National Governing Body for Skater Hockey in Great Britain
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NEWSNew Southend Sabers WebsiteDate Posted : 12th May 2007
Taken from 'www.southendshc.co.uk'The club was founded by Aaron Hawkins for his younger brother Adam, as he wanted to play skater hockey and there was no local clubs. The kids had one hour a week in a local sports hall with no equipment, road traffic cones as goal posts and every player on outdoor skates, using borrowed balls and with second hand hockey sticks. The kids really seemed to love it and by word of mouth more kids came along and within a couple months we had around 10 kids regularly turning up and having great fun. The potential was becoming obvious, with a little direction and belief this group of lads could possibly be turned into a club and play competitively in a league. Steps were taken in making contacts within the league and other clubs. The summer of 2005, player numbers were up to around twelve and each of the players were starting to purchase protective equipment in order to play in friendly matches which the club was trying to arrange. This was also the time when the club held their first sponsored event in order to purchase essential equipment such as goals and hockey sticks, it was a great success and everybody involved really worked hard, and raised around £300 which was put towards buying two goals for the club and training jersey for each player to show appreciation for all their hard work and dedication. The New Year saw the club picking up momentum, several of the parents were keen to take a more active role within the club, none more so than Steve Ferguson, a father to one of the players, he began assisting in training and helped ensure all the kids had a great time every week. It was during this period that the club moved venue to a much bigger sports hall. The next big step forward came in the spring of 2006 when Steve day, a father to another of the players very generously agreed for his business to sponsor the club and gave us £300 which the club could use to purchase our own team jerseys. The kids in the club had decided upon the name of "sabers" themselves and several of them came up with designs for our shirts, these were worked with and the final design was done by "just hockey" a local hockey supplier. Some weeks later the shirts were delivered and on training given out, it was a great day for everyone involved in the club and a massive step towards actually being in a position where we could compete. South end sabers as we were now known was now starting to gear everything towards entering into the league in 2007, the club held another sponsored event and raised more crucial funds which was put towards purchasing a netminder kit, which although very expensive would be crucial if we were to play in the league. Player numbers were up to around 15 and training although still one hour per week was now split into a peewee team and a youth team dependent on age. This was also the time when the team was lucky enough to recruit the assistance of Peter Wyatt, he came on board to help coach with bundles of enthusiasm and lots of ideas, and he would become a key figure in the club and help massively towards the clubs growth. Towards the end of summer 2006 the club was ready to hold its first friendly and over the next three months the club held several friendlies with rival clubs, this was great experience for all the kids and they were so pleased to be playing other clubs. It was around this time that the club decided to move venue yet again this time to Shoeburyness Leisure Centre, a much more ideally located venue with good facilities and a far better time slot. The start of 2007 was a very exciting time for everyone involved, the club was busy getting the players registered for the league, training hard and purchasing the last minute equipment required such as a second netminder kit for a peewee goalie. January saw yet another milestone in the history of the sabers, as the club received notification they had been awarded a grant from the lottery of £2000 which had been applied for some months previous. This enabled the club to purchase new shirts for the youth team, the decision was taken to reverse the colours so both peewee and youth teams would have their own colour scheme. The sabers were now ready... It had been a long journey but a very enjoyable one, the club had grown massively in just two years and with the dedication of every player and parent we were ready and eagerly awaiting confirmation of the league start date. From here onwards things were going to get really exciting......
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New Eastern Region (ESHA) club Southend Sabers have launched a club website which can be found at 