Text Box: Things Are Already Happening …. There are initiatives already happening in and around Stockport in support of Youth Development. Did you know that Stockport has two well established Junior Clubs? Brenda Hopkins (Heaton Player) is involved in running Heaton Moor Juniors and along with some of my Reddish Green colleagues, I am involved in coaching at Werneth Juniors. These Junior Clubs have joined forces this season and have entered teams into the Greater Manchester & Lancashire Junior Hockey League and games are played most Sunday’s throughout the winter months. Through the work of the Stockport Hockey Development Group more hockey coaching sessions are scheduled for primary schools and work is being done to establish at least one other junior club in the area – possibly in Bramhall or Marple. Stockport MBC have launched a new programme this year to try to get more young people involved in sport. The School Sports Co-ordinator Programme provides time for teachers to establish better links for schools with local sports clubs. By 2006, the aim is to have 75% of 5-16 year olds taking part in 2 x hours per week of physical activity. This is an area of potential where some of our hockey clubs may be located where they can take advantage of a regular feed of players from schools. Play Hockey in Stockport – A guide to hockey coaching and clubs is printed each season and as Reddish Green Ladies are the only SDWHL club to have registered with Active Sports they are the only club in our league to feature in the leaflet – we need to increase our presence in advertising! The Stockport Hockey Development Group are moving into the 21st century with the development of their very own website. This appears to be one of the most effective means of communication and will hopefully raise the profile of hockey in Stockport. I am responsible for the website and it is almost ready to go live in the coming weeks. I would at this point like to thank Helen Elcock who has been instrumental in the development of the website. Helen is also the technical wiz kid behind the SDWHL website, for those of you who haven’t visited it yet – get on-line to www.sdwhl.co.uk all the information you need to know about your league is there! So What Happens Next? Hopefully this newsletter gives you a feel for what I am trying to achieve for our league and a taste of some of the activity we could benefit from knowing more about. So if you are interested in getting involved with the Youth Development Working Group then get in touch let’s get our league making a difference with hockey in Stockport. Andrea  Text Box: STOCKPORT HOCKEY DEVELOPMENT GROUP The Hockey Development Group meet regularly throughout the season. Time: 7.00-9.00pm Attendees: Anyone with an interest in hockey Venue: Usually Stockport Town Hall Contact: Sally Stanhope 0161 474 4485   Text Box: Visit Stockport & District Women’s Hockey League at www.sdwhl.co.uk Text Box: This may sound a little drastic, but look around you. How many under 16 players do you have on your team? With the exception of Reddish Green Ladies I would hazard a guess your answer would be less than 5, even, dare I say, ZERO! Well, all is not lost – yet! There are a lot of initiatives and resources aimed at providing more opportunities for young people to participate in sport and I am going to attempt to get the SDWHL involved at all levels – league, club and individual. What I would like is to establish a working group to help and support the establishment of Child Protection policy, relevant training courses and youth development activities within our league. This would enable players and clubs to have a direct input and to influence what the league do to increase membership particularly at junior level. So who would want to get involved? This is not an exhausted list but hopefully will provide a little food for thought, are you:- A player or parent with an interest in putting something back into the game that you have played or watched yourself? Someone who would like to get involved in junior coaching and/or development? A student doing P.E. or a sports related qualification? A person full of ideas and comments on how we could increase junior membership? Basically, I am looking to form a group of likeminded people who want to make a difference in our league. Text Box: Introduction …. Welcome to the first edition of my newsletter which I hope will keep all players informed of Youth Development activities and updates within our league. Why have a newsletter, I hear you ask? The simple answer is to start improving communication to all players and people associated with clubs in the league rather than depend on the few people who turn up each month to the league meetings to cascade updates (although I am sure they do so very well!). I am also hoping a newsletter will help you digest the issues and re-enforce some key messages because unless the league starts to take youth development more seriously our league will cease to exist in years to come! Text Box: Autumn, 2003 Text Box: Issue 1 Text Box: MATTERS Text Box: Youth Development Text Box: S.D.W.H.L.