Youth Hockey
Support & parents
Uniforms & Gear | Coaches | Managers | Umpires | Health & Safety | Friends of Somerville | Venues & Cancellations
Uniforms & Gear
Team shirts are provided for Youth and are handed out by managers at the first practice or game and collected in at the last game of the season.
Players purchase their own shorts/skorts and socks, available from the Just Hockey shop, Enfield Street, Mt Eden. Players need to purchase their own stick, mouthguard and shinpads and play in trainers with good grip (mouthguards and shinpads are mandatory per AHA competition rules).
Mouth guards are available at Just Hockey, pharmacies or through dentists. Somerville arranges quality mouthguard fitting by a dentist at a very reasonable price early in the season, keep an eye on the club website for details.
Somerville branded apparel is also available at Just Hockey.
The Engine Room of a Team
Coaches
We do need more coaches. The Club benefits enormously from the input of parent coaches whilst at the same time it is rewarding for both parent and child as you both grow through your journey in the sport. Coaches are generally responsible for match-day and practice-day coaching. We support our coaches with access to training plans, and our coach network can help you with ideas, drills and technical coaching. It’s not sink or swim!
If you are interested in being a coach, or perhaps being an assistant or co-coach, please indicate this on the registration form.
Senior and Youth club players are offered financial assistance to off-set club fees in return for Junior Coaching assistance. Students completing Duke of Edinburgh can also receive credits towards their Duke of Edinburgh community service.
Managers
Managers are vital to the smooth functioning of a team. Throughout the season they distribute information (by email, text, facebook, and the club website), check the draw each week (including on a Friday night in case of late changes through the AHA app), help find subs if required, and report weekly match scores. Managers assist coaches during games (with substitutions, recording goals for and against and 1st aid when required). If you would like to be the Manager of your child’s team, please indicate this on the registration form. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Season briefing for Coaches & Managers
An annual briefing for Coaches and Managers will be held pre-season (potentially via video-conference). The Youth Club Captain will organise and advise time and venue. At this briefing you’ll be introduced to other managers and coaches (great contacts when needing player cover), learn more about aspects specific to Youth Hockey, the most critical aspects of your role each week, and get tips from “old hands”. Coaches and managers will also receive guidelines developed by Somerville to help teams run as smoothly and enjoyably as possible through the season.
Umpires
Umpires are provided for Youth games. These will be club umpires or Senior players. The Auckland Hockey JUMP (Junior Umpires Mentoring Programme) is a training programme to mentor Youth (secondary school age) umpires. The Somerville JUMP umpires learn by umpiring the Junior club games on Saturday mornings. Please note your interest on the registration form.
There is also the JUMPUP programme which provides growth opportunities for experienced JUMP umpires, including umpiring Youth Championship games (paid!). If you are interested please get in touch.
Health & Safety
The Club supports ACC Health and Safety policy, and in accordance with Auckland Hockey Association rules it is compulsory for players to wear mouth guard and shin pads when playing or practicing hockey.
We have also developed some material to support the safe playing of hockey, and first aid tips – see our website page.
Friends of Somerville
We are very interested to hear from parents who are prepared to help with odd jobs to assist the Youth hockey administration or the running of the club generally. Please indicate when registering if you are able to assist either in the Youth area of the club, or if you have specific business skills such as fundraising or sponsorship experience that would be able to assist the Club’s management committee.
Venues & Cancellations
Hockey games are rarely cancelled on artificial turf, most turfs are only flooded temporarily (minutes) so that play may just be delayed for a short time. Do not assume your match will be cancelled, always attend the venue where a decision will be made at match time by the umpires and team officials. Venue location and maps for playing hockey can be found on our turf locations page.
