2022 Review – Kent Target
As we prepare for the 2023 season, our Clubs take a look back at their 2022 successes! Kent Target Polocrosse Club, based in the South East, tell us all about their incredibly successful 2022 season!
2022 was definitely the year of coaching for Kent Target! We were extremely lucky to have had such quality coaching this year. We haven’t had an overseas coach since 2019, so were absolutely overjoyed to welcome Aussie Julia Stuart, who was a brilliant coach and contributed so much to the club. We also benefitted from John Rae staying with the Browns towards the end of the season and as always received some brilliant additional coaching from Jason Webb, Hamish Gillanders and Jack Brown too.
We sanded the pitches for training, which was much needed, as mid-season everything dried up and it meant we could ‘keep calm and carry on’. Trainings were particularly well attended. Our opening season training in April set the bar with around 25 of us, and was probably the earliest we have been on grass in many years. Wednesday night chukkas also drew in more attendees than usual all season. Our training and chukka weekend in June was a roaring success too, where we hosted local club Bethersden Bulls. We also successfully tried out some new training venues in Essex at Bons and Brook Farm.
Our tournament was a real experiment in 2022. We knew it would be tricky hosting a 3 pitch tournament more than 3 hours drive away from the core of the club, so we teamed up with local club Warwick and in addition, with Amanda Wasdell and Neil Hinkinson’s help, it was a great success. We are going to continue with the experiment, keeping the venue and date and Kent are going to try to go it alone on organisation in 2023 – please be patient with us!
Once again, we had some really high-level representation at international level. Jason Webb took part in the Shongweni High Goal and Charlie Hewitt, Jack Brown, Izzy Baker-Cresswell and Sophia Harpin all represented the UK in South Africa. With the addition of Hamish Gillanders and Pip Rowland now also in the running for squads this year, we will be super proud to watch all of our members represent. Good luck and roll on the World Cup in 2024!
We also need to mention our low goal (mainly parents!) team, who really progressed and expanded in 2022. Many players shifted from E to D grade. Most of the season ended up being boys versus girls matches and these were some of the best games to watch. Who needs A grade?!
And then came the National Championships. Kent finally brought home the double – the overall Club Cup and the A grade win!!! This has never been done before (and it has also been 7 years since an A grade win). This was truly testament to the brilliant coaching we had all season and the efforts put in by every single player.
We have been investigating some new ways to raise funds for the club and to raise our profile in the area and Alice Kish very kindly organised a fantastic sponsored fun ride in September around Risebridge Farm, with Kent members supporting and doing accompanied rides.
It is all change on the Kent Target committee for 2023 as two of our amazing committee members stepped down. Our secretary Amanda Wasdell moved on to a UKPA role and Sharon Kennedy, our head selector, hung up her polocrosse racquet. A huge thank you to these two individuals who have done so much for the club over the years.
And we’ve got some more exciting plans for the year ahead. In addition to the usual training, we are having a real push on sports development in the area and will also be doing some more fundraising events, involving past members and perhaps some exhibition matches! Watch this space. Plus, we have also got a junior club tour to Australia coming up in March/April, where some of our members will be playing in the Junior Classic in Albury. Exciting times ahead for the 2023 season.
