Favourite team-mate:
Whoever passes me the ball
About yourself:
Up until 1988, I had played football ever since I could run, I wasn't bad,
but I wasn't that good either. It's half the reason I started
playing hockey, the other half was because I saw how well Sean Kerly
played in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. After seeing his success, I was
determined to see how far I could get - considering that surely only
girls play hockey?!
After moving to Newmarket
in 1988, I was given the opportunity to play hockey for St. Felix Middle
school. In my opening match, I scored five goals in a 10-1 victory.
Noticing my prowess in front of goal, I set out to look for a 'proper'
hockey team to join to give me that chance of furthering my 'playing career'.
Newmarket Hockey Club presented themselves and duly took control of my
training regime. The influential parts of this were
annual tournaments in Holland, Surrey, Bognor Regis and Kings Lynn!
After a few very enjoyable seasons playing for the colts, I was offered
an unconditional place in the 1sts (they were a player short).
The 92-93
season was to be the start of my 'pro career'. On my first full-match
debut, I had a golden opportunity to put NHC 1-0 up against at that time
league leaders Royston. The keeper had been drawn out of his goal by
Bobby T, Bob then slipped the ball back to me with the goalie nowhere...
I stopped the ball and looked up to see an open goal... however, rather
than pushing it, I hit the ball with all my
might and then saw the goalie throw himself full-length
across the face of the goal to stop my shot. The ball was cleared and
the chance lost. Although Bob scored later on to put us up 1-0, we lost
to the eventual league winners 1-4. I didn't hit the back of the net that
season probably due to the nightmares from this Royston match! However,
this year did bring joy as I was to be given my first county honours for
Suffolk at under 18 and under 21 levels.
The
93-94 season brought more cheer but also an enormous scare. It was to
be the season with my first goal for the team (the first of two goals for me
that year) even though it was against weak opposition; we managed to stick
seven past them. However, a Christmas accident almost put me out of action
permanently... On my return, I scored my second goal of the season but it was
only a token as we lost that one 1-5 against Market Deeping. This was
also to be the first time I played against Nomads, the team who I would later
play for; they came third and just missed out on promotion that year.
Due to injury, I missed out on county appearances.
The
94-95 season was to be my last season at NHC and it was also to be the last
season for a few other members of the team, a rather fateful year for NHC -
the majority of the first team left to go on to other clubs. Despite
probably having the best NHC team for quite some time, we were terribly
unfortunate not to have done better this season, again finishing mid-table.
County appearances continued this year, but not for Suffolk, for Cambridgeshire
(I had been turned down by Suffolk). On my first match for Cambridgeshire,
I was to score my first and only goal for the county against Norfolk - we drew
2-2. Cambridgeshire came second to Essex and the latter continued on to play
in the national finals.
The
95-96 season was to be my most successful season, sadly not at NHC, but for
Cambridgeshire Nomads. It was a difficult season with few goals scored.
Nomads were languishing in the bottom three and there were only three games to go
until the end of the season. Nomads hadn't won in seven matches and Bury,
their next opponents, were bottom and so both teams needed to win. I
assisted the first and scored the 'nail in the coffin' third goal as Nomads
secured a 3-1 win. We went on to win the remaining two games 4-2 Norwich
City II (two goals) and then a shocking 3-0 victory at Harleston Magpies II,
finishing fourth in the league of ten (if we hadn't won all three matches we'd
have finished in the relegation zone it was that close). A total of four
league goals that year to add to my collection. County appearances continued
for Cambridgeshire U21, six more appearances including an appearance in the final
of the County Cup where we lost 0-2 to Cheshire at the national stadium in Milton
Keynes (see picture above). To add to my County U21 Runners-up medal, I was
also awarded with the Nomads' Young Player of the Year Cup.
The
96-97 season was to be my last season. After starring in the Nomads successful
HA cup run, I then went on to break my collarbone in a tournament a week before the
league began. On my return, I played a warm-up match for the second team and
broke it again! When I finally returned to the first team, they had lost the
majority of their matches, morale was down and they were in the relegation zone (again).
I played a part in the last six league matches and although I scored two goals, we
were unable to win and only managed to draw on two occasions of the six; no great
escape this year. While Nomads were looking at Div. 3, I was looking at
foreign soil and a possible Slovak league...
Slovakia have four hockey teams and despite playing each other on the odd occasion,
most of the players play in the Austrian league. However, I was fortunate
enough to play a few matches for KPH Raca; a tough tournament in Prague and the odd
match in Bratislava and in Austria. Unfortunately, due to the irregularity of
matches, I turned to football. In 1999, I was invited along with the Raca team
to play in the European Indoor Club Championships. Portugal, Romania, Wales,
Finland, Slovenia, hosts Hungary and Slovakia all provided their best club to compete
in the C division competition. I made one appearance and played for about 5
minutes ;-)
In 2003 I moved to Luxembourg and played for the team there (yes, only one
in the whole country). HC Luxembourg play their league matches in
the Belgium fourth national division, though sadly, my thirst for the sport was not
being quenched and having started on the bench for a few games I felt that my potential
was not being used to the full. Again, I went back to playing football and
had a super season in 04-05.
Moved
again, now in Ireland. I have joined a new team and play for Monkstown 4s.
I am enjoying it immensely and look forward to every time I can get on a
pitch; play vets on Wednesdays, train on Thursdays and matches are on
Saturdays.
What others think of you:
Anything else?:
