Play More Hockey With Crusaders Skater Hockey Club

On Saturday afternoons, approaching one o’clock, at the gym at Birchwood Leisure Centre small children start arriving pulling bags bigger than themselves, carrying oversize ‘golf clubs’. This is no clandestine meeting of any junior ‘fight club’ it’s the start of the Borehamwood Crusaders Skater Hockey Club training day. The children, aged from eight to twelve have come to play Hockey, skater hockey, think of it as Ice Hockey on wheels. The giant bags reveal a selection of protective kit, not to warn off the attacks of other players but to avoid damage from the ball, a tennis ball sized device, in orange that’s designed not to bounce, as a result its quite hard but no one seems to mind, with pads that cover the whole of the lower leg, shorts that cover the rest, shoulder pads that cover the upper body, elbow pads covering the obvious, gloves to protect the hands and fingers and a helmet and cage to protect their heads and faces they start to roll out onto the gym floor wearing inline skates. The session starts warming the kids up with some skating drills, they skate ‘shuttles’ and are told to skate, kneel and then skate again. Then the balls arrive. The kids are all eager to get one and begin skating circles and firing them into the goals. For two hours the children work on how to play the game. Played by two teams with five players, four outfield and one goalie. As the day progresses older children arrive every two hours till at seven o’clock the senior team arrive, all over eighteen and skating and playing like National Hockey League veterans. Its all over at nine o’clock for another week.
Borehamwood Crusaders , named for the area they began life in, now call Hatfield their home and are arguably one of the best teams in the country. Playing in the London and Eastern Skater Hockey League of the British Inline Skater Hockey Association, they regularly attend National Finals to win places to play the best European teams. The trophy cabinet is full to overflowing, yet despite this it is still a family based club, club chairman Jan Dickinson and head coach Nigel Dickinson have two sons in the senior team, all team managers and coaches are taken from parents of boys and girls who play for the club.
If you’re interested in Skater Hockey please see www.crusadersshc.co.uk for more details or pop down to Birchwood on a Saturday, the fun starts at one.

for more info contact us here or email sh4rpy@hotmail.com

UNDER 12s - GET YOUR SKATES ON

if you want to play hockey and lots of it come and join Crusaders, we play Bisha and GBHI

for more info contact us here or email sh4rpy@hotmail.com

Bisha Age groups.
Peewee
Upper limit: players who at end of the current year are 12 years of age.
Lower limit: players who at end of the current year are 10 years of age.

Youth
Upper limit: players who at end of the current year are 15 years of age.
Lower limit: players who at end of the current year are 13 years of age.

Junior
Upper limit: players who at end of the current year are 18 years of age.
Lower limit players who at end of the current year are 16 years of age.

Senior
Players who at end of the current year are 19 years of age or over.

Playing up
Players in the final year of the age group are allowed to play in the next higher age group. Except players in the top 2 years of the junior age group are allowed to play in the senior age group.