Hockey
The aim of The Leys Hockey Club are to foster a sense of enjoyment for those who play hockey, to offer quality coaching for players of all abilities and to provide the opportunity to play competitive fixtures against schools in the local area to the best of one’s ability.
Hockey at The Leys
It was only with the demise of lacrosse (due to a paucity of fixtures) that Hockey became established as the main Lent Term sport at The Leys. Since then the game has flourished and the School quickly became a leading player on the schools circuit. Twenty-two Old Leysians have been capped for their country, from G.H. McCormick who played for Ireland in 1906 to D.J Woods who is a recently retired England and GB international, whilst in between N.C.D Lloyd won 23 caps for Wales and represented Cambridgeshire 173 times. Of this select group it is W.N. White (Cambridge Blue 1948) who stands out having won a silver medal at the 1948 London Olympic Games, whilst P.J.T. Svehlik won 66 caps for England and 31 for GB.
The School is proud of its links with the University, augmented in recent years with the men's and women's hockey squad using The Leys' astro turf for training during winter months. Twenty Old Leysians have won Blues dating back to C.A.F Green in 1906. A.H. Rocyn-Jones captained Cambridge in the 1930-31 season and J.B.H. Bisseker in 1933-34. In 2005, Biba Tunnicliffe became the first Leysian lady to win a blue when she represented Cambridge while James Waters is a current member of the men's blues squad. The Leys played in the curtain raiser to the Varsity Match in 2002 when they drew 2-2 with Cranbrook at the National Hockey Stadium.
The last ten years has seen the laying down of the astro turf and erection of a new sports complex. These new facilities have seen the quality of hockey being played by Leysians improve, building on the excellent work carried out before by Graham Cottrell, Mark Kendall and Peter White since the days when Neil White ran the hockey. The sport remains popular throughout the School and to those of all abilities. It is not unusual to see many OLs playing club and university hockey after they have left.
Hockey today
A new chapter in Leysian Hockey opened with the admission of girls into the Sixth Form in 1984 and throughout the School in 1994. The girls' sides have achieved much success on their circuit in a relatively short period of time. In October 2000, the Under 18 girls side won the Cambridgeshire County Cup for the first time and came second in the British Aerospace divisional play-offs. The Michaelmas Term 2005 saw an exciting Girls Under 14 side win their County Championship and come 3rd in the divisional play-offs, having gone through their regular season undefeated.
The Leys boys have maintained success in recent years, winning the County Cup in 1999 and 2000 and being runners up in 2001-2004. There is a strong tradition of touring within the Hockey Club. In recent years Leysians have been to California, Canada, South Africa and attended the Los Reyes Festival at the Polo Club in Barcelona. In July 2001, a joint boys' and girls' tour went to the Western Cape for 11 days, the first time a combined sports tour has gone from The Leys. July 2007 will see the girls tour once again, this time to Singapore, Malaysia and Dubai.
At present the School runs eight girls teams and eleven boys sides from Year 7 to the Sixth Form. There is a strong fixture list including Felsted, Bishop's Stortford and the keenly contested local derby with The Perse. The girls play in the Michaelmas Term, the boys predominantly in the Lent term while the Under 14 boys play in the Michaelmas Term. The School also enters the senior Cambridge Indoor League.
Twenty current pupils have represented Cambridgeshire and two boys are currently training with their respective East squads. Old Leysians can often be found frequenting the University Hockey pitches and those of the East league, playing for Cambridge City and other local clubs.
Coaching
Hockey coaching at The Leys is of a very high standard, with many of the academic staff contributing alongside specialist coaches. Of these academic staff five are qualified to at least HA Level 2 standard. The School employs two Hockey Professionals who are responsible for hockey development throughout the school as well as providing training for the staff. Our current professionals are Jo Ellis who plays for Ipswich Ladies and is a current member of the England & Great Britain squad, and former Great Britain and Olympian Nick Thompson.
The Leys currently has one full sized and one half size astro turf pitch. Next year we will build a second full sized astro turf at Latham Road while the Sports Hall extension will help the development of hockey players and athletes at The Leys. These facilities will ensure that players of all abilities are catered for under the careful eye of their coaches. This will range from those on the School's elite programme and those in the hockey club development squads to those playing in the B teams.