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Background
Box Hill Hockey Club began in the early 1980’s when the Chapel Hockey Club approached the Box Hill Council,
and so began the club’s location and identity with Elgar Park where it still continues today. In 1981,
Hans Van Beuge, an ex–Kew goalkeeper and International badged umpire, took over the coaching and administration
of the club. The club played on grass fields at Elgar Park, which were great in the early and late part of the
winter season, but heavy and slow in the middle. The club began with five senior teams.
Junior Club Establishment
In 1983, the junior section began with teams in the Under 11’s and Under 13’s. In fact the Under 11’s won
the premiership after an excellent year of hockey. Since then the juniors have expanded into the under 15’s and
17’s, and these players have become the nucleus of the club. Today Box Hill Hockey Club proudly fields teams in
the U11, U13, U15 and U17 divisions.
Development
In 1985 the present clubrooms were built and in 1987 a sand pitch replaced the grass grounds, to save
”ground maintenance costs”. By 1991, the club invited State League 1 club Kew to share our ground and they
promptly helped put in the synthetic pitch, which upgraded hockey in the Box Hill area and enabled the club to
play on the best available surface at the time.
Current Day and Future Aspirations
Today, Box Hill has three senior teams, a veteran’s team and four junior hockey teams. It is still a ”young” club
compared with other established clubs. The Whitehorse Council has jurisdiction over the area and pavillion, but
the Elgar Park Association controls the use of the hockey pitch throughout the year. We want to build the profile
of hockey in the local area, and do so by running under-age clinics for beginners each December, for children in
the local primary schools, as well as using our senior players to coach our under-age teams during the winter
season.
What it’s ALL About?
Hockey, for us, is a great team game where skills and good sportsmanship is emphasized for children in our junior
teams and this is strongly backed by our senior players. We have good relationships with the local primary schools
and Koonung Secondary College, where several senior students have begun their hockey and played in the school teams.
We encourage players to try out for representative teams, and many of our players have successfully participated
in both Regional (Red Devils) Competitions and State Competitions.
Our aim is to develop players to the best of their ability as well as provide a comfortable environment for players
to play both serious and social hockey in a friendly club.
For any players interested in joining our club please contact any of the committee members.
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