Every year brings different challenges to Loughborough Student’s Women’s Hockey but with a new coach and lots of fresh faces, will the team be able to retain their place within England’s top-flight hockey leagues?
Presenter: Bethan Clargo
Camera Operator: Bethan Clargo, Hannah McCann, Ahren Bakshi, Lucy Moore, Dharma Banomyong
Editor: bethan Clargo, Ahren Bakshi
Producer: Hannah McCann
LSUTV is the award-winning Student Television Station for Loughborough University, and part of LSU Media. Get involved and join our team of volunteers today! Visit our website at https://media.lsu.co.uk and follow us on Instagram, @lsumedia.
and it’s a sliding slaping and it’s in the back of finding the go exciting Dynamic and fun would probably be worse to describe ler hockey fun competitive and challenging this show lra has been difficult but really exciting because we had about 10 new debutants which means those debutants become returners next year and we can build and build and build on this year really intense but I bit for long but I wouldn’t want it any other way um I have my first game for the premier league and I played actually fale which has been a really experience and I’m just [Music] excited thank you thank you challenge support and fun family high performance and enjoyable I’m R McKenzie and I am ler women’s co- Captain hi I’m Jamie kir and I’m the head coach of the ladies program here at left [Music] we train together twice a week we play together twice a week we gym together twice a week a lot of us live together like we do spend a lot of time together we are more like a family than a team it’s an environment which will challenge but support you so that’s kind of the big thing we obviously want to develop people and players and in order to do that you got to have environments that stress people that stretch people but equally con support and Care um for one another and I feel we’ve done a really good job obviously I’ve only been here for almost a year but I think that’s the kind of the best thing and hopefully as much as we want to win and be competitive uh you have a lot of [Music] fun I mean like to be completely honest when he first arrived and we were like oh it’s the D cake what there we just don’t like each other really I think it’s the best way to put it um but no um Jam has been amazing this year I think his style of play his coaching style has really suited the team we’ve had um I mean you guys have met him he is a constant ball of energy like the man does not stop yeah we we all love Jamie FL obviously you always want to win Buck that’s obviously kind of like you have a little bit of Glory of the best university I love Buck I think that start off with that I think I think everyone in the team after you play your play your first home Buck game realizes what Buck means to the university as well as like everyone in the squad we had some good results in the league we beat Birmingham Under The Lights um which was due to the Rivalry was yeah just amazing was such a good atmosphere um like literally the whole club was down watching um we then had two losses against exitor Notting him yeah that was about it we beat darum and things like that so we had some good results credit to the girls the kind of culture the environment the kind of work right the Tactical stuff like you know they executed um under a lot of pressure against probably teams that were technically better than us um so pretty proud of coming third and then we went into quarterfinals which were at home against [Music] Edinburgh yeah it was a really good atmosphere um like loads of our friends came loads of like the the whole club was out essentially um and it was so loud on the sideline edur the quarterfinals uh and that was probably our best kind of team performance uh I know edur didn’t finish that highly in the league but I actually thought they were you know a really a really good team they did some different things that other teams uh didn’t do and they also had some very good individuals um but we actually had Izzy Peta and Liv play for us the two GB girls um that’s the only game they both played and just yeah it was a bit of a complete performance if I’m being honest we were we were so good um yeah we were very good that day I went on to a semi-final versus exor again ex away track down um yeah didn’t go very well could have gone better but I mean we still did well to get to a semi-final this year so I really wanted to make Buc final cuz in Buc final you never know what can happen like it’s the same with all types of like competitions like that um yeah it was gutting to be honest it was pretty gutting ex were BR something disappointed we didn’t like didn’t play to the level that we are capable of playing but again some of that’s down to the opposition as well they kind of stopped us playing um the first quarter was really even we actually created five or six really good opportunities um well not opportunities but we you know we created 3v2 or 4 V3 in their half we broke through their press just didn’t quite execute um and that and yeah and then they they were clinical and um they were much better than us on the day then it was obviously about staying in the Premier League um I kind of had a feeling um X2 would get promoted and therefore there could be four University sides in the thing and obviously if lur were to drop out the Premier League then it obviously puts a huge amount of pressure on recruitment on everything else if there’s another two or three universities in the Premier League um so I think my number one objective was to try and keep us in the Premier League but to never lose sight of the fact that my job is to develop people and players so it’s not about winning and although that’s to kind of Target the fundament my fundamental job is to develop people in [Music] players um so before Christmas you play everyone once and then after Christmas the league then split top six and bottom six where you then play everyone once again and then from there the top six stays as the top six with the addition of two teams from the bottom six which then creates a top eight and the bottom four the top eight go into two pools where they play everyone once and then from there you get a top four that go to finals weekend so there’s semi-finals on the Saturday and finals on the Sunday and then the bottom four playoff against each other and then from there Whoever has the the accumulative lowest points over the whole season are the two teams that go down so the first half season I think we uh had four of the top five teams traditional big teams in the first five games and we obviously only had five or six weeks coming in um to preseason with a very young group so I think we lost a game on day7 a preseason to a school side and I remember going home and being like try to Kid myself that we were missing players but we weren’t really and obviously we we had seron first up in the league who are obviously the I don’t know how many times they won the title in a row now um but yeah the first four or five games for me was almost like a free shot because you’re playing teams you’re not expected to beat and I’m just just getting all about developing and and taking risks and being brave and trying to embed some of our principles um and we actually ended up drawing wimon uh 20 which was an incredible result in only our second game we were the bus uh broke down and we were late and we only had 10 minutes to warm up and we were two-nil down inside 10 12 minutes and then we scored two goals and and held them to 2-0 obviously they were the better side or they had more chances but showed me a lot about the kind of the characters I had in the group yeah the first four or five games were tough um and then we kind of hit what I would describe as the the the games where we needed or we had a more realistic chance of getting points and we actually went unbeaten in four or five I think which was a pretty special run um and so we ended up going into the last couple of games knowing that we needed probably three points from the last two games to come top six we could have completed our objective at Christmas which would have been incredible I think the team themselves in one of my very first meetings described themselves as a team in transition they knew they they only had we only had three or four people that had ever played in the Premier League um like consistently uh I think three or four others had played one or two games but you’re talking so Ser in the first game of the season they had more Olympic and Commonwealth medalists than we had debutants and we had 10 debutants so that’s the kind of where we were at the start um and so to be in a position to get to top six going to the last games was pretty pretty special we lost him the last minute to beaston um again they were they were better than us on the day um at a point where made much difference um and then we went into the final game against reading knowing that if we won that we came top six which again would have been incredible basically from the fourth game of the season there wasn’t a game didn’t matter every game was was vital which is tough for such a young group and again I would credit them greatly on their resilience and their ability to deal with pressure uh so we played um naum we actually beat not 2 which one of our kind of performances of the season kns with them went on and went every won every other game in in the uh phase two so they were the the strongest kind of side in that phase two so to put in a performance against them was pretty big I think we kind of wanted to write wrong from the last time we played them I think we also knew as a team what we can do when we play well and yeah it just went quite well for us that day I think we possession wise Outlet like high transfer wise we dominated like we were we did play very well that day so yeah good deal Drew with reading um reading in the last couple of minutes obviously frustrating but again you take four points from the first two games I actually thought reading and notan were the top two sides um in phase two um so you know in a good position yeah so we had a few interesting results we beat buing on before Christmas but lost to them after Christmas in a game that we actually played quite well could have played better but like it was it was annoying to lose and then that was a double headed weekend and we came out I think it was like 24 hours later and we drew to Birmingham which was quite a big result and then the following weekend we needed to beat hul and we beaten hul first half of the like before Christmas and yeah we lost and it just meant that I think we missed out on top eight by three or four points something like that maybe maybe three um so yeah that was quite gutting and then it meant we were in the bottom four for like a playoff relegation so two teams went down out of those four yeah we were just I think maybe as a team we didn’t quite switch on that day we definitely didn’t play as well as we could have we definitely didn’t bring the intensity that we have B throughout like other games in the season um yeah it was it was a tough one take um but yeah we had to roll on to phase three which was which was tough um and then obviously had to pick ourselves up and actually put in an incredible performance against buck and probably one of our best performances of the game um to put ourselves in a great position position went into the Hulen game uh with an opportunity to draw and we were safe um unfortunately yeah hul were better than us on the day and then that obviously man it came down to the very final game of the season first half we were on it we were probably some of the best hockey we’ve played um there was just like a belief there and then the second half they I mean they needed I think they needed a win to be guaranteed staying up dependent on the other result um The Hulk and Buckingham game so they really came out in the second Hall um but yeah I mean I’m not sure if You’ seen the video but there the final whistle goes and just like the whole team runs across the pitch it’s yeah it’s pretty it’s pretty insane I mean I think reading scored in the last 10 seconds of the game and I mean the clock had gone off so like the clock goes off at 2 minutes um so you can’t like countown because the clock doesn’t necessarily match up with the umpire’s watches so the clock had gone off and we were all like I don’t know how long’s left so like taking like PCD kit off like really slowly and then the final whistle went and everyone just went was like oh my god like people like I think the video is like Jamie leading the charge across the pitch like it is very very funny but it kind of just showed how much like that meant to the whole team like it meant so much to stay up so yeah again just so proud that we were able to put in performance even if we even if we lost that game we put in a performance under that much pressure with all the kind of consequences when knew X2 had actually been promoted when knew Birmingham notum couldn’t get relegated so it would have been quite it would have been you know big for the program um if we’ if we’d gone down with the other universities being so successful so just a G massive credit to the girls for for yeah performing to that level um and deservedly getting the point that we kind of needed what are you going to miss the most I think lra I think it’s quite a special place because I think the furthest I live from one of my friends is 600 M um like you live very much like in the same place like if you want to go around and have a chat it’s like a 4-minute walk like it’s it’s it’s amazing to be in like that sort of situation where everyone’s so close um think I’ll also miss like just being with my friends every day like it’s just I think it’s just the way lra is like it’s such a good place um I also miss like the support staff like the program we have here the only way I can describe it is a professional environment like we have a ridiculous amount of like volunteers um through the CVA program as well as like interns and like full-time members of staff that help with everything like nutrition support snc physio psychology it it’s just an unbelievable program and so I just don’t think you’d find that at many other places in England so I’ll definitely miss that I’ll miss the people um like you make friends with everyone like I love the club um I coach the twos as well as playing in the ones like I love my twos um which obviously means I help coach the threes sometimes I love the threes like it’s just it’s just such a family like not not just the first team the whole club um we try and go and make like the girls not make the girls but we encourage people to go and watch as many games as possible so that like it’s quite often that the fours fives sixes like threes will all come and watch our game so we need to repay the favor to them um so going down to watch their games is always amazing like special shout out to like certain teams this year have absolutely smashed it like the six and the threes especially have been ridiculous this year and it’s been really nice to watch them and like watch them develop um who else will I miss yeah I just think the people is the main thing the people make lb Hockey Club what it is um the coaching staff have been amazing this year like if ever you have problems you can go to them it’s so easy and then yeah the girls the girls are amazing I think everyone would love them that yeah it’s so easy to get on with people um you’re always like respected and valued so yeah definitely the [Music] [Music] people [Music]