Welcome to the U8s 2023/24

Happy summer! I thought I’d let you know what we’ve got planned for this season for the U8 mixed hockey. Lots of information but hopefully it’ll explain our philosophy and answer many of the questions you may have.

The U8’s is Trojans youngest junior age group and caters for all U8’s from the age of four and up. The training sessions will cater for children who come along for the first time to those who have been playing for a few years and are progressing their hockey skills. Our fundamental aim is to help build confidence and ensure the children enjoy playing hockey. We will look to instil the hockey basics and teamwork in a fun and positive manner.

The U8’s training is 5:15 – 6:15 on Friday evening at Trojans. Please arrive promptly to allow us to make the most out of the session. Training will have plenty of water breaks and will be broken into lots of small training exercises to help with the children’s engagement and attention span. Our first training session will be Friday 8th September.

Trojans uses Teamo to manage all training, fixtures and communications. We will keep this up to date with training sessions and game fixtures.

U8’s hockey is about coming along and having fun, learn to do something new and making new friends. At this age it is good to introduce the idea of games and friendly competition, however this should not be at the detriment of having fun and wanting to come back each week to learn something new. We therefore arrange friendly games with neighbouring clubs throughout the season for those children who would like play games and enjoy the more competitive side of hockey. The games are played in multiple tournaments across the season, typically with games per tournament for each team we enter.

Games are open to all with no selection criteria, the more children who would like to play the more games we will play on the day. We typically play seven a side hockey on a quarter pitch. The games are normally arranged on a Sunday morning with the dates available on Teamo. Please confirm availability for the games on Teamo, this helps us to manage the number of games to play with the opposition. For some tournaments we are asked to enter only a couple of teams which means we may need to limit selection, we do this on a first come first serve basis rather than by age or ability.

It is important to have the right kit to play hockey for both safety and comfort of the children. We ask that all children wear a gum shield for every session along with shinpads and appropriate footwear for running around. The children should wear comfortable “sports” clothes for playing hockey. There are no requirements on shorts, skirts or trousers and they do not need to own or wear Trojans branded clothes. We also ask that you consider the weather each week and ensure they have appropriate warm layers, including gloves and rain jackets. On rare occasions we may postpone training if the temperature is too cold for the children, or the pitch starts to freeze and becomes dangerous.

We have spare hockey sticks available to borrow for the training session, for those who would like to borrow a stick please speak to the manager at the gate when you sign in. And finally, please remember to bring a water bottle along each week, we will be having plenty of water breaks.

Trojans’ success is built on the support of volunteers (nobody involved in U8’s hockey is paid at all) and we could always do with more, so if you’re able to help with managing or coaching please let us know. 

We do have a great coaching team with Dave, Helen, KC, Kirsten and Jon coaching. With Fiona Managing the U8’s for us. We may also be lucky enough to get some of the U14 and U16’s to come along and help coach.  

I’m looking forward to a fun and engaging year so on behalf of the coaches and managers welcome to the 2023/24 season.  

Rex – U8 Head Coach

Please see the dedicated Under 8's team page for all the news, calendar and other info: