Thank you to everyone who has contributed to a very successful start to the 2021 season.

Only The Colts and Rangers will be playing this weekend (9 July), it would be great to see as many players as possible supporting these teams. The Colts play at Marist Park at 4.30pm and the Rangers play at Nga Puna Wai at 6.30pm. All competitions will resume on Friday 30 July after the school holidays.

Best of luck to Charlie Morrison (Canterbury A), Luke Macleod (Canterbury A) and George Robbins (Canterbury B) who are playing in the Vantage Under 18 National Tournament in Hamilton next week.

The 1st XI are currently in Wellington playing in the annual exchange with St Patrick’s Silverstream. These exchanges provide valuable opportunities for growth of our players and for them to continue to play with pride in the St Bede’s colours. The 1st and 2nd XIs will be playing Marlborough Boys’ College in Term 3. These teams will be billeted by St Bede’s – the school will be requesting that all players, where possible, take at least one billet. Information regarding this will be coming early in Term 3.

The 1st XI are continuing to play well in a tight competition and are sitting 2nd equal on the points table, just one point behind Christchurch Boys’ High. They have continued to hold the Connectics Shield and have only two games until they can lock it away in the cabinet for another summer (the Shield is not played for during finals). There is a great atmosphere at Nga Puna Wai on a Friday evening, as all boys and girls 1st XI games are played – come on down and support St Bede’s and be impressed by the very high standard of hockey played. Matt Walcott, Ben Grimshaw and Emil Collins continue to give up an extraordinary amount of time and energy to coach this team.

The 2nd XI had a fantastic 1-1 result against Ashburton College last week. This young team is developing well and continuing to improve in a very tough competition. Thankyou to Jamie Watts for coaching this team.

The Rangers and Colts competitions have now been regraded and all points are back to zero before playing for finals positions.

The Rangers are in division 3A and had a close loss 3-2 to St Andrew’s last week. This team play with a lot of passion and it is great to see them enjoying their hockey and being well coached by Jill McArthur. These boys show us why it is so important to keep playing sport and be involved and are an important part of our Club.

The Colts are in division 3B and last week had a large win 8-2 against St Andrew’s. This Year 9 team is playing impressive hockey and is making the most of having the highly skilled George Baker as their coach.

Our old boys continue to impress NZ Hockey and we are very proud of Joe Morrison and George Baker for being selected in the NZ Under 21 men’s’ team – quite an achievement. Both Joe and George play for the Marist Premier Men’s Team – this hockey is quite something to watch, get down to Marist Park to watch them if you have a chance on a Saturday afternoon. David Brydon is also a St Bede’s old boy and is heading to the Tokyo Olympics with the Black Sticks.

Thank you to everyone who supported the recent fundraisers – the meat/fish raffle and the Fairlie Pies. The help of Philippa Grey, Caroline Morrison and Chrissy Bisphan is much appreciated. Please keep an eye on the Facebook Page for upcoming information about our annual Yellow Pages fundraiser – this is a unique fundraiser where all we need is manpower (and trailers) and is perfect for energetic teenage boys!!!

The 1st XI will be attending the National Secondary Schools Rankin Cup/India Shield August 30-Sept 4 in Albany. If you would like to support the team please look out for some fundraising opportunities coming soon – these will be on our Facebook Page. We are very grateful for the support of TEXCO for sponsoring this team once again.

A big thank you to Kerry Sullivan, our teacher in charge of hockey, all of our coaches, managers – Tracey O’Reilly, Rebecca Brinkhurst, John Mahon and Herman van Herel - and committee members for enabling St Bede’s Hockey Club to run so smoothly.

Please do not hesitate to make contact if you have any queries.

SBC Hockey