Foyle Hockey sides still going strong 400 years on

I chose the early morning starts. I am a player for the Foyle Hockey Team, divided into the First XI, Second XI and Third XI.

Overall Foyle hockey is a great way to get out and about, with some Saturday morning away game trips ending up in Bangor and Fermanagh, in comparison to the more local Coleraine and Limavady.

Personally, I really enjoy the friendship and the fun that we have in hockey, as well as the more serious training element to prepare thoroughly for the weekly Saturday match.

The most important part of hockey for me is definitely that we all get along as a team so that the work that we all put into training shows on the pitch, but also that we all have fun playing hockey.

I know as a hockey player that we always need to improve whether it is from the attendance at training to the fitness of all players.

The fitness is sustained by weekly training with activities involving the standard hill sprints to the dreaded distance running.

Foyle Senior Hockey has been going for nearly as long as the school has which is almost 400 years and has had a number of successes in hockey.

The school has won the Ulster Cup twice, most recently in 2009 after beating Ballymena Academy 1-0, and also just missing out on two other occasions, reaching the final both times.

They won the Plate in 2006, and again in 2007 both with great wins.

Foyle hockey has been able to travel the world with trips to Barcelona in 2007 and with numerous trips to England these were all a major success with the players. After a few seasons where silverware was just taken out from under the noses of the teams-the new season was a new start to wipe the old memories away.

So far, the First XI are not doing as well as the coach expected, despite the lack of new players on the team, but regardless of the start they are now through to the quarter finals in the plate after a mesmerising win over Kilkeel. With a fine team performance on the pitch the first XI deservingly beat the opposition 4-1. They now play Victoria College Belfast away, and although admittedly it will be tough, the captain Alexandra Graham and vice-captain Hilary Leeson are quietly confident of their chances of a victory, and they both said ‘ we wish for more support for the team in the closing matches of the season, to finish seven wonderful years of Foyle hockey.’

In the seconds team we “have had a good season despite the number of new faces on the team” as put by the coach.

We all try to play the best that we can, and it was rewarded in the plate match, in which we managed an impressive 3-0 victory over Dungannon. “We were unlucky to be beaten by a strong Omagh squad in the next round,” added Mrs Eakin.

Although I have talked mainly about the team, it all wouldn’t be possible without the dedication of the coaches; Mrs Eakin, Mrs Wiley and Mrs Robinson who despite the weather and their personal lives always manage to be at training on Monday and Thursday, and giving sound advice on play. Mrs Eakin, the head hockey coach, has been teaching at the school for 21 years- a lot of which have been spent preparing the junior teams for senior hockey.

Speaking to the Londonderry Sentinel she said: “I have really developed as a coach, and in the last 21 years of teaching Foyle Hockey I have improved my coaching to level two.”

Mrs Wiley also has been a coach for a long time “I did my work experience here at Foyle and continued to coach for the hockey team in Raphoe but that was mainly as a player. Then a few years ago I came to Foyle full time to coach both junior and senior teams.”

Mrs Eakin also has praised Mrs Wiley in coming to Foyle “Mrs Wiley has improved immensely in teaching and coaching, especially now that she has become a full time coach, and she also brings a new dimension to the teaching at Foyle.”

Mrs Eakin hopes to “finish mid-table this year but I want to progress further with her team next year and wishes the same for the seconds.”

Foyle entertain Coleraine High School this Saturday, starting at 10am, at St Columb’s Park, some come along and support the girls.