Ballymoney Hockey Club get their new season underway this Saturday when they
travel to play Lisnagarvey in the opening rounds of the Winemark Ulster Shield. The squad
have been training hard over the past few weeks and are ready for this opening encounter.
Some of the Money girls had little of a break over the summer holidays with Megan Frazer
training with the Irish A squad and also competing in the U.K. School Games which was
in Bristol, Sammy-Jo Greer was also a member of the squad who competed in Bristol and this
was on the back of playing with the Irish U16 squad who travelled to Holland for the
European Championships in which they came fourth.
New member to the club Julie Allison (previously Coleraine) also travelled with the
girls to the U.k games where they finished with a silver medal having defeated Wales and
Scotland 3-0 respectively and going down 3-0 to gold medal winners England.
Another new
face at the club is Kim Gregg (Mills) former Pegasus player who took a five year break
from the sport but has been working hard over the past few weeks with the Toon team.
Harry
McNeill is still at the helm of Ballymoney and it will be interesting to see if he can
improve on the mark he made last year with the runner up spot in the league,Winemark
Ulster Shield and the Irish Senior Cup.
The
remainder of the club have another weeks grace before they take to the field. All members
are reminded that training is on Wednesday nights starting at 7.00p.m till 9.30p.m. Any
one interested in helping out at the club either with coaching, umpiring, travel or
sponsorsorship can contact the club via the email address ballymoneyhc@hotmail.co.uk
 
COME LEARN NEW SKILLS AT THIS UNIQUE
CROSS CODES COACHING SESSION,
TRY BOTH HOCKEY & CAMOGIE
This Cross Codes event is being run in
conjunction with Ballymoney Borough Council
Contact Angie on 077897 56924 for more
details
HOCKEY GIRLS’ TEE OFF!
Ballymoney Hockey Club charity golf day tees
off on Friday 10th August at Gracehill Golf Club.
The golf day is
the final component of 7months of fundraising for their chosen charity Action Medical
Research and the campaign ‘Touching Tiny Lives’. This particular charity and
campaign was chosen as it focuses on helping sick and vulnerable babies. Being a Ladies
Hockey Club the members felt that this charity would be very applicable.
Before the actual golf
day itself the club has so far raised £1000 from running the Belfast Marathon and have
raised £1880 from sponsorship of holes and donations from local businesses in the
Ballymoney and Armoy areas.
The club would
like to publicly thank Jim and Margaret Gillan (Gracehill Golf Club) for the use of the
course for the charity day and they would also like to thank the following businesses for
the enormous generosity in sponsoring the golf day, as it would not have been able to take
place without them:-
Finally the club would like to extend a warm invitation to all golfers who are available
on Friday 10th August to come along to Gracehill Golf Club. Teams of 4 will be
competing for the following prizes:- individual male and female 1st, 2nd
& 3rd highest score, male and female longest drive and nearest the pin.
TWINNING CONTEST
Ballymoney town is twinned with Douglas,
Isle of Man, this has opened the way for an over 18 team to travel to Douglas on Saturday
25th August to play 2 matches against the National team in Douglas.
The team is coached by Lynsey McVicker and
managed by Linda McDowell.
Club President Arlene McVicker will accompany the
team, Arlene is also a member of the Ballymoney Twinning Committee and has been
instrumental in securing this trip for the hockey girls.
Team:
Heather McClements, Ruth Sutherland, Nikki McCaughern, Lynsey
McVicker, Judith McVicker, Jacqui McVicker, Judith McCracken, Aine Kearney, Diane McNeill,
Jill Black, Emma Patton, Danielle Hagan.
LYNSEY MCVICKER MBE
Former Ireland captain Lynsey
McVicker has been awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, for her services to
hockey in Northern Ireland.
 She is
player/coach with club side Ballymoney and took them to their first ever Irish Senior Cup
win in 2001 and also competed in the European Cup Winners Championship in 2002.
Since then, Ballymoney have gone on to compete in two Irish Cup finals, two Ulster Shield
finals and achieve two second-place finishes in the Ulster League.
A 12 year International career saw
her win over 150 caps and a best-ever finishing position of fifth in the European
Championships in Dublin before she drew her Irish hockey playing career to a close.
Lynsey has been a
member of our hockey club since she was a schoolgirl at Dalriada Grammar School,
Ballymoney at the age of 16. Since her schoolgirl days she has progressed up through the
Ulster and Irish levels representing both of them at every level.
Her hockey career
started off as a 14 year old when she played in the Dalriada Under 14 team that were joint
winners of the Ulster Junior Cup in 1988. Following
this she was selected for the Ulster Under 16 team and then the Irish Under 16 team. In 1992 she played in the Ulster Schoolgirls
showpiece the Belfast Telegraph Schools’ Cup Final, where her performance again
caught the spectators’ eye and she was awarded the ‘Player of the Match’. While at school Lynsey also went onto represent
Ulster and Ireland at Under 18 level.
From Under level
18 level Lynsey rose rapidly to Under 21 level and then to Full Senior Honours with both
Ulster and Ireland. 1994 was a very special
year for hockey in Ireland and for Lynsey, when Ireland hosted the World Cup in Dublin and
when the hockey fraternity first laid eyes on the lightning quick winger at whom they
fondly chanted ‘there’s no-one quicker than McVicker’. During this
tournament Lynsey showed her enormous breadth of talent as she sped down the wing and
could find the net from any angle and at any height.
Following her
performances in the 1994 World Cup, Lynsey was awarded a Hockey Scholarship to the
University of Maryland where she continued her development.
While there she was named on the All-Stars Team for 2 years running - this
award is for the top 11 hockey players in the USA each year. During her second year there
she captained the University team to the American Universities Championship. Following her 2 year Scholarship she stayed in
America for another year to help coach at a local High School. This demonstrated her love
of the sport and her willingness to give something back to the local community where she
had lived for the previous 2 years.
On returning to
Ireland in 1999, she came back to her local club, Ballymoney, and took over the reigns of
club coach and 1st XI player. In
this role as coach she coached the children in our Mini and Junior Clubs (aged 7-14) as
well as coaching the Senior Clubs 5 teams. During her first season back Lynsey was also
instrumental in securing the finances for the astro-turf pitch in Ballymoney which was
formally opened by MP Kate Hoey live on UTV Sport. Since Lynsey returned to Ballymoney
Hockey Club in 1999, the club has gone from strength to strength, as player-coach in 2001
she lead the 1st XI to their first ever Irish Cup win when they overcame the
mighty Pegasus at a rain lashed Blaris. Following this epic win Ballymoney have now become
one of the top teams in Ireland, and only last season we hit the headlines again following
our penalty shoot-out defeat to Dublin’s Hermes in the 2005 Irish Cup final, which
attracted approximately 20,000 viewers as it was screened live on RTE. Lynsey has stayed
loyal to her club and has helped them in all competitions, as the club has reached the
Irish Cup twice and the semi-final four times as well as reaching the Ulster Shield final
twice and finishing runner up in the Ulster Senior League Division 1 on two occasions. Following the Clubs Irish Cup win in 2001 she lead
the girls alongside Paul Cooke in the 2002 European Cup Winners Cup (Division A) in Spain.
Although Lynsey has stepped back from the coaching mantel at the club she is still a key
figure in the club and for 2 years she has been Club Chairperson (2005-2007) and is always
willing and ready to step in and coach when the Club current coach is unavailable.
Lynsey played on
the Irish Senior Ladies Hockey team for the 12 years where she represented Ireland at 2
World Cups, 3 Olympic Qualifying Tournaments and 4 European Championships. She has
travelled the world with the Irish team playing in competitions and tournaments in
Argentina, Germany, Holland, Australia and the USA. In 2003 Lynsey was given the honour of
Captaining her Country. During her captaincy she lead the girls to a Celtic Cup win in
2004 over Scotland, England, France and Wales and into the 2005 European Championships
which were held in Dublin. During this wonderful 2005 European Championship in Dublin
Lynsey in her final tournament was outstanding on and off the pitch as she dealt with her
numerous duties. Not only did she lead the team to their best ever position of 5th
which secured them a position in next years World Cup Qualifiers in Dublin but she took on
an active role with the media. She wrote a daily column in the Newsletter and had TV and
Radio interviews after each game. During her
captivating career with the Irish team Lynsey gained 153 caps and joined a group of elite
Irish players who have gone before her. Following
this tournament Lynsey announced her retirement finishing on a high in front of her
family, friends and home crowd.
Like her fellow
Irish colleagues Lynsey achievements have been made the more remarkable by the fact that
she has never received any financial rewards or reimbursements for her commitment to
hockey training and playing as she has had to juggle school, university and job
commitments to play for her country at all levels.
She continues to provide enormous
influence in encouraging and supporting numerous players at Ballymoney Hockey Club.
Ballymoney Quartet go to Auckland for Olympic
Qualifiers
Lynsey McVicker, Angela Platt, Bridget Mckeever
and Nikki McCaughern head to Auckland, New Zealand to represent Ireland in the 2004
Olympic Qualifying tournament. Lynsey has received a further accolade as she is going to
the tournament as Irish Senior Team Captain.
Irish Senior Quartet: Nikki McCaughern, Lynsey
McVicker (Team Captain), Angela Platt and Bridget McKeever
Ballymoney Girls Help Ireland Reach World Cup
Finals
Lynsey McVicker and Angela Platt played their part in helping Ireland finish 5th in the
recent World Cup Qualifying tournament in France ensuring that the team will go to Perth,
Australia for the Finals in September 2002. Lynsey was Ireland's top goalscorer of the
tournament and netted the "Golden Goal" in extra time that sealed the victory
over Scotland for 5th place. Read all about the tournament and Ireland's controversial
victory over Lithuania on the Irish Hockey Association website. 8 October 2001
Ballymoney Girls again play a key role for Ireland
Ireland have qualified for the European
Championship competition in Barcelona, September 2003. The Irish squad were helped through
the qualifying tournament, held at UCD recently, by the Ballymoney duo of Lynsey McVicker
and Angela Platt. As is getting to be the norm for Lynsey she scored the "Golden
Goal" against Scotland to seal the Gold medal position for Ireland.
Lynsey and Angela are not the only girls
representing Ireland this summer. Honours have also gone to Jessica Lynch (U18 & U21),
Bridget McKeever & Nicola McCaughern (U21). These three girls are heading off to
Scotland to play in the Celtic Cup. Good luck
girls!! |
