| Hockey Inspection trip in Holland |
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The first hockey inspection trip to
Our first port of call was MHC Amstelveen, which is 20 minutes by bus from
We were warmly greeted and shown around. There are seven hockey clubs in the immediate vicinity- each with state of the art fields.
From there we went on a bus tour of
In the evening we visited Stayokay Hostel in
We then went to our hotel in Noordwijk.
In the morning we visited Stayokay Noordwijk- another possible venue. This is a new Hostel, opened last year and has excellent facilities to keep students occupied in the evening. The sand dunes are across the road and the beach is only 800 meters away.
We visited a four star hotel – The Strand Hotel, Zandvoort- where the facilities are simply out of this world with tennis courts, squash courts, table tennis, a swimming pool , bowling alley, shops, cafes, a large lounge with big screens, games rooms etc all under one roof. Across the road is a magnificent beach. The hotel is 15 / 20 mins from HC Bloemendaal and it gives schools another, more expensive, option for accommodation.
We then visited HC Bloemendaal where we were their guests. There were two top of the league games- Bloemendaal Ladies v Push Ladies who are leading the league. Despite the non-stop rain the game was very exciting and skilful with Push coming out on top by 2 – 0.
Bloemendaal Men v Den Bosch Men was simply superb! It was 2 – 2 at halftime but Bloemendaal’s speed, strength and skill told in the second half and they won 5 – 2.
Bloemendaal have 6 current International players- including the World Number 1- Jamie Dwyer (he must have Wicklow connections!).
While theses games were going on all the other six fields were in constant use. As one game finished another was about to begin. The clubhouse was a hive of activity as players relaxed after the games.
All of us came away with a sense of anticipation for what is in store for Irish school children who want to Train & Play in
We also got the website of the hockey shop in Bloemendaal where the teams can buy gear and gadgets www.hockeyrepublic.nl
Monday 6th October, 2008
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