Yes, FORTY NINE boys and girls, will be taking part in leagues for Under 8s, U10s, U12s, U14s and U16s at Garstang Community Academy - our home pitch.

The event has been organised by the Lancashire Central Women's Hockey Leagues Junior League Committee - comprising our Chairman and Junior League Coordinator, Charles Jackman, Adele from Fylde HC and Sharron from Preston HC with Umpire Coordinator, Wing-Shum Lee and Gemma Jones coordinating the junior umpires and umpire coaches.

Rounds 2 and 3 will be hosted by Preston HC on Sunday 23 May and Sunday 13 June with a final 'Festival' event on Sunday 27 June back here at Garstang which may be with select teams playing South Lancashire and/or Cumbria.

Players arrival on Sunday will be phased for the games between 10am-3pm to keep numbers on site low in these COVID times. A total of 33 teams have been entered, representing Brookfields HC, Fylde HC, Lancaster & Morecambe HC, Leyland & Chorley HC and Preston HC as well as ourselves. We estimate more than 220 children will be taking part in these games - 70% of whom are girls - and there will also be ten young umpires being mentored by the Lancashire Umpires Association.

For many, this will be their first taste of a tournament where the emphasis will be on having fun as well as playing together as a team and gaining valuable match experience.

Hockey over the last year, like many sports has been severely disrupted. Before the sport was given permission to return to the pitch at the end of March, England Hockey conducted a survey* which said 73% of players wanted to return as soon as possible. Many clubs have returned at a time when some take a break outside the traditional competitive season - although the sport has become year round in recent years with more informal summer leagues being played. In relation to juniors in particular, 98% had missed playing hockey - missed being part of a team, playing with friends and being active - and 25% of them said they wanted to play more hockey than they had previously.

So, local children can play more hockey this summer and while the forecast looks mixed for Sunday, they don't care - hockey is back.

If you are looking for a club for your child, then join us or use England Hockey's 'Find A Club' tool here to find a club local to you. It doesn't stop there though with many clubs, including ours, offering hockey for all ages, abilities and lifestyles.

We're particularly keen to welcome more men and women to our Back2Hockey section which should read as New2Hockey too, with no experience necessary and basically billed as Fun time, Free time, Me time. Check out the section here which includes some video testimonials we hope will tempt you.

* EH survey had 10,205 responses (15% of the player base) representing 718 clubs.