HNNL June 2004 page 4
Sports and Social
HOOK NORTON TENNIS CLUB
Hook Norton Tennis Club will be taking part in the LTA's national 'Play Tennis' scheme – 'Do more than Just Watch'. This is a campaign to encourage people of all ages and abilities to give tennis a try and Clubs all over the country give free coaching and the use of their courts.
Hook Norton's Play Tennis Day will be on Sunday June 13th, starting at 10 a.m. The morning coaching session will be for Juniors with lots of fun games and prizes, but adults may make use of the courts as well. Coaching for adults will be available during the afternoon. Coaches will be Steve Bone and Gareth Jones. Racquets are available.
At midday, there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the official opening of the Club's three new floodlit Astro-turf courts.
Booking is not necessary, but it would be a help if you could let us know if you are coming, please contact Diana Spitzley – 01608 685591, but most important – 'Do more than Just Watch, Play Tennis'!
HOOK NORTON FOOTBALL CLUB
Well, that's it! The 2003/04 season has just ended and, for me personally, not a moment too soon with almost as much going on, off the pitch, as on it! As previously reported, our demotion from the Premier Division to Division 1(West) of the Hellenic League was sealed from as early as the first few days of October last year. The Planning Inspectorate dismissed our appeal against the Council's earlier decision to reject our application for floodlights and a small spectator stand on the new pitch at The Bourne whilst, however, upholding our appeal in relation to proposed dug outs on the same pitch. Any sport, and especially football, requires the vital ingredient of motivation to win, otherwise it is a charade and therefore, from the moment that the Inspectorate's decision was known, the First Team knew that, whatever it may or may not achieve in league matches, ultimately the result would be worthless! Not surprisingly, therefore, a number of key players chose to leave the Club. Thankfully, the majority stayed to fight the Club's cause, fired on by what they perceived to be a grave injustice. To them, and indeed to so many other people who have kindly offered their commiserations and urged us to fight on, I say a huge 'thank you', as I do also to all our loyal supporters who, despite their obvious disappointment, have nevertheless conducted themselves with commendable dignity.
So, with the First Team relegated, what about the Second Team? Well, they easily held their own in their Division, despite continually having to 'loan' players to the First Team, for the reason already outlined. As always, big thanks go to First Team Manager John Evans, who has now stepped down because of work commitments and to Second Team Manager Adrian White who, once again, has done a superb job in very difficult circumstances.
Despite the relative gloom of the past season, we are very much 'alive and kicking' and are looking ahead to next season and beyond with tremendous optimism with the exciting prospect of a brand new pitch and Clubhouse being available to us,
hopefully towards the end of the year. Furthermore, we have just appointed Ben Spiero (player and Committee Member) and Anton Sambrook (player for the past two seasons) as our new First Team Joint Managers. We are confident that their combined energy, enthusiasm, experience and commitment will help us develop a sound structure for the Club's future, of which the Village can then be justly proud. What's more, as reported elsewhere, we are hoping to merge the Senior and Junior Football Clubs ready for the new season, so we can then have a long overdue integrated football structure for Hooky. By the way, we offer our sincere congratulations to the Junior Football Club for their successes over the past season, not least of which have been the Under 9's C League's Championship victory and the same team's recent 'golden goal' cup success. Against all this exciting and rapidly developing background, the future for football in Hook Norton at all levels, promises to be extremely bright and with your continued support and encouragement, it will be even brighter. Thanks for everything, and see you all again next season!
Geoff 'Jesse' James Club Secretary
HOOK NORTON JUNIOR FOOTBALL CLUB
Hook Norton Junior Football Club have had a great season 2003-04! Our Under 9's team won the Witney & District Youth Football League Knock-Out Cup. 139 local boys and girls (between the ages of 5 and 16) have enjoyed playing football in Hook Norton; we have seen good progress on the development of new facilities at the Sports & Social Club and we are now looking forward to becoming part of a unified Hook Norton Football Club next season! Congratulations to our Under 9's team and their Manager Richard Gore, for a great "golden goal" victory in extra time over Banbury Town. It was a rather wet and dismal morning on Saturday 8th May in Ducklington, as our lads took to the field. They had just become Champions of the Under 9's C League and were un-daunted as they faced second in the A League, Banbury Town. It was a similar situation to this year's FA Cup Final, where Millwall take on Man United! They played some brilliant football and excitement amongst our crowd of supporters grew throughout the game as it went into extra time. Then a 'golden' goal! The crowd ran onto the pitch and Hooky were victorious! The Lemonade corks were popped and we enjoyed a great celebration! It's not all glory though. There is a huge amount of effort & commitment that goes into making all this happen. Plenty of cold, wet, weekends, throughout the winter spent standing on the touchline, cheering on our teams. So a big thank you goes to all those involved - Managers, Assistants, Coaches, Officials, Sponsors, Referees, Linesmen, Parents and of course all the players! We have a Club record of 139 boys & girls registered this season, who form 8 teams from Minis (aged 5), up to Under 16's.Our Club has played in over 150 games this season and not forgetting all the training sessions too! We are now celebrating our end of season with two Annual Awards Nights, at which all the players get a trophy for playing this season, as well as there being a few special awards for each team, such as "Manager's Player of the Year" and "Player's Player of the Year". We have seen the new (second) football pitch built this season and look forward to playing on it next season. It will be especially useful, as we have had four older teams this season, who on occasion have all needed to play at home on a Sunday! Only having 1 pitch has proved quite a headache at times! We also look forward to the completion of the new Multi Use Games Area, which will allow our older teams to use this as their Training facility. We are planning to hold our Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 8th June, at 7.30pm in the Sports & Social Club. At this meeting, there will be a vote on the proposed merger with Hook Norton Senior Football Club, to become just one "Hook Norton Football Club". Merger discussions are now at an advanced stage and we are very positive about the possibilities that lie ahead. It will provide an "Exit route" for our local players to move from Junior football into the Senior Reserves team. Of course, it's then up to the team managers to decide who deserves a place in the Senior team! We have also identified the development of Coaching skills and Training opportunities for the players as key benefits. Don't forget we are also on the Web at www.hnjfc.co.uk where you can see all our teams' results and tables. We wish all our players and everyone involved with the Club a happy summer and look forward to seeing you all again next season for some more Junior Football!
Jonathan Thompson (HNJFC Secretary)