Welcome - We play hockey together

Dear members, parents, sponsors,

Six months have passed since we started at the end of September as the new board of our beautiful hockey club. Six months in which a lot has happened, but also things have been prepared that are important for next season. We would like to inform you about this through this newsletter. We look back on the months that lie behind us, but also look ahead to tell you what is coming our way in the near future.

Hockey is something we do together!

One of the most important things we've seen is that we can't do it alone. That is why a spearhead for us was to try to enthuse as many members and parents as possible to roll up their sleeves with us. Many committees have been strengthened with new people. This is visible in the sponsor committee, the maintenance committee, the events committee, the indoor committee, the youth committee and the recently formed sportsmanship committee. 

Examples of initiatives that have arisen from this are the handyman day, the professional appearance of the talent campus, the Easter hockey event, the Pub Quiz, the Over-18 Party and recently the C/D party for the youth of U12 and U14.

Looking back

We can also look back on a well-attended General Members' Meeting (GMM or ALV in Dutch) in November, where we interactively determined together what our members see as priorities. The renovation of the hockey pitches is at the top of the list, more about that later. We also completed another successful indoor hockey season, in which a number of teams won the championship.

During the New Year's reception at the end of January, we welcomed many new faces to our clubhouse, which was painted on the inside. And the hockey clinic by Dames 1 for the youngest youth was also a great success!

Looking ahead

The rest of the current season will mainly be dedicated to the hockey experience at our cozy family club. As such, both Dames 1 and Heren 1 can use your support at the home games in their pursuit of class retention. Feel free to come by and have a look during one of the upcoming Super Sundays, when both teams play at home right after each other and we can enjoy beautiful hockey while enjoying some music, a snack and a drink.

Many of our youth members are also eagerly looking forward to the upcoming A/B tournament during the Pentecost weekend, where we can still use a lot of help to get all volunteer tasks filled.

We are also looking forward to finalizing the cooperation agreement with Volvo Van Roosmalen, where our club will receive a bonus of 1000 euros if a member or a parent of a member purchases or leases a new Volvo. In addition to this initiative, we also hope to be able to present the renewed and improved cooperation agreement with Gunneman Sports to the members during the next GMM.

This GMM is scheduled for Monday 3 June. Make a note of this date in your calendar!

New hockey pitches

It is still our intention to start upgrading our pitches during the summer break in July/August. We have recently had extensive discussions with two suppliers, with the municipality, with banks, with subsidy agencies and with the KNHB, our national hockey association. As it stands, it still seems feasible, both financially and in terms of planning, to be able to install a water-saving new top layer on pitch 1 during the summer break, as well as to upgrade pitch 2 to an innovative 'dry' field. We expect to be able to tell you the final choice during the GMM.

Safe sports climate

We believe a safe sports climate is important for everyone. However, every now and then we are confronted with behavior that does not always fit with what kind of club we would like to be. Therefore, we have installed the aforementioned sportsmanship committee, where we actively think about how we can improve this.

As an example of trying to positively influence sportsmanship, one of the things we have recently reintroduced is the passing on of the administration fees imposed by the KNHB to the recipients of yellow and red cards.

It is also good to mention that we have recently been able to fulfil the role of Confidant (vertrouwenspersoon in Dutch) again. Whenever you are confronted with unwanted behavior, harassment or bullying, you can contact the Confidant to help determine next steps.

Cashless

An important change which takes effect from the coming season is that the club will become 'cashless' as of 1 July 2024. This means that as of this date cash payments are no longer accepted in the clubhouse. For parents of (young) children, there will be the possibility to get a prepaid top-up card, so that these young kids can also continue to order food, drinks and sweets without the need to have cash money.

We hope that through this newsletter we have brought you up to date with what is happening at the club. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. You can recognize us by the white training jackets with the "hockey doen we samen" logo on the back.

The board of HC Eindhoven:

Erica, Joost, Cherida, Menno, Maartje and Paul