Last Updated
3rd September 2010


Schoolboys 2010 Announcement What a fantastic day for English Roller Hockey!
We have made history!

France 2 England 2
Half Time 1-1

England Reach The Semi Finals There was a very intense and nervous start to this game as France were pushing for a win but England never lost their composure. We were good in defence and the half time result of 1-1 was a true reflection of the game. At half time we spoke to the players and tried to get them to relax and relieve the tension they were feeling. We reinforced the belief that they could win the game and play for top four and also instructed them to attack more in the last third of the rink.

The second half began with an England shot reflecting off the post from a set up move within the first 3 seconds and the half continued to be a very even game. The England team were very brave always blocking the ball with their bodies. The French team scored a brilliant individual goal, however our team listened to the instruction given to them at half time to attack the ball in the last third of the rink and this is where our equaliser came from.

Our team showed they had maturity and discipline within the game and this ensured they never lost their concentration or formation. This was also shown as our team played the last 5 minutes of the game on 9 team faults.

Goal Scorers
Will Smith
Liam Conroy

 We now look forward to our semi final match against Portugal at 19:00 hrs
Schoolboys 2010 Announcement England 5 Andorra 3
Half Time 2 - 2

What an exciting game!

England continued their performance from the second half of the match against Spain by defending vigorously and ensuring a consistent and organised man to man restricted, with pressure on the man with the ball.

In the first half we conceded a goal within the first 2 minutes as we did not apply enough pressure on the man with the ball, as instructed in the team talk, but We corrected this immediately. In attack the team was always consistent and used different ways to attack the goal either with the long shot, which gave us our first goal, or with the man in front of the goal looking for a far post finish. Our second goal came from a nice diagonal pass attack move into a far post finish. In the first half we had to chase the game as we were one goal down twice and we achieved a well deserved 2-2 taking us into half time.

In the changing rooms at half time we spoke to the team to make the players believe they are stronger and definitely capable of winning the game. We motivated them to be brave as they could win their game and asked the players to bring the ball to the last third of the rink to score from the far post.

A confident start in the second half meant we dominated the game so it was no surprise to be 3-2 up. Then a doubtful penalty put us 3-3 with 5 minutes to go and this is where England kept their confidence and didn't waiver in their belief and scored two goals as well as saving a direct free hit to finish the game to 5-3.

Goal Scorers
Josh Taylor (2)
Michael Carter (2)
Will Smith

 We are looking forward to our game with France tonight, when a win should put us into the final four.
Schoolboys 2010 Announcement England 1 - 7 Spain
Half Time 0-5

It was pleasing to see a near capacity crowd on the opening day of the competition substantiating all the hard work put in by everyone to stage the event.

England were tense, perhaps even nervous at the start of the match with inconsistencies in both defence and attack giving rise to a few mistakes which cost us 2 early goals. Then mid-way through the first half the team became more consistent in defence but were not moving off the ball to create enough space to attack.

At half-time I tried to calm the team as well as correct our tactics used in tackling both in defence and attack. This seemed to work and I was pleased to see the team's reaction resulting in a stronger defence and creation of goal scoring opportunities in the second half, illustrated by the 2-1 score.

This first game against one the best u17 teams in Europe showed that we are very competitive at this level, however we must learn to concentrate for the whole game, as results can very often be decided by details.

We now look forward to playing Andorra tonight following their 4-0 win over France

Goal Scorer
Will Smith
Seniors Team Announcement
I am pleased to announce the Seniors Final Squad to participate in the Seniors European Championship in Wuppertal, Germany 6th to 11th September 2010:
  • 1.David Garlick (GK) (HBU)
  • 2.Ricky Jupp (Bury)
  • 3.Karl Smith (HBU)
  • 4.Marc Waddingham (Grimsby)
  • 5.Joel de Figueiredo (HBU)
  • 6.Simon Hosking (HBU)
  • 7.James Taylor (Bassano-Italy) - Captain
  • 8.Owen Stewart (Middlesbrough)
  • 9.Brendan Barker (HBU) - Vice-Captain
  • 10.Jamie Williamson (GK) (HBU)
  • Head Coach - Carlos Amaral
  • Manager - Ron Barker
  • Physiotherapist - Pedro Lourenco
  • Mechanic - Steve Taylor
Ladies U20's Team Announcement
I am pleased to announce the Final squad to participate in the
Ladies Under 20 European Championship in Darmstadt, Germany.
Darmstadt 2010
  • Kasia Parfitt (GK) - King's Lynn
  • Rachel Milne (GK) - Bury
  • Abbie Morley - Norwich
  • Anna Russell - Plymouth
  • Beth Cook - Middlesbrough
  • Chloe Stevenson - Middlesbrough
  • Emily Rawlinson - Bury
  • Emma Gillett - Bury
  • Hannah Barrow - Ely
  • Louise Holland - Middlesbrough
Management
Head Coach: Carlos Amaral
Manager: Lucy Rawlinson
Assistant Coach: Kirsty Ingham
U17's Team Announcement
I am pleased to announce the Final squad to participate in the
Under 17 European Championship in Northampton 30th August - 4th September 2010.

Schoolboys 2010 Announcement
  • Peter Hunt (GK) - Peterborough
  • Reuben Alam (GK) - Farnham
  • James Neville - Cottenham
  • Josh Taylor - King's Lynn
  • Liam Conroy - Bury
  • Michael Carter - Peterborough
  • Oliver Johnson - Peterborough
  • Sam Norris - Bury
  • Sam Norton - Bury
  • William Smith - Middlesborough
Management
Head Coach: Carlos Amaral
Manager: Joe Wheatley
Assistant Coach: Arthur Corr
Physiotherapist - Pedro Lourenco

Also helping will be:
Carlos Pereira (Gulpilhares Coach) - Statistician
Alan Jones - Video
What a Great Camp.....
I am very pleased to say that this camp achieved all the objectives, improvement in basic skating and individual technique, as well as playing the game. The players responded very well to all the exercises, even new ones, putting in a lot of effort to make sure they got these right.

The players worked very hard on the rink and behaved very well off the rink. They listened to the coaches and the helpers, showing that they are improving their understanding of sport mentality, which will help to make England and the home leagues even more competitive in the future.

A big thanks to the Coaching Team:
  • Eduardo Castro (Barcelona Senior Coach)
  • Pol (Spanish player)
  • Arthur Corr
  • James Taylor
  • Peter Marshall
  • Joe Wheatley
  • Kirsty Ingham
  • Patricia Osborne
for all the good work done on and off the rink. The players learnt a lot from them as well as enjoyed a lot.

A very big thanks to the Camp co-ordinator Michaela Parfitt for organising the camp in a very professional way. Her support with the administration and organising the helpers took take away all the off rink responsibilities to ensure I was able to concentrate only on the coaching.

Thank you to the helpers, Lisa Allander, Pam Jones and Lucy Rawlinson for the such great job done off the rink to the players and coaches.

Finally thank you to the parents in continuing to support their kids to play roller hockey and to be part of our development plan attending events such as National Training, Camps and trips abroad.
National Squads Announced
The Final squad announcements for Ladies & Juniors
can now be seen on the National Teams page
National Teams
The reduced squads for National teams have now been updated, with only the Seniors left to organise. All news concerning squads will be available in the National Teams section.
Funding for Clubs Workshop
I would like to thank Karen Jones for the great presentation she gave at last month's National Training Weekend on Saturday.
I have received numerous comments regarding how helpful the workshop was.
Grupo Desportivo de Sesimbra
I received this email from Presidente of Grupo Desportivo de Sesimbra saying:
“On behalf of the Board and I, we would like our thank you very much for England Intermediates and Schoolboys brilliant participation on our 25th International Tournament - Praias de Sesimbra 2010. It was a big contribution towards the great success of this year's tournament making our tournament even more prestigious.
The great success of this tournament as well as England performances were well recognised by everybody.”

Read the report on Sesimbra Here ....
Sesimbra 2010
sesimbra poster
ANOTHER GREAT TRIP FOR ENGLAND ROLLER HOCKEY

Once more we participated in the Sesimbra International Tournament over Easter. This year they organised their 25th Tournament and it was an honour to be invited to present 2 teams, Under 15's and Under 17's.

We departed from Luton on Wednesday 31st March in the morning arriving at Lisbon around midday and returned to England on Sunday 4th April.

During our stay we had 3 training sessions, 2 warm up games on the Wednesday evening, one for each team against Sesimbra, which gave us an opportunity to play all the players and try different tactics and team combinations. The results were good as Intermediates drew 1-1 and the Schoolboys won 6-1.

The Management Team:
  • Head Coach: Carlos Amaral
  • Assistant Coach: Arthur Corr
  • Manager: Joe Wheatley
  • Assistant Manager: Mike Neville
Read More Here ....
Summer Camp 2010
Summer 2010 I can already confirm the following coaches:
Carlos Amaral (Coach Co-Ordinator) - Camps 1 & 2
Arthur Corr - Camps 1 & 2
James Taylor - Camps 1 & 2
Kirsty Ingham - Camp 1
David Calonge (Spanish Goalkeeper Coach) - Camp 2

Very soon I'll be announcing the complete list of coaches for both Camps 1 & 2.
New Ladies Manager Announced
Due to the resignation of Dave Fothergill for personal reasons, I would like to announce that Lucy Rawlinson is the new Ladies Manager, which has also been ratified by the NRHA.

I would like to thank Dave for all the great job done for the Ladies over the last few years. He has given great input on my development plan for the Ladies. I would like to wish him all the best in his future role within the sport.

In his resigntaion letter, Dave Fothergill said ‘Overall I have enjoyed my time working with Carlos Amaral. I have learnt an awful lot and still do admire the enthusiasm he instills into everything he does as regards Roller Hockey.
My thanks for allowing me to indulge with the sport‘.
James Taylor - All Stars Game In Italy
James
James Taylor was selected to play in the All Stars Team against the Italian Select team. This was a great achievement for an English player to be selected to play alongside top players in the world such as: Argentinians Velasquez & Garcia and the Brazilian player Cacau.

James said ‘ It was obviously a pleasure to be considered one of the best foreigners in the Italian Premier League.
There are over 30 foreign players currently playing in the Premier league, so to be selected was quite an achievement’.
Referees Meeting - 20th March 2010

I would like to thank all of you who gave up your time to attend the Referees meeting at Peterborough on the 20th March.

Some of you came considerable distances, on a Saturday, to be there, which shows the level of dedication that there is in the country for our sport.
I would like to thank you, not only for attending but also for the positive contribution that all of you made to the proceedings. As a referee, I found it most helpful and I hope that, as long as I remember the decisions that we all made, I will become a better referee.

As the person who arranged the meeting and put together the Structure Document, it really is encouraging and motivating that so many of you found the meeting really worthwhile.

I would like to assure you all that this will not be a one-off. The dates for the Referee Courses will be put on the National Calendar. The dates for the trips abroad for Referee Workshops will be put on the National Calendar.
The dates for the three meetings, like the one that we have just had, will also be on the National Calendar.

Again, a big thank you, for those of you who attended on Saturday and I am sure that together we can re-build the credibility of, and respect for Referees in England by a more consistent application of the rules through better and regular communication between Referees.

Keith Allen - NRHA President