August National Training
Thank you to all of you who responded to my email regarding attendance for August National Training.
This is the National Training schedule for August, based on this information.
Please note that changes have been made for Saturday 16th August as due to the reduced numbers of players attending,
I am amalgamating Session 1 and Session 2, which means that Sessions 3 and 4 will start earlier than usual.
On Sunday 17th I have included an additional session for those ladies who are eligible for the Under 19’s championships in France later this year, which include players born 1990 to 1994 inclusive. All these players have received a separate email.
Schoolboys, please note your start time has changed to 15:00, so you have an hour with the Ladies and then an hour with the Juniors.

Seniors European Championships
Great Results for the Seniors Team.

England 0 - 7 Portugal
England 2 - 2 Switzerland
England 0 - 0 Germany
England 0 - 5 Italy
England 7 - 1 Holland


England lose 1-0 to Switzerland in the 5th/6th place play off

Although we started the game very consistently on man to man restricted in the first 10 minutes the team was static in attack. The players were not moving without the ball. A time out was called so I could speak to the players and then team started to move off the ball and we scored 2 goals in 5 minutes.

It was an exciting game with England showing superiority where we had the control of the game and everyone played. Now we will play Switzerland for 5th/6th place which is a great achievement for this team.

Russell Lloyd comments after the game:
This is my first opportunity to play at the senior level and I really enjoyed my first experience. The team played very well and today we showed confidence throughout the game. Carlos put me in the position where I was able to have a chance to score and with the help of the team I managed to score a goal with 5 seconds to go. I am extremely happy with this. I am now looking forward to the game against Switzerland.

The team showed a lot of tiredness and this caused a lack of concentration in defence. Our man to man restricted did not happen in the first 10 minutes and Italy scored 3 goals due to a lot of space given to them in the front of the goal. On a time out we corrected this issue and the team started to defend better and then we had a few counter attacks.

In the 2nd half, the team was more consistent and everyone played enabling us to rest players for next game.

Michael Ableson comments after the game:
The team was very tired after 2 hard games against Switzerland and Germany. A lack of concentration showed in the 1st half. After the team talk in the changing room the second half was more positive against a very physical team. We are now looking forward to play Holland; although it will be a hard game we are confident that we can beat them.

A great tactical game played by England with superb man to man restricted and well supported by the goalkeeper.

We have created the best goal opportunities in the game from counter attack moves.
In the 1st half we decided to give the initiative to the German team and explore the counter attack as they had always found it hard to beat our defensive system.

In the 2nd half we tried to play a more attacking game with 2 players close to the goal and 2 players coming from the back. With this system, we created a lot of problems for the Germans.

Although the game finished as a goalless draw, it was an exciting game where England showed a big improvement from previous competitions regarding consistency and confidence playing against higher ranking teams.

Marc Waddingham comments after the game: It is a good base to start on not conceding goals. We had great confidence in our defence and this allows us to explore more opportunities in attack.
A great effort by all and the game’s clearest opportunities were ours. We are looking forward to playing Italy in the quarter-finals and defending the same way.

Another excellent performance on the man to man restricted defence with good counter attacks.
The players concentrated well and had control of the game for the entire 1st Half.
We deserved be ahead on this 1st Half performance.

We started the second half like we finished the 1st Half, very concentrated and had the Swiss team under control; so when we scored the first goal there was no surprise.
Then Switzerland started to pressure us full rink creating some difficulties and they dominated the game in the 2nd Half due to tiredness. It was during this period they scored 2 goals.
However we never gave up and after a time out we made a tactical change keeping 2 players in their end with one always in the area, this way we scored our second goal with just 1 minute to go.

This was a great result considering we played the runners up from the World and European Championships.

John Jones comments after the game: Everyone was very pleased with the result against the 2nd best team in the world.
The morale in the team gets stronger everyday and we are hoping to finish the championships very strongly and looking forward to our game tonight against Germany.

An excellent first 15 minutes of the game saw England play at the same level as Portugal.
We were very focused and consistent on our man to man restricted making Portugal run out of ideas. During this period we created 4 good opportunities as well as missing a direct free hit before Portugal scored their first goal with 4 minutes to go. In the last minute of the 1st half we conceded 2 more goals from defensive mistakes.

Portugal dominated the 2nd Half due to tiredness of our players which is normal considering most of our players train once a week whilst the Portuguese are professionals training 4 times a week.

Overall England had one of their best performances against one the top teams in the world, well done.

Ian Morrison comments after the game:
It was a really professional effort from everyone with good attitude. At no time during the game did the team put their heads down. The defence is a lot stronger and if it was not for fitness we could probably have held up longer.
We are now trying to play against teams like Portugal rather then sit back. Now we look forward to playing Switzerland and with the same attitude we can cause an upset.

June 2008 - Portugal
Read the report and see the results here

Development Plans
I have now issued updated Development Plans and these are accessible Here

Council Sports Development Officers
I have sent emails to most of the councils in the Southern Counties and I have met with:

Kent Council on 19th June, with Keith Allen and Aileen Barker, where we discussed ways for them to help us
and mainly they are prepared to write a plan on how to develop Roller Hockey in the area.

Southampton Council on 3rd July, where I met Lee Page, Development Officer. We had a very positive conversation regarding introducing Roller Hockey into schools and sports centres, using taster sessions.
Prior to starting this, I will need to send my CV and qualifications.

I am due to visit Test Valley Council on 8th July and Fareham Council on a date to be confirmed.

I have decided to try this way as letters have been sent to approximately 150 schools and I have not received any communication from them. Development Officers will give me the way in to Schools and Sports Centres.

You can read more about my plans here in my annual report.

Schools
My first session with Desborough School in Maidenhead took place on 15th May.
I am pleased to report that the enthusiasm was very high at the first session and I'm looking forward to the next session.

“All the pupils really enjoyed Carlos' coaching session.
He quickly established a good rapport with the students and gave them an excellent variety of activities to perform.
It was a superb introduction to roller hockey. We are all looking forward to the next session!”
Nick Bielby

Christmas Camp 2008
The Christmas Camp Is Now Full - Sorry!

Management
After three years of Managing the Schoolboys Debbie Pughe has decided to resign from this role
to concentrate on her club and regional duties.
I would like to thank Debbie for the fantastic job she has done for us and wish her every success for the future.

Following Debbie's resignation I would like to announce that Keith Allen will become the Schoolboys Manager
and Val Conroy will Manage the Juniors. Dave Fothergill will continue to manage all the Ladies national teams
as well as Ron Barker will manage the Seniors.