victorian Indoor and Outdoor hockey teams and 1 Tasmania team at Junior, Senior and Masters National championships over the past year. With 3 members named in the Hockey Victoria Junior Academy, 3 in the Victorian Futures Squad, and 1 as a shadow player for the Australian 16 & Under Schoolgirls team, the outlook for the next few years is very exciting.

Improvements in coaching and training programs saw the Club reap the benefits with a record 8 teams participating in the 2014 Hockey Geelong Grand Finals – with 1 team in every available division, and 2 teams in the Division 2 Women’s competition. Fantastic skill and team play saw the Club finish the season with 5 Premierships and 3 Runners Up, including a clean sweep of all the senior divisions’ titles – another record of which we can be very proud.

With the support of Leisure Networks and Hockey Victoria, Newtown City Hockey Club will continue to work on improving the administration of the Club and on growing the game of hockey.
Congratulations also to Club member, Courtney Pearson, who was shortlisted in the Community Umpire/Official category. Well done Courtney on your fantastic year!

 Grand Final Day Was Awesome!

August 31 saw 8 Newtown teams participating in all 7 divisions of the Hockey Geelong Grand Finals.

Under 13

Newtown Maroon vs Golden Plains 4-1

A beautiful day to begin a heady Grand Final day which saw Newtown City Hockey Club represented in each division and age group.  Newtown Maroon were ready to take on Golden Plains again, confident following their previous win against them in the Preliminary Final. All the team present and ready to go with Marcus reiterating lessons and game plans focused on throughout the 2014 Winter season.

 Much of the play was forced down the Newtown end throughout both halves, but maybe nerves or some over play contributed to failure to convert possession into goals early on. Success eventually came with sheer determination (not Newtown’s most polished game) and Maroon finished the first half ahead. More dogged determination in the second half with some flashes of potential by Golden Plains, effectively thwarted by Newtown Maroon. Finally, a lovely finish to the season with a well deserved Premiership to Maroon, winning 4-1.

 Well done everyone and HUGE thanks to Marcus for persistent coaching throughout the winter.

Under 15

 Newtown White vs Kardinia Maroon 3-6

What a glorious day for a Grand Final. We sat at the top of the ladder all season, but Kardinia came out hard and by half time they were leading us two nil. We managed to score 3 in the second half, with individuals to Jonah, Jimmy and Tom – whose shot on goal was sensational! Kardinia were relentless and scored another 4 goals in the second half. We may not have walked away as premiers on the day, yet all of our team members should be very proud of a hard fought effort and a wonderful season. 

A BIG thanks to Tom Mahon and Amber who played many games with us this season – well done to you both. We would like to wish Bronte a speedy recovery after sustaining an injury during warm up on Sunday. The team would like to acknowledge and thank Don who coached us for the majority of the season and also to Ross and Richard who stepped in for a number of games.

Thanks for an outstanding season team, it was an absolute pleasure working with a great bunch of young people and credit to all the families for your support and commitment.

Under 17

Newtown Maroon vs Kardinia 4-6

Newtown Maroon had the daunting task of playing Kardinia in the U17 Grand final at full strength. The Coaching team of Courtney and Gwyn were confident that we possessed the
skill, teamwork and ability to win this game. The game started with a few nerves showing, Sean, Amy, Baiden and Nick came under a lot of early pressure down back from The Mack and Ryan show. Ryan scored a field goal 5 minutes in. 1 nil down. 

We continued to push the ball forward, not quite to the game plan, having several forward charges that were cut off by the ever-smart Mack in Kardinia’s defence. Emma continued to do lots of work in the mid field. Some good link ups were happening with Kelly, Tianha and Gus but couldn’t quite penetrate the Dee. Mack and Ryan scored another goal apiece and at 3 nil down Kardinia looked comfortable. The last 10 minutes of the half saw a lot more positive forward movement from Us and some smart passing through Noah and Adam had Gus in the D and score. The half finishing 3-1 down.

At break Courtney and Gwyn reinforced the game plan needed to create more scoring opportunities and keep possession. Kardinia scored early in the half before we started using better structure with Pat and Jack using back passing through Emma then working up the lines to Chris, Adam and Luke, Sean went forward early in the Half and scored a great goal from near the base line. 4-2. Kardinia had another person score a shock goal, with Will thinking it would be a pass. 5-2 down. The last 10 minutes saw Newtown now applying lots of pressure up front. A short corner saw Gus weave close to goal and slot it past the Goalie. At 5-3 down it was great to see the Team still had belief it could win. Ryan scored a goal for Kardinia 7 minutes from time but it didn’t seem to phase our team. Gus created another goal and with 3 minutes to play scores were 6-4. In the dying minutes, Sean almost scored to show the crowd just how close this game really was. A great effort by the whole Team but sadly it wasn’t to be. 

Runners up for 2014.

 Division 1 Men

Newtown Falcons vs Torquay 7-0

Newtown Falcons defeated Torquay 7 nil in the Grand Final on Sunday afternoon in front of a large crowd at Stead Park to go back to back Division One premiers. A fitting result for another amazing year of local hockey at the highest level.

Goal scorers for the game were captain Luke P (2), James H (3), Will (1), and Josh (1). Congratulations to Will Crosbie for being awarded man of the match, his games in both the Semi and grand finals were outstanding displays of hockey.

Coach Peter Eastman said the second half of the match was the best he had seen the Falcons play all year. Every player executed the game plan to perfection in what became a dominant display of hockey by Newtown. The superior skill and athleticism of the young Falcons was just too much for Torquay.

A special mention goes out to Adrian and Matt who unfortunately were not available for the game. Their significant contributions to the team throughout the year made the premiership dream a reality.

Well done Falcons on another enjoyable and successful year of hockey.

 Division 2 Men

Newtown White vs Saints 2-1

A great Grand Final match by Newtown White, up against Saints after many close matches during the season and a draw in the Semi-Final.  Newtown began well with good teamwork and great running in the midfield forcing the ball into attack.  Great ball control skills and creation of space by Rodan to score the first goal for Newtown.  Excellent defence by Ash, David and Gordon and great teamwork in the forward line by Baden, Nik and Nic.

Congratulations to Rodan who was named Player of the Match.

Division 1 Women

Newtown Falcons vs Bellarine 10-9

 A very fast and even game for the first half with Bellarine scoring the first goal.  A few minutes into the second half Bellarine scored another goal. To the Newtown ladies’ credit they didn’t give up. They fought hard to score three goals to go one goal up, and with about ten minutes to go Bellarine evened the score and at full time the score was 3 all. We then played 15 minutes of extra time with no further score. We then went to penalty strokes  and after 5 each way there was still no result, so there were another five strokes for each team. Neither team could break the deadlock. The next step was sudden death penalty strokes.  Bellarine took the first shot on goal and Jessie made a brilliant save. Courtney decided this had to finish so with a very determined shot on goal, converted the goal and that was the result we fought for – A WIN. A win I don’t think we expected to have but one we wanted.  Both teams fought hard.

Congratulations to our players for never giving up and fighting to the end to earn a well deserved win.  A big thanks goes to Kellie Barnes for filling in and helping us to achieve the premiership. Thank you to all other players who filled in for all games throughout the season.

Division 2 Women

Newtown Gold vs Newtown Maroon 1-0

A fantastic way to finish the season for Newtown Gold.  A return to good form throughout the finals series gave us some confidence going into the Grand Final and thanks to another great team effort we were able to achieve a very narrow 1-0 win against the Maroons in what was a very tight, exciting (and very hot!) game.  It featured a terrific game winning goal from Kate in the early stages of the second half, some brilliant saves from Penny at the other end, sublime skills on the back-line (as always) and some great run off the half and through to the forward line.  Congratulations to all.

Newtown Maroon vs Newtown Gold 0-1

A young at heart side took to the field in the Battle of Falcons, Maroons vs Gold. Maroons took off strongly and broke through Gold’s defence, penetrating the circle and forcing a few corners. The second half saw Gold take an upper hand and score. Maroons fought back hard and were unlucky not to equalise. Maroons’ defence was solid. Leading the charge was Edna with great saves and calls, supported by the dynamic duo of Hilary and Andy. Jacinta, Bron and Pam constantly fed the ball up to the forwards who made great inroads into Gold territory. Well placed wingers, Deanne, Sarah, Kirsty and Katrina took up the challenge and were well directed by Hayley in the centre and Rachel and Nicola as inners.

Congratulations to Katey who deservedly won best Player for the Grand Final. From start to finish she was relentless in attack and defence. Well done on another great season, Maroons. We’re just like a vintage red, getting better each year.

Epic Grand Final wins

The Newtown City Hockey Club had an awesome day at the 2014 Hockey Geelong Grand Final on August 31, finishing the day with 5 Premierships and 3 Runners Up wins.  Grand Final wins and Premierships came in U13, Division 1 Women, Division 2 Women, Division 1 Men and Division 2 Men, with Runners Up placings in U15, U17 and Division 2 Women.

The Club’s emphasis on the development of junior players is proving its worth, with the Division 1 Men’s team, whose average age is 19.4, winning its second successive premiership.  Likewise the 2 Women’s Premiership teams contain a large number of players aged under 18.

The day began with a great win by Newtown Maroon in the Under 13 Grand Final, minor Premiers for the season, pitted against second placed Golden Plains.  Great effort by Newtown saw them win 4-1 to claim the Premiership.

Next up was the Under 15 Grand Final, with minor Premiers Newtown White taking on Kardinia Maroon.  Despite a great effort by Newtown players, Kardinia prevailed on the day, with a 3-6 scoreline, leaving Newtown with the Runners Up pennant.

The Under 17 Grand Final produced a great spectacle and an excellent display of skills.  Kardinia continued in the winning way they had shown for the whole season, but it was a great effort by Newtown to finish as Runners Up 4-6, a great improvement on the 2-10 loss to Kardinia in the semi-final.

The Division 2 Women’s Grand Final saw minor Premiers Newtown Maroon playing against clubmates Newtown Gold.  A very tight match saw Newtown Gold take the win, 1-0.  Great to have both Premiers and Runners Up pennants in the bag.

The Grand Final of the Division 1 Women’s Competition saw Newtown Falcons pull off an epic win.  Newtown were pitted against minor premiers Bellarine, in what was expected to be a tough match, with Newtown as the underdogs after a 0-5 loss to Bellarine in the semi-final two weeks earlier.

Bellarine scored early and looked set to continue on their winning way, but Newtown’s persistence saw them match the pressure and finish the match with a 3-3 score. The penalty stroke competition used as a Grand Final tiebreaker saw each team complete 10 penalty strokes without either team gaining the winning advantage. Sudden death penalty strokes was the next step, and when Newtown’s goalkeeper, Jessie saved the first Bellarine attempt, Newtown was in with a chance.  Courtney stepped up and completed her penalty stroke with such force that she put a hole in the goal net.  A very happy Newtown team was proud to accept the Premiership Trophy and the pennant – the first win in this competition for the Club since 1991.

D1 Women’s Grand Final Premiers

Very happy Grand Final goalkeeper, Coach and Captain

The Division 1 Men’s Grand Final saw 2013 combatants, Newtown Falcons and Torquay, facing off again.

 The young Newtown Falcons team, having finished as Minor Premiers, had great expectations of success, but could not have been sure of the final result.

Newtown dominated the game, finishing with a 7-0 victory to claim the Premiers trophy for the second successive year.

The last Grand Final match for the day was equally thrilling, with the Division 2 Men’s match featuring Newtown White and Saints – the season’s 1st and 2nd placed teams, with many close matches between them.  Newtown White had a good blend of youth and experience, and showed great effort and skill to finish the match at 2-1 up.  The fifth Premiers pennant for the day.