Back on the pitch
When lockdown lifted last Friday, young hockey players were the first to get back on the pitch.
The new restrictions do not allow for competitions to be held, but kids who play in the West Gippsland Hockey Association were more than happy to train instead.
Upon finding out training could resume, WGHA president Andrew Mock organised an impromptu session for the kids at Drouin’s Bellbird Park.
“It’s Friday, it’s the end of another home-schooling week for just about all of them and they get to blow off a bit of steam and a few cobwebs.
“This lockdown I’ve found has been the hardest for all the kids I speak to, they’ve really struggled through this one so just to be out running around again is great,” Mock said.
U15s Gulls player Bobby Hanes said it was good to be back out despite missing their Friday night competition.
“We were going to be doing semifinals this week so we won’t be able to do that but we can still do training which is fun,” Bobby said.
The same goes for 13-year-old Regi Brown, who is on the same team as Bobby. They have both found it difficult to keep up their skills during lockdown.
“I’ve pretty much not touched my hockey stick for the past couple of weeks so it’s really nice to have a reason to come out here and play with all my friends and actually use skills that I should have been practising,” Regi said.
Regi has been playing hockey since she was four and said it would be nice to have another shot at a grand final.
“We’ve won a couple, but mostly we’ve come second, we’ve come second a lot,” Regi said.
But mostly, Regi was happy to be out again with friends.
Because of lockdowns, the winter season will be called off so the WGHA can move into their summer competition.
“They lost a full season last year, they lost half a season this year, and they just really want to play hockey and be with their friends so we’ll do whatever we can to make sure there’s hockey to be played,” Mock said.
Registration is now open for the summer season.