UWMHC - European Champions 2010About the Club
The University of Warwick Men’s Hockey Club is extremely active both on and off the pitch, with 115 members. We have expanded greatly over the last few years, with our club now swelling to have four competitive teams playing in both Wednesday and Saturday leagues, following the decision taken in 2007 to enter a 4th team into the MRHA leagues, which has proved to be very successful. The club is now certainly one of the largest on campus.
Our 1st XI achieved a double promotion in the 2008/09 season. They were promoted into the first tier of the BUCS inter-university Midlands hockey league, going undefeated all season, whilst on a Saturday they gained promotion to Midlands 1 – the fourth tier of English hockey. Our 2nd XI plays in Midlands 1 on a Saturday, and is in tier 2 of BUCS on a Wednesday. The 3rd XI is in tier 3 of BUCS, and is in Midlands Premier on a Saturday – the highest possible 3rd team league. The 4th XI is looking to seal consecutive Saturday promotions, aiming for Central Midlands Premier for the 2009/10 season, and won a play-off to get promoted into tier 3 of BUCS. We also have a friendly 5th team with regular games against both universities and club sides, which means the UWMHC truly caters for everyone wanting to play hockey at Warwick, from England U21 to absolute beginner.
The club is also very active socially, with weekly Wednesday night circles, 2 large tours (domestic and foreign), frequent Saturday night circles, away days to other universities, and events such as bowling, go-karting, and an annual trip to the National Indoor Finals in Birmingham. The club also does work in the community, principally through its commitment to coaching in local schools and holding hockey workshops for kids. Furthermore we have recently donated a proportion of our match fees to support the Right to Play charity, and also hold annual indoor and outdoor charity tournaments raising funds for a number of worthy causes.
The club trains twice a week on Monday evenings (7pm – 8.30pm) and Friday evenings (5.30pm – 7.30pm). We are extremely privileged in having two top class and experienced coaches working with us – Kali Takher and Simon Lee – who have served to increase the quality of Warwick hockey throughout the club. The club is also lucky to have use of two quality pitches at Westwood on the university’s campus.