News and Announcements

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On Saturday, Sept. 28, the Cowichan and Island field hockey community suffered the loss and sudden passing of Les Mann. Les was a father, husband, brother, volunteer, coach, advocator, leader, contributor and much, much more. Les was a pivotal part of the Cowichan Junior League and a dedicated coach for several different programs on the island. Les’ daughter Miranda is a field hockey icon on the island, playing through all divisions in VILFHA’s women’s league and going on to play out her five years with the UBC Thunderbirds.

Les’ sudden passing happened while watching Miranda compete, with the captain’s band on, against the UVic Vikes in Victoria. The entire field hockey community is shocked by this loss but will always remember the contributions of Les Mann and his family.

Les Mann’s Celebration of Life will be held on Friday, October 11 at 2:00pm at Mellor Hall, Cowichan Exhibition Grounds. In Lieu of flowers there will be a Les Mann Memorial Fund at the CIBC in Duncan to benefit the Cowichan Junior Field Hockey Association.

VILFHA would like to extend their thoughts and prayers to the Mann family at this time. A moment of silence will be conducted prior to each of the women’s league games this weekend, Oct. 5-6, to honour Les and reminds us to be thankful for all the things we have and all the people around us right now.

It is also a reminder that field hockey is just a game and what is more important is how it brings us all together to do some thing we love to do. Regardless of if you knew Les or not he represented a fan, father, volunteer and dedicated island field hockey community member. Take a moment to reflect and be thankful that we have each other, this sport and amazing family and people around us.

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VICTORIA – Vancouver Island’s first premier women’s field hockey team will take to the field this weekend for the start of their second season as part of the Vancouver Premier League. Kirby’s Island Wildcats is an island-based team that has a five-year plan to increase the development of the island’s high performance juniors as well as increase participation from the junior league, through the women’s league right through to feeding players to the Canadian University and National team programs.

On Saturday, Sept. 21 the Wildcats will host the Vancouver Hawks in their first premier game at 12:30 p.m. at the University of Victoria water-based turf.

The team, sponsored by Kirby’s Source for Sports, boasts talent from the entire island. Cowichan standouts Chelsey Cleemoff, Stefanie Langkammer and Claire Seeliger were all competitors for BC Under-18 teams this past summer, while Lindsay Cole, Lexi De Armond, Ella Mosky, Kristina Walters-Shumka and Jenna Dhillon were all Victoria representatives on their respective provincial teams.

As far as experience goes, former Canadian national team member Ali Lee joins forces with UVic Vikes alumni Perri Espeseth, Sandy Zinkowski and Cara Jay to provide some leadership and guidance for the young squad. In goal, duties will be shared between Duncan’s Courtney Westwood and Victoria’s Shinai Sorensen.

New additions include Mount Doug High School’s Lindsay Cole, Cowichan’s Kim Smith, former University of Toronto midfielder Lauren Mansfield, as well as Madi Koniuk, from the Rebels Field Hockey Club, and Niki Davis from the Sailors FIeld Hockey Club.

FULL TEAM ROSTER:
(#, Name, Position, Club)

0 Shinai Sorensen, GK, Lynx
1 Courtney Westwood, GK, Cowichan
2 Lindsay Cole, F, Lynx
3 Chelsey Cleemoff, D, Cowichan
4 Lexi De Armond, M/F, Lynx
5 Ali Lee, M, Sailors
6 Lauren Mansfield, M, Rebels
7, Ella Mosky, D, Lynx
8 Madi Koniuk, F, Rebels
9 Perri Espeseth, D, Sailors
10 Casey Crowley, M, Shawnigan Lake
11 Sandy Zinkowski, M, Rebels
12 Kim Smith, D, Cowichan
13 Niki Davis, F, Sailors
14 Kristina Walters-Shumka, D/M, Lynx
15 Heather Wheatley, D, Rebels
16 Jenna Dhillon, M/F, Lynx
18 Stefanie Langkammer, F, Cowichan
19 Elspeth McGillivray, F, Sailors
20 Claire Seeliger, D, Cowichan
21 Cara Jay, F, Rebels
Kira Graham, F/M, Sailors

Head Coach: Mark Baggott
Manager: Laurie De Armond

For more information visit: facebook.com/islandwildcats

Oak Bay High School is searching for a volunteer coach to assist with practices for their senior girls field hockey team.

PRACTICE TIMES:
Tuesdays – 7-8am @ Oak Bay Rec Center Indoor Turf
Thursdays – 3:30-5pm @ UVic Field Turf 2A

SEASON: Sept – early November

If anyone is interested in helping out the Oak Bay High School Senior Girls team please contact Alison Hastings at alison.hastings@tieronetravel.com

This is a great opportunity to volunteer and give back! No formal coaching certification needed!

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VICTORIA – The University of Victoria Vikes women’s field hockey program has extended registration for the 2013-14 Rising Stars Field Hockey Program for girls aged 8-18. The program does not require a particular level of skill or experience, just an interest to learn and improve at field hockey! Registration will remain open until September 30th.

ALL INFO: www.govikesgo.com/RISINGSTARS

If you would like your daughter to participate in our Rising Stars field hockey program, please register using the appropriate age-related link below…

All outdoor sessions will be held on SUNDAYS at the University of Victoria field hockey turnf form Sept. 8-March 30, 2014. The program includes 35 hours of field hockey specific knowledge (technical skills, speed and agility, core stability and indoor hockey).

COST: $475 (age 8-14 years old); $498.75 (age 15-18 tax included)

Unfortunately, due to HST, we had to separate the on-line registration into groups – those who don’t have to pay HST (8-14 years of age) and those who have to pay HST (15-18 years of age).

The actual training times are as follows:- 8-11 year old girls will train from 3:30-5:00PM//12-18 year old girls will train from 5:00-6:30PM.

For more information, contact Lynne Beecroft (beecroft@uvic.ca) or Krista Thompson (krista23@telus.net)

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The rules of field hockey are constantly evolving and always being interpreted differently. The South Island Umpires Association is pleased to host the UMPIRE FORUM *in one week’s time.

WHEN: Monday, Sept. 16
WHERE: Upstairs, Pacific Institute for Sports Excellence (4371 Interurban Rd.)
TIME: 6:30-8:00 pm
WHO: All umpires, players or coaches (men and women)
WHAT: Led by Alison Sweeten and Gillian Horgan, this umpire forum is not only a rules and interpretations refresher for the league officials but also an opportunity for ALL players to come, ask questions, learn the rules and get up to speed on the latest.

It is highly recommended that every team tries to send 1-2 PLAYER representatives to aid in ensuring key messages are distributed across the players.

Note: A second umpire forum in Duncan is to be scheduled.