CoP Face the busiest Saturday of the season
Once again CoP will demonstrate the depth of its playing squads this weekend as 8 of its mens sides have East League fixtures, whilst 20 of their most talented juniors who would usually be playing in these sides (apart from the Veterans!) are away on indoor duty.
The boys U18 and boys U16 indoor teams both qualified once more for the National Indoor Club Finals from their respective East Indoor Club championships back in December.
The U18s return to Whitgift, where 10 of the 11 players represented Thomas Deacon Academy last weekend in the School’s equivalent champs. For half the squad, this is their last ever junior tournament for the Club as they will no longer be U18 next season, so it is something of a bittersweet weekend. Many of them are in the finals for the 3rd consecutive year for the club – and when you consider most of them had not picked up an indoor stick until just over 2 years ago that is a pretty impressive achievement.
They will face Havant, Isca, Doncaster and Cannock in their 4 group matches -all sides littered with junior outood internationals and all of whom will present a stern tests. However, as coach Mike Yeoman commented, “to be the best you have to beat the best” and the boys are promising that nothing will be left on the pitch after each game.
The squad is: Nathan Stephenson, Michael Kowalski, Matt Porter, Jordan Heald, Marcus Howard, Nathan Foad, Adam Wilson, Ben Newman, David Fisher, Joe Houghton, Chris Pepper
The U16s find themselves in salubrious surroundings of Wolverhamton for the second year running for their tournament – and Cam Heald and Scott Howard are astonishingly playing for the 3rd year in a row in the U16 finals. This is a squad which had to be rebuilt after half moved up to U18 after last year’s tournament so their progress is all the more remarkable. Andrea Howard will be taking the coaching duties as Mike Yeoman’s many talents do not include the ability to be in 2 places 150 miles apart at the same time.
Their opposition includes Beeston, Ashmoor, Havant and Ben Rhydding – all formidable clubs, but the one the boys have their eyes on most are Ben Rhdding: last year CoP were controversially knocked out in the quarter finals of the EH U16 Cup by Ben Rhyddding and revenge is in their sights.
The squad is:Cameron Goodey, Cameron Heald, Bob Cliffe, Grady Wing, Leo Davies, Ross Hadaway, Sam Biccarino, Scott Howard, Simon King.
The Club wishes both squads good luck in their endeavours this weekend – and looks forward to welcoming them back into the league teams next week.
All the men’s team captains are also grateful for the support of all the players this weekend which enable CoP to continue to play at the highest local levels whilst their juniors are representing the club with distinction on the national stage.
