Page 39 - RADC Bulletin 2019

Hockey – AMS Lucas Cup 2019
WO2 Naomi Leon RADC
On 26 Jun 19, 10 RADC ladies took part in the AMS LUCAS Cup for the first time in RADC history. The majority of the team had not held a hockey stick since their school days but for LCpl Pun this was
her first time holding a stick and playing hockey.
In mid-April I sent the original trawl out
to the Regional Managers which resulted in only 5 volunteers, so I withdrew the team from the competition. However, Capt Cheryl Blackwood was very keen to play and asked me if she could resend the trawl out to get more players for an RADC team. With a bit more time and persuasion we managed to get enough players for a RADC team in the AMS Lucas Cup. The team members were:
Maj Ellen Millenship
Capt Lauren McKirdy
Capt Cheryl Blackwood
WO2 Naomi Leon
FS Janna Heathershaw
SSgt Zoe Beckett
Sgt Sharon Gotora
Sgt Kelly Purkiss
Sgt Lisa Thomas
LCpl Indra Pun
As this was the first time the RADC had
managed to get a team together for this sport it was clear that, without a doubt,
kit would be an issue. Our G4 SME, Sgt Gotora, was very proactive in resolving this issue by approaching her Unit whilst, at the same time, I approached Capt Leon, so he could obtain kit from his Unit which lucky for us supplied everything we needed. The kit then needed to be tried and tested before the actual event, and what better way could we achieve this than the arranged training session 2 days before the main event.
Whilst attendance for the training session was limited, reminding ourselves which side of the stick to hit the ball on, how to hit, dribble, pass and shoot in the 29-degree heat proved to be a great refresher session. Unfortunately, I over did it that day and came out injured!
Two days later after the training session, 10 RADC females met at the Men’s Hockey Club in Aldershot ready for the fun to begin. As we were only allowed a maximum of
8 players in total, Maj Millinship and Sgt Gotora were seconded to another team!
Fourteen AMS teams entered the competition which was then broken down into groups of 3 - 4. We were allocated to group 2 alongside 3AMR, DMRC(A), 16 Med and 4 AMR. Each game lasted 10 minutes on a full-size pitch with 6 players for each
match. Having had no formal training all together and little experience since school this is how our results panned out:
4 AMR vs RADC
16 Med Regt vs RADC
3 AMR vs RADC
DMRC(A) vs RADC
As all teams had to be positioned overall,
we had a play off match against DMG(N) which saw the final defeat for team RADC with a final score of 4 – 1 which put us into 14th place. A cracking goal was scored
by SSgt Beckett but unfortunately the one scored by Capt Blackwood was disallowed!
We may not have won any of the games, but some brilliant hockey was played by
all and we should be proud of what was achieved. Some even came away with minor injuries; Sgt Purkiss a swollen big toe, SSgt Beckett a bruised thumb and foot, and Capt Blackwood a sun tan.
It was great to have some supporters
join us for the day and thanks go to Col Johnston, Maj (Ret’d) Sharp, and WO2 Humphreys who enjoyed watching as much as we enjoyed playing, and to AMS Corps Colonel who umpired the majority of the RADC games.
2 – 0 1 – 0 3 – 0 2 – 0
RADC BULLETIN 2019 37