Leading coaches will put players through their paces

Top hockey coaches Colleen and Douglas Reid will be in Shetland next weekend to deliver a Level 1 coaching course.

A group of 13 local players are all set to be put through their paces in a rigorous three-day course both on the pitch and in the classroom.

Colleen is the coach development manager for Scottish Hockey and has been with working with the organisation for eight years. She also plays for and coaches Stirling Wanderers at all age groups and runs Scottish Hockey summer camps. She first visited Shetland in 2006 and is delighted to be back supporting the development of the sport in the isles.

Douglas has been coaching since 1992 at national and international level. In Scotland he had considerable success with Dundee’s Bonagrass Grove Ladies, taking national and European titles in 2005-06. During the same period he coached the under-18 Scottish men’s team.

Success and ambition took him overseas, where he was involved in coaching the New Zealand Central Mavericks team and worked with Kevin Towns and Shane Macleod preparing the Black Sticks, the national New Zealand squad, for the Beijing Olympics. They are currently ranked seventh and 10th in the world respectively.

Shetland Ladies Hockey Association hopes that the course and the involvement with two prestigious coaches will give the local scene a real boost.

Chairwoman Helen Robertson said: “We look forward to the newly-qualified coaches using their skills within their own teams, sharing across all age groups, to improve the standard of the local game.

“Shetland Ladies Hockey Association would also like to thank the ongoing support from Shetland Islands Council to enable this coaching course to take place.”

Hockey enthusiasts can also look forward to a weekend of training sessions when Douglas Reid returns on 30th and 31st May to run sessions for all age groups and work with the inter-county squads. Details of these sessions will be advertised soon.