With the junior hockey season breaking for school holidays, our senior teams provided some very pleasing performances. A first win of the season for Rebels, and great wins for Men’s Strikers, Men’s Falcons and Women’s Falcons.
Division 1 Men
Newtown Falcons vs Torquay 3-2
Hockey is like music. The concepts and rules that make up music are very much like the rules that govern a hockey game. Umpires enforce these rules so that we as players can compose and perform a game of hockey that can be enjoyed by both those participating and those watching from the sidelines. When composing music you need pitch, rhythm, dynamics and timbre.
Our hockey game on Sunday had pitch (Pitch 1), had rhythm (a game plan based on possession of the ball), had dynamics (a mixture of conservative ball movement in defense and high risk passages in attack) and had timbre (a warm sort of sound, not based on individuals but on the team as a whole). There was Il Capitano (the violin) in defense, Molly Meldrum (the saxophone) in the forward line and The Car Man (the double bass) making solid tackles down back. There was the return of a favorite instrument in the Steady Arm (electric guitar) whose blond locks haven’t got any shorter and Chris O (the marimba) loved showing us his percussion backstick skills.
Without structure a group of instruments can lose their way, merely producing noise, but if organised the results can be pleasing to the ear and encourage dancing on wooden dance floors. For the most part we danced on a wooden dance floor keeping to our structure and controlling the game. As we became tired in the second half there was a drop off in our organisation and we did regress at times to a cacophony.
In the end it came down to Hats Off (the drum) to keep things simple and drag flick the winning goal from a short corner to shake Torquay’s resistance. May we hold our structure in the next game to produce something more reminiscent of a symphony (or a Coldplay concert at least).
Newtown Strikers vs Torquay Tornadoes 7-2
What a difference having a full side makes… The first half was pretty close with a number of goals being scored by both teams, three to Newtown and Torquay’s second just before half time which was a bit of a wake up call that we would have to lift our game in the second half.
The game plan moving forward was to focus on our short game and play the possession hockey which we’ve been working on this season. Putting this into practice, we were able to hold Torquay from scoring in the second half, while ourselves scoring three additional goals through some fantastic displays of fast, accurate passing and switching the play to get around the Torquay defense.
With the school holiday break this weekend, hopefully some of the niggling injuries that some of our players have been carrying will have a chance to heal and we can continue on our mission of getting into, and staying in the top four.
Division 1 Women
Newtown Falcons vs Bellarine 2-1
Newtown Strikers vs Saints 0-5
Division 2 Men
Newtown Spirit vs Torquay 3-4
Division 2 Women
Newtown Rebels vs Golden Plains 2-1
A team dinner the night before, a season first win the next day, possibly the formula for success! With 11 players Rebels started off strong. Sound mid field play from Jacinta, Kellie and Tracey gave Rebels the edge when in defence to bring up play to the forwards. Eichelle, Pam and Ros provided sound sweeps to keep Golden Plains out. Speedster Kate sealed our first goal in the first half.
Going into the second half, the forwards cranked up a gear with fast play down the right wing between Julie and Nicola. Peta was pivotal in sending the big hits up front with great running from Katelyn. A great team goal resulted from this constant pressure.
Well done girls. A great match and a great result.
