Sports & Recreation
HOCKEY
Hollandse Club hockey men’s second team wins SHF Division Two championship
Men’s B Hockey Team line-up Back row from left to right: Fred Martens (coach), Rik Zwinkels, David Liem (captain), Paul Rombeek, Job Leuning, Pieter van Houten, Michiel van Selm, Peter Annink, Rogier Smeets Front row from left to right: Sander Scheepens, Paul Kroonenburg, Olaf Bluemke, Olaf Kwakman, Jorgen Bierman (goalie), Thijs Bakker, Robert Sunderman, Egbert Abrahams, Barend van Ijsselstein Not in picture : Camiel Frijlink, Floris Messing, Guido Nieuwenhuyzen, Jan-Arie Bijloos, Jeroen de Koning, Ynse de Boer The 2012 hockey season was a very successful one for the Hollandse Club hockey men’s second team. Not only did they win the championship, they also did it even though this was the first time in the team’s history that they reached the top four in their league. During the first half of 2012, the team committed to improving their general fitness, hockey skills and playing together as a team. They did this with weekly trainings and practice matches. There was plenty of time, as the Division Two league did not start until the end of July 2012. The team also invited all the other teams in their league for practice matches to build up their game and team spirit. With only wins and draws in the practice matches, the team started with full confidence at their first league match against Khalsa. Unfortunately, they ended up losing by 2-3, as champions in the making would. From the second match onwards, they upped their game and beat NTU and Aetos by 3-0 and 4-0 respectively. Two weeks later, the team was ready to beat archrival SRC for the first time in the history of the team, and it was a sweet victory, which had them winning by 4-2 after trailing by 1-2. The best was yet to come, when the team played Police, whom they beat by 5-3 after they were down by 0-3 until the last 20 minutes. Improved fitness levels were paying dividends as the team players outpaced their younger opponents towards the end of the matches. In the games that followed, ORA were beaten by 3-0, the number 2 at that time, and Totally Mind was put aside with 4-1. Having reached the top of their league, it was imminent that complacency would set in and they lost by 1-3 to archrival C&C United. The team has never yet beaten this team in previous games, which will be one of the new goals for 2013. Fortunately, Hollandse Club was still leading the league after this loss. By winning the last 2 matches against the Women’s National Team (5-0) and SHF Rising Stars (3-0), the feat was accomplished. It would be the first time for the hockey men’s second team to lift an SHF cup. All in all it was a great hockey season for the team, not only for winning the championship, but especially the enjoyment for all the players to experience that anything can be achieved with great team spirit. The hockey men’s first team finished second in Division One and the two hockey ladies’ teams finished first and third respectively in Division One. The 2013 Hockey season The Division One league for men and ladies runs from February to June and the Division Two league from July to October. Hockey training is on Wednesdays from 8-9 pm (ladies) and 9-10 pm (men) at CCAB, 21 Evans Road. In October 2013, the hockey section is organizing the ZOAT (Zuid-Oost Azie Toernooi), inviting all the ‘Dutch’ teams in the Asian region to participate in a 2-day hockey tournament in Singapore. In previous years, the hockey section organized the 1-day Wooden Shoe tournament for the hockey community in Singapore. If you would like to participate in the leagues and/or trainings, please contact the respective convenors: Ladies section: Clara Nieuwenhuyzen, Eveline van Aller (dutchhockeyladies@hotmail.com) Men’s section: Egbert Abrahams (egbertabrahams@hotmail.com) Youth section: Caroline Abrahams (dutchyouthhockey@gmail.com) 34 The Hollandse Club WWw.hollandseclub.org.sg