Recognising Great People in the Midlands

Jennifer Woodyard was nominated for the Laurie Alcock Award for her services to Phoenix Blues Ladies Hockey Club and her roles within Staffordshire Hockey.

Jennifer did a lot for the club behind the scenes that often went unnoticed, attended all the England Hockey online meetings, and was still regularly playing. Jennifer is also a registered umpire who umpired if needed, and was the first to sacrifice her game if the team could not find an umpire. ​

Phoenix Blues Ladies ran for 20 years, and Jennifer has been Chairperson for this duration, unfortunately 2024 was the club's last year, as a single ladies team we were struggling for players and Phoenix Blues Ladies have since merging with Stone. The club was certain that without Jennifer's leadership that the club wouldn't have continued for as long as it did. ​
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​Jennifer was presented with the Award in February by Laurie Alcock and Tim Lorimer (Midlands Hockey Chair).

A huge thank you and congratulations to Jennifer from all at Midlands Hockey!

Jo Barnes made her mark in Nottinghamshire Hockey after being appointed for 14 consecutive years as a Coach to one of the girls County squad age groups.

During that period Nottinghamshire became one of the regular semi-finalists and champion county on several occasions. She encouraged parents and adult hockey club colleagues to support her and get involved in helping the Junior committee. Several did and took that knowledge gained back to their clubs and schools. 

Involvement in the County Youth games and many other Hockey initiatives followed in Nottinghamshire. During every National, Regional and County Hockey reorganisation Jo ensured her voice and opinion were prominent in influencing change and especially supporting equity in involvement of state schools alongside the independent sector.

As playing and parenting days ended Jo discovered a new outlet for her hockey interest in becoming a Hockey Technical Official, got trained and started by being appointed to National League matches. This role and a willingness to be part of administrative teams was recognised when she was seconded to the newly termed Officiating group overseeing the transition from Region to Area where she helped ensure the effective formation of the Midlands Officiating Committee with strong recognition that the “unknown” role of “Technical Official” became part and parcel of the new administration. 

The role of Area Technical Officiating Lead (ATOL) was born and would continue to be championed by Jo to this present day. Jo set up training for club officials to ensure they were ready when required to provide one and on behalf of England Hockey Technical Appointing Panel (TAP), recruited and trained many new officials who have joined the England Hockey ranks. Midlands is regarded nationally as being in a very safe pair of hands.

Jo has also been accredited as a National Tournament Director (TD) and since establishing herself shared her knowledge driving the recruitment and training of new TDs within Midlands.

Involvement in Master’s hockey at International level has also brought recognition in appointments as an assistant TD at World Cup outdoor and Indoor events and the 4 Nations outdoor.

Turning up 13 years ago to help on “the table” at a Schools Indoor finals Jo was spotted and immediately recruited and appointed to organise the Midlands Indoor Schools competitions the following year and no surprise to many has done this for the last consecutive 11 years. Jo also co-organises and supports and guides others in running the Junior Club Indoor Events.

A huge thank you and congratulations to Jo from all at Midlands Hockey!

A huge congratulations to Jeanne Freeman who recently received the Laurie Alcock Award for her contribution to hockey in the Midlands.

Jeanne certainly has an impressive CV and career supporting hockey from being a schoolgirl to the present day.  In the 70’s she had schoolgirl success nationally in both hockey and athletics. 

Jeanne had a very successful teaching career within Leicestershire, giving over 40 years of service. As well as playing hockey for England A, Midlands, Leicestershire, Lutterworth, and the Rambling Roses, Jeanne is also a Level 2 qualified hockey umpire and Level 2 qualified coach! Jeanne has also been recognised for her contribution to school sport by the Daily Telegraph.

Congratulations to Dave Washington from North Stafford Hockey Club who was recently awarded the Laurie Alcock award for his outstanding contribution to hockey at North Stafford. 

As well as being pivotal in starting the clubs England Hockey Talent Accreditation he has maintained his position as Head of Junior Hockey, Captain of the Men's 2nd Team, support for social media, and assisting the Treasurer and Chairperson in all aspects of club life. In addition Dave has developed excellent strategic community partnerships to grow hockey in the wider area. 

A huge congratulations and heartfelt thanks to Dave Washington!

A huge congratulations to Ann Crockett-McLean from Newark Hockey Club who was awarded the Laurie Alcock Award, presented by Andrew Barnes on behalf of Midlands Hockey.

Ann has been a long-time player, coach, committee member and dedicated volunteer for Newark Hockey Club.

In her 17 years with the club, Ann has fulfilled various committee positions, most recently as Head of Junior Hockey. Already a regular volunteer with the junior section, Ann took on the role 5 years ago, and has been key to the growth in both attendance and success. She has worked tirelessly to build a team of supporting coaches and other volunteers, instigating a junior committee to share responsibility, but still undertakes much of the organisation herself, arranging fixtures and events, and ensuring the smooth running of junior training sessions. In her time in the role she has also set-up a very successful Badgers league and re-invented the NoDe (Notts Hockey Development) league.

As well as her role leading the junior section, Ann also coaches for the Ladies Section, planning and running training sessions, and manages the Ladies 2s team from the sideline during Saturday matches – even missing her own matches, playing with the Ladies 3s, to coach the Ladies 2s! The Mens Section have also benefitted from Ann’s commitment when she has provided coaching support for their matches.

In summary, the club would be much poorer without Ann’s dedication and inspirational leadership.

For the benefit of hockey, especially in Leek but also over a few North Staffordshire clubs, Kate Jones has put in a lot of  her own time showing huge dedication.

Not only does Kate umpire, captain a Saturday team, manage a selection committee, and assist the club’s treasury department; she is also significantly involved with the Junior section. She regularly plans and runs junior hockey events, that are well attended by Leek Hockey club and by surrounding clubs too.

Through all of this tireless work Kate assists with the smooth running of the club, and also ensures the next generation of hockey players in the Staffordshire Moorlands and surrounding areas receive the support to be the best they can be.

Martin Hives is and has been an unsung hero of hockey for over 40 years. Without Martin men’s hockey in the Midlands would be far less organised and able to meet the significant challenges of a changing sport and society. He tirelessly ‘gets on’ with a multitude of administrative duties without complaint or rancour. He is simply irreplaceable! 

A brief history of Martin’s career includes:

• Starting hockey at school in Leicestershire, followed by hockey at Birmingham University whilst studying Dentistry.
• Playing club hockey (in goal) for Loughborough Town and Edgbaston before joining Sutton Coldfield Hockey Club (SCHC) in 1977.
• Since 1977 he was club secretary until 2017 (when the combined club was formed with Ladies) and men’s section secretary until 2021 when the sections were all amalgamated.
• In 1989 he started Sutton Coldfield Juniors (now one of the most thriving junior sports in Sutton).
• In 1980 he became secretary of Warwickshire Hockey and for 3 years its President. He has retained strong links in the running of Warwickshire Hockey.
• In 1996 he became an umpire and did so at a very good level within the Birmingham counties circuit for 12 years. He still umpires club hockey today and is still on the disciplinary panel.
• Since 1989 he has also directly liaised with Wyndley Leisure Centre (and in subsequent years with Bishop Vesey GS) to book pitches and manage pitch costs thus ensuring Sutton’s Saturday teams have pitches to play on; often involving complicated arrangements
• He was instrumental in securing SCHC ‘Clubmark’ in 2017.
• In 2013 he was nominated and won the presidency of the Midlands Hockey Association. In subsequent years he has continued in various Midland Hockey posts, Throughout this time he was able to regularly report on Midlands’ matters and more recently the revised league structures.
• He did all this whilst running a successful dental practice and bringing up a family of 3 devoted children.
• Having had a successful hip replacement Martin is keen to return to umpiring, a true testimony to the type of person Martin is.