Women’s Hockey Teams Show Promise

Southland Times, Issue 23816, 13 May 1939, Page 15

Women’s Hockey Teams Show Promise

By

SCOOP

The women’s hockey season in Invercargill opened full of promise and nothing has happened so far to suggest that the high hopes are unfounded. The game in Invercargill last year did not enjoy a particularly flourishing support from many who might have been expected to help it, but this season many new players have joined the various clubs and their activities should help to make the game more popular. The standard of play improved last year as the season progressed, and this improvement was no doubt due in part to the visits of the Indian hockey team to Invercargill and the English women’s team to Gore. There can be no doubt that these visit by overseas teams did much to foster the game. The start of the season, however, was marred by some delays. Four teams played in the senior competition last year, and four clubs will again be represented this season. They are Collegiate, last year’s winner of the Day Cup, Ex-High, runner-up to Collegiate, Invercargill, and Technical. Ex-High holds a strong hand again this year, but Collegiate’s strength seems to have waned a little. Last Saturday it was beaten by five goals to two, and gave Ex-High little opposition at all. Half of Collegiate’s trouble lies in the haphazard way its members play. There is not the combination of former years and too much solo work is done. The team has a new coach

this year, Mr H. Gray, of the Civil Service Club, who will also coach Invercargill, and he will be able to devote much more time to the work than could the former coach. His coaching should result in a definite improvement in the standard of play, as his knowledge of the game is undoubted. A coach, however, can do only a certain amount of work for a team, and the players themselves must train regularly and attend the practices. It will be time well spent. D. Gray is back in the game again. She is one ®f the most experienced players in the province, as she has represented Southland in numerous K Cup tournaments. She is inclined to do too much work on her own, however. , , . . Ex-High will be coached again this year by Mr H. Kelly. He, too, knows the game thoroughly. Mrs L. Purvis is perhaps the mainstay of Ex-High. She has been in the game for a long time now and her experience will be a valuable guide for the younger players. She showed in the game against Collegiate last Saturday that she has lost none of her dash by scoring all five of her team’s goals. New players in Ex-High include C. Russell, K. Westerby and R. Stables, all in their first year. They displayed fair promise in their first matches. Invercargill is showing a little more promise than it did last year. M. Kelly is captain of the club again. She was instrumental in forming the Invercargill Club when Union was dissolved. Considering that this is only her club’s second season on the field, she has done wonderful work in bringing a team of novices to the present combination. The team' consists almost wholly of players with only one or two years’ experience. F. Fulton is a back in her first year of hockey in Invercargill. She should prove an acquisition when she has acquired a greater mastery of technique. P. Sinclair may make a sound half-back. This is her first season. H. Eunson has transferred from the Technical team. She is a fast winner, but she should use one hand less often. R. Hutson should turn out to be handy as an inside forward. Technical has a very young team, but it is a team that should go a long way. The centre-forward, A. Shaw, has a good mastery of the technique of the game. J. Macgregor is another young player who will develop. The main fault with women’s hockey in Invercargill is that the halves do not know how to back up the forwards so as not to leave gaps in the line of attack; the forwards themselves are not dashing enough. There are same exceptions, but the exceptions are too few. But the season is young and the players are young.