Borders squad back together to polish skills at hockey camp

With COVID-19 guidelines available from sportscotland and Scottish Hockey, explaining how to ensure a safe return to playing, the club went all out to make it happen.

The excitement from the players and the coaches to get back to playing was evident from the first hour of the first session, with the U12s group, and continued throughout the four days with similar enthusiasm from the U14 and U17 groups.

Every age group was further divided into groups of 10 and led throughout the sessions by a very experienced team of coaches, who had all represented their country at Scottish or GB national level.

Coaches Sophie Aitchison, Tara Aitchison, Janet Jack and Charlie Jack called on their experience to provide a fun learning environment.

The Reivers’ last session before lockdown had occurred around 18 weeks earlier.

The various hour-long sessions each day allowed a 15-minute turnaround between groups, so there was no overlap, with regular disinfecting of hockey balls and equipment.

“Scottish Hockey and sportscotland were excellent in providing clear guidelines,” added the club.

The Reivers hope to get club training going again around mid-August but are still awaiting word on when leagues might resume.

The club was extremely grateful to Live Borders for allowing access to the pitch.

Particular thanks went to Mark Forsyth of Live Borders “for really pulling out the stops in helping the club prepare the Tweedbank facility to allow the camp could go ahead”.

Also praised were Ashley Prentice for her super organised administration, and Ben Hortin, for assisting in the preparation of the pitch and being on hand throughout.