Cairns Hockey: Saints back on turf as 2020 season set to return
Saints A-grade women’s hockey players have returned to the training pitch ahead of what coach Kylie McArthur says will be a decidedly different season.
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Saints A-grade women’s hockey players have returned to the training pitch ahead of what coach Kylie McArthur says will be a decidedly different season.
Cairns Hockey Association clubs were allowed to resume training from this week as they prepare to return to competition in less than a months’ time.
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McArthur said players enjoyed getting back on the turf on Monday night alongside familiar faces at the team’s first training session since COVID-19 restrictions forced community sport’s shut down.
“Training is going to be different and with the restrictions the way they are we only get 45 minutes on the turf,” she said.
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“Over the next few weeks, as we work in that pre-season before comp, the focus for me is just making sure we reconnect and that we’re focusing on skill development and getting as much time on the ball as possible, because it’s essentially another pre-season.”
She said the team would not be heavily impacted by player movements when the season returned.
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Saints opened their 2020 campaign with a 3-2 win over Brothers, before a 2-2 draw with Trinity Stingers in round two, before the season was suspended in March.
McArthur said while it was good that the results from the first two games would carry over, but it would be back to the drawing board in terms of knowing what other team’s would look like.
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“My priority, first and foremost, is just focusing on our personnel and what we’ve got here,” she said.
“I’m not too worried about what other teams are doing, it’s just about getting my girls ready and prepared so we’re able to focus on our structures, our patterns, our performance and what the team cohesion is like again.
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“It’s really a short, very succinct season this year, so every game is definitely going to matter and I can’t really focus too much on what other teams are doing.”
Cairns Hockey last week announced its season would resume on July 22 and run for eight weeks, with two weeks of finals. The regular season will be 10 weeks in total, with the two rounds already played before the COVID-19 shut down in March to carry over.
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“We have included two weeks of Sunday games to enable the competition to be completed with two full rounds,” said CHA general manager of operations Kym McPhee-Smith.
“We took the advice from our members, via the survey, who requested to not play over the Show long weekend or in school holidays.
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“Members also requested to finish the season by Term 3 school holidays in September, to allow for our traditional summer competitions — Indoor and Summer Sixes — to be played.”
CHA’s original grand final plans in the middle of September had to be rescheduled to accommodate local players and officials who will be involved in the Queensland School Sport State Hockey Championships, to be held on new dates of September 13-16 in Rockhampton (13-19 Years Boys) and Townsville (13-19 Years Girls).
Originally published as Cairns Hockey: Saints back on turf as 2020 season set to return