Hockey

Cranleigh has a proud tradition of Hockey success, for both boys and girls, and the School has produced two Olympians – David Westcott and Don Williams – as well as a host of county and regional players. We have a strong reputation for the quality of our A teams and for the large number of teams for which we provide regular competitive fixtures, and we are the envy of schools on the circuit with our three Astroturf pitches, the latest of which was laid in 2005.

For girls, Hockey is the main sport of the Michaelmas term and for boys it is played in the Lent term by all Lower School pupils, as well as by a large number of Sixth Formers. The School’s coaching team is led by Richard Organ (currently coach of the England U21 indoor team) and Steve Batchelor, GB Olympic gold-medallist (Seoul 1988). For girls, we run four senior teams, alongside A, B and C teams in each of the three Lower School years. For boys there are four senior teams, three U16 teams, and six teams at U15 and U14 age-groups. Playing competitive sport at every level is a crucial part of our ethos and we endeavour to have a competitive fixture every week for every team.

Major hockey tours to Australia (boys in the summer of 2002 and girls in the summer of 2004) have visited Adelaide, Melbourne and also Cairns, where both hockey and a day on the Great Barrier Reef were enjoyed by the lucky tourists. We hope to continue this tradition in 2010.

In 2001 and 2002 the boys' Under 16 team went to Eindhoven, in the Netherlands; in 2009, 2010, and 2011 the boys' and girls' Under 15 teams also toured there. It has now been established that the senior teams visit the Netherlands in order to practice for the coming season. In December 2010 the U18 boys did three days hard training at Indoor hockey venues in Almere: the programme has been repeated in December 2011. In August 2011 the U18 Girls went to Utrecht to play Kampong HC and KVHC Bilthoven after three days of testing outdoor practice.

We have come to expect our teams to perform well in county tournaments and we also hold the girls’ and boys’ Surrey U14 tournaments here.  A notable success was in 2006, when the U14 boys’ hockey team, after becoming county champions, went on to reach the final of the National Schools’ Tournament, losing narrowly. In 2010 the U16 boys became National Outdoor Champions for the first time.

In 2009, 2010 and 2011 the boys' 1st XI were winners of the HMC Boarding Schools Cup: in the competition to date they have a goal difference of 37-10. 2011 has been an extraordinary year for hockey success at the school. The U18 boys became National Outdoor Champions, National Indoor Runners up, and winners of the St George’s Sixes trophy. The U16 boys became National Outdoor Runners up. The U18 Girls were South Region semi finalists for the first time, and were winners of the St George’s Sixes tournament. The U14 Girls were South Region finalists and have a playoff match in February 2012 to qualify for the National finals.

Senior Coaches:

Richard Organ is both an England Hockey Centrally Contracted Coach and the coach of the England Senior International Women’s Indoor team. At club level, he coaches East Grinstead, who last year won a silver medal in the European Indoor Division B and gained promotion to the top European Division – only the third time an English club has managed this since the start of the competition over 20 years ago.

Steve Batchelor famously won a gold medal as part of the Great Britain Olympic team in Seoul in 1988, though he represented GB for 12 years, achieving many successes: a Bronze medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and a Silver medal in the 1987 Moscow European Cup for example. He played for England at U16 and U18 level and has extensive coaching experience at Junior, club and Senior level.

For any queries, please contact the Head of Hockey, Mr Rupert Kefford: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Please click here to go to Current Community/Hockey/Boys and here to go to Current Community/Hockey/Girls