Altona celebrates inaugural Pride Cup

Jul 29, 2019

Altona celebrates inaugural Pride Cup

On Sunday the Altona Hockey Club hosted its inaugural Pride Cup to celebrate inclusivity and acceptance of the LGBTQI community as they faced Southern United in crucial Premier League clashes. The Men and Women played in an alternate playing uniform featuring a rainbow sash and rainbow socks as a symbol of their support, while players and supporters were encouraged to sign a pledge wall to support for the cause.

Women’s Premier League captain Bronte Kerley played a dual role on the day, as one of the key organisers of the event, “the day is all about celebrating diversity of all kinds within our sport and making a visible statement about our commitment to fostering an inclusive culture.”

On the pitch the men started well against the unbeaten Southern United as they battled to keep their spot in the top 8. The first quarter saw plenty of chances before Southern opened the scoring through Josh Ephraums, with Cooper Burns hitting straight back for the A’s. A fast paced and highly skilled game, Southern took a 3-2 lead into half-time before blowing Altona away with a 3 goal 3rd quarter. Southern closed the game out to come away with a 7-4 win. Mack Dolenc continued his great season in defence for the A’s while Andrew Scanlon added 2 more goals to take his season tally to 17 from 15 games.

Captain Harry Dolenc lamented the ability of the A’s to take their chances, “Southern are a quality side, they are top of the ladder for a reason, we created enough chances but they were able to convert much better today. We’ll learn from this and come back, the boys loved playing in the rainbow kit for a great cause.”

The Women’s side had another milestone to celebrate with goalkeeper Taylah Brennan playing her 150th Premier League game for Altona. Southern United went in favourites sitting in 4th position on the ladder, and featuring recently capped Hockeyroo Amy Lawton, but the game was extremely even early on. It took a moment of individual brilliance from Lawton to break the deadlock in the 43rd minute with an incredible solo effort starting with the ball in her own half.

The lead didn’t last long with Altona’s own Australian representative Danni Schubach hitting back to equalise just two minutes later leading to a frantic end to the 3rd quarter highlighted by two incredible saves, firstly from Brennan, and then from Southern’s Ginny Wilson. The game fittingly ended in a draw with Sana Allah giving Southern the lead yet again before Jess Brennan continued her stellar year to equalise late in the game.

Taylah Brennan was thrilled with the contest, “(it) was really intense and competitive from the first whistle to the last, with lots of chances for both teams. It was such a great experience to play a milestone game on such an important club day, surrounded by an amazing team of girls who absolutely gave everything they had.“

The day was made possible by the donations of Glenn & Mel Porra who lead the idea to celebrate the Pride Cup with a rainbow coloured uniform, Pete Dolenc who contributed generously and many club members who volunteered their time to make the event a success. Kerley summed up the key theme of the event within the local community, “It’s a great opportunity to reflect on how you might be able to do better for the people around you and any future club members.”

You can check out the Pride Cup round story via Hockey Victoria, and to learn more about the Pride Cup, visit pridecup.org.au.

Premier League Coaching in 2019

Jan 3, 2019

At the conclusion of the 2018 season, both Greg Drake and Ben Newell stepped down from their respective roles as the Women’s and Men’s Premier League coaches. Tracey Drake is also stepping down from her role as Assistant. Greg has been in charge of the women for 5 years, putting in countless hours of work and expertise and will be enjoying a much-needed break while also pursuing coaching opportunities with the Japanese national women’s team.

Premier League Women

In stepping down from the Men’s role, Ben Newell has decided to accept the position as the Premier League Women’s head coach for 2019. Ben has been in charge of the men since 2015, and for the 2 years prior to that he was integral part of the men’s coaching panel under Ben Guy. Ben has previously been an assistant coach to our Women’s State League 1 team as well as coaching stints in both Townsville and Fremantle. As a player Ben represented our State League 1 side 148 times for 34 goals over his career.

Andrew Scanlon will be joining Ben as an assistant coach for 2019 while balancing his playing duties with the men. We are extremely excited about both announcements and wish Ben and Andrew the best of luck for 2019 and into the future.

Premier League Men

We can also announce that Steve Campbell will be taking on the role of coaching the AHC Men’s Premier League side in 2019 in a playing/coach capacity. Steve comes with a great deal of hockey knowledge and respect from within our club and the wider hockey community. His coaching appointment will build on this role as a fantastic leader for our squad in 2019. Stevie will be supported by Alex Tyrrell as assistant coach in conjunction with a number of other supporting roles.

Vacancies

We are still looking to fill several of these roles for the men’s squad as well as throughout the club. The roles currently available for 2019 include a Men’s and Women’s Pennant and Metro coaches for Wednesday night training, Men’s and Women’s Premier League Reserves coaches, a Tuesday night training assistant and an impartial Men’s Premier League selector. Any interested parties can contact Steve Ritchie directly at president@altonahc.org.au.

Congratulations to Ben, Steve, Andrew and Alex on their new roles, and best of luck for the 2019 season and into the future!

2018 $5,000 Draw

Jan 12, 2018

After a couple of years off we are back with the best reverse raffle in tow – with a total prize pool of $5,000 available to win!

Tickets: $100 – allows entry for 2 people including food & free drinks for 3 hours during the draw
Date & Time: Starts at 12 midday on Sunday the 19th of November
Prizes: $4,000 for the winner and $1,000 for the runner-up

Book tickets online: https://shop.altonahc.org.au/product/5000-draw/

After booking forward your confirmation email to Kate.holland12@gmail.com to request your number in the draw (from 1 to 150) once you have purchased tickets!

Get in early to get your number, invite your friends for what is always a great day (and a chance to win cash), and we’ll see you there.

Revive Physiotherapy & Pilates Sponsorship

May 11, 2017

We are proud to announce a brand new Silver Sponsor, Revive Physiotherapy and Pilates in Altona North. They are there for all of your physiotherapy needs, including offering a special rate for Altona Hockey Club members!

Revive Physiotherapy and Pilates opened in November 2016, and was born out of a strong desire to positively impact the lives of every person we meet. Our mission is to help each and every patient achieve their full potential and maximise their quality of life.

Revive Physiotherapy and Pilates is owned and run by physiotherapists Matthew Licastro and Laura Gentile, who are both highly qualified physiotherapists with post graduate qualifications. Matthew with a Graduate Certificate in Sports Physiotherapy and Laura with a Masters in Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy.

Both Matthew and Laura have extensive experience in sports rehabilitation, and are passionate about helping you return to optimal playing condition.

Matthew’s special interest areas include low back pain, headaches, sports injuries and tendinopathy. Matthew is also qualified to perform Dry Needling.

Laura’s special interest areas include neck and thoracic pain, headaches, shoulder injuries, pelvic/SIJ dysfunction, paediatric physiotherapy and pre and post natal care.

We believe that placing our hands on patients is a vital part of treatment and will use a combination of manual and exercise based techniques with the aim of reducing pain and improving range of motion and quality of life.

Revive Physiotherapy and Pilates is fully equipped with HICAPS and EFTPOS facilities allowing you to claim private health insurance rebates on the spot, and has onsite parking for ease of access. We are pleased to offer special rates for all members of Altona Hockey Club.

For more information on the services we offer or to book an appointment, either call 9391-2600 or visit www.revivephysio.com.au

We look forward to working with you and helping you achieve your goals!

Now Recruiting – Premier League Assistant Coach

Dec 15, 2016

The Altona Hockey Club is now recruiting for an Assistant Coach for our Men’s Premier League team.

This is an exciting opportunity to assist coaching a MPL group that has been pushing finals for the last few years, driven by a great young group of players and core group of leaders.

The role would suit a candidate looking to make a break into Premier League coaching and prove their worth with an established team, or an experienced coach looking for a new opportunity with an exciting group.

This role is remunerated with the rate based on applicants experience.

For the full job description: AHC MPL Assistant Coach Job Description

To apply or for more information contact Merryn Brennan – merrynbrennan@gmail.com

Seagulls Overrun at the Snakepit

Apr 7, 2016

Altona has relinquished a 1-0 half-time lead to go down 5-1 to Powerhouse-St. Kilda in the first game of the Premier League season.

The A’s started well, controlling possession for the first few minutes before the first half settled down to an even affair. Powerhouse had chances through penalty corners that were well dealt with by Felix Melder in goals and the defence, before some individual brilliance from Chris Coleman opened up the game after 20 minutes. Coleman made a tackle in the Altona defensive circle before counter-attacking with a searching, weighted ball through the Powerhouse defence allowing Patrick Phillips to use his pace create an opportunity. Phillips made no mistake, slotting the ball through the keepers legs on his reverse to give Altona a 1-0 lead they held into half-time.

Pat Phillips fire a shot across the face of goal.

The short corner defence can't quite keep the ball out of the net.

Powerhouse came out attacking in the second half, but the A’s still held their lead until there were 20 minutes remaining. A Powerhouse breakaway resulted in a field goal that opened the floodgates, as they slammed on 5 unanswered goals in the next 13 minutes. Two short-corner conversions were followed by two more field goals to put the game well and truly beyond the shell-shocked A’s.

The group will need to bounce back quickly with a trip to Waverley next week without Andrew Scanlon and Kieran Symons who are away at the U21’s tournament in Sydney, while Josh Pace is coming into the side for his Premier League debut.

Altona 1 – 5 Powerhouse-St. Kilda
Goal: Patrick Phillips