Shark Girls Have Bite
Some of the female players from the local junior ice hockey club Solway Sharks recently attended open trials for the GB Women’s Ice Hockey Team at Dumfries Ice Bowl.
The trial, which included off-ice and on-ice drills and testing, attracted women and girls from all over Scotland and throughout England.
Junior Sharks Chairman Graeme Houston said, “The club is tremendously proud of our players who are striving to up their game and get to the highest level possible in their sport. We are delighted to hear that Solway Sharks junior players Rebecca Nicol and Chloe Young were successful in being selected as part of the GB women’s U18 wider squad after attending the GB women’s open trial in Dumfries on 1st August. Both girls will attend the next training session on 4th September. Rebekah Scott will also soon be attending training for the GB U16 girls development squad. All these girls did extremely well, and impressed with both their level of skill and their work rate, and we wish them every success going forward.”
After the trial GB coach Cheryl Smith said, “The players gave us some tough decisions to make, which is great – there is competition for places and that can only be good moving forward. We’ve seen so many players and we are delighted with the response we’ve had. The trials were hard work for the players and they stepped up and showed us what they could do. At all age groups we were excited by the talent on show. The trials give us so many options and it’s exciting to work with these players across the whole GB Women’s programme.”
Junior Sharks prepare for new season
Solway Sharks Junior ice hockey club recently held a Summer Hockey School to help prepare the players for the upcoming season after their summer lay-off. Attracting not only local players, but those from all over Scotland, there was a wide range of ages and clubs represented.
The camp was run by Solway Sharks Head Coach and GB Under 18s Coach Martin Grubb, and Mark Beggs, GB Ice Hockey National Talent Development Officer. There was also input from Solway Sharks captain Struan Tonnar, Solway coach Joe Coulter and modern apprentice Kyle Johnston.
Players were treated to a wide variety of skills and drills training on the ice, as well as off-ice training and testing that pushed the players to new levels of strength and fitness. There were also class-based strategy and tactics sessions.
Martin Grubb said, “It was a great camp, all the players were prepared to put hard work in and every single player saw the benefits in terms of their development. They all learned while they were having fun, and they arrived every morning keen to get started and see what we had in store for them. Struan, along with Joe and Kyle, ran the off-ice sessions, which developed into an integral part of the day, with the players excited to see what the team challenge would be each day. It is rewarding for us as coaches to see the players stretch themselves and strive to reach their potential, and everyone did that over the week. This was the ideal start to the season for the Junior Sharks.”
Mark Beggs added, “I had a great week at the camp. For me personally it was great to see the progress of the players over the course of the week. Myself and Martin work extremely well together which makes the camp run really well, and the players will continue to benefit from the knowledge and skills they have learned as they go on into the season with their club teams.”
