Ratcliffe using Brabo LHP

Another kit geekery spot this season was George Ratcliffe (former Wales junior, ex-Univerity of Birmingham starter, and HWHC no.2 - presumably in the senior Wales setup now - going on assumptions...) using the Brabo super pro catch glove; their top of the range LHP.

Interesting to see him making use of the Dutch brand glove given its lack of commonality in English goalies and I suspect the only piece of Brabo GK gear used in the Nat Prem this season. And I'd go on the educated (this time!) assumption that he uses it for its rebound properties and for further clearance on the save when making glove saves.

You can also see him make an intelligent clear with the glove to get rid of the ball after the low block covering the right baseline in the video, thanks to the rebound and 'ping' on the lighter foam glove.

Interestingly, it seems he's been trying out the Mercian LHP redesign, wearing it when backing up Kettle at the Playoffs for the Euro spots, and may be using it instead this upcoming season.

Goalie transfers: Kettle to HWHC confirmed

The building rumours were a straight swap for Kettle for Gibson, and all has been confirmed, with the swap being made official. With Gibson already confirmed in June (neither will be physically registered with their respective teams yet, without the window open!), a straight swap of Kettle to HWHC makes sense given goalkeepers available for a move and interested. With Gibson's arrival, Kettle wouldn't really be wanting to give up his spot, so a straight swap means he becomes the 'go-to-guy' at Hampstead.

Options for Hampstead would be pretty limited as to goalkeepers interested in leaving clubs they are established at (can't see Tommy, Bailey or Smith wanting to move away, although Smith might consider a swap from EG) and with hockey being officially an amateur sport, players are restricted by commute, jobs and everyday life, so getting an almost straight swap of player ability and team commitment is important for them to build in time for the season starting.

With his commitment to Wales and the increase in international training and practise games, some questions were raised over these commitments, suggesting that it was wearing him down and affecting his match performance, given his slump in play (at least, from the top tier standard of goalkeeping we expect from him). And this talk linked him with rumours of going back West perhaps to join Cardiff to be closer to the Welsh setup. But with working in London, I can't see that myself...

Regardless, it will be interesting to see how well Hampstead adapt to a changing squad sheet and how they will perform with the experience and capability of a 'custodian between the sticks' like Kettle.

 http://hwhockey.club/welsh-dragon-kettle-joins-hampstead-westminster/

Transfer news: Gibson to Surbs

With transfers getting underway in the switcheroo of the English Hockey League, the first notable goalkeeper signing is Harry Gibson joining Surbiton. This is an interesting swap given that Kettle solved Surbiton's ongoing goalkeeping conundrum (with split seasons and a regular change in goalies) and provided consistency for them going forward. Gibson alternatively brings a wealth of experience at his age and means Surbiton are in the luxury position of being able to build a squad around him planning ahead.

It would seem that players and clubs are looking to the future and with the next Olympic cycle starting (with the culmination of the Rio cycle), replicating the success of GB goalkeeper James Bailey who joined Wimbledon from Reading and took them to Europe whilst developing into an international standard goalkeeper. And it would seem England/GB coaches are more than happy to be giving young goalkeepers opportunities moving forward, whereas before age and experience at the highest level was considered first (and hard to come by i.e. without those opportunities); remembering that Pinner had to wait his turn behind James Fair.
 
After strong U21 campaigns and a successful debut season in the Premier League, it would appear Gibson is following his ambition and development path into a top keeper, and offering him greater exposure that may provide the platform to attract interest from abroad (like a football move to get Champions League football and so on), given Hinch going to play in Holland and so on.

But with increased opportunities at international level mean Gibson's absence from league games and forces the club to carry two no.1's and juggle the man management of keeping both happy, just like when Scanlon offered cover for him when he was away on international duty at the time. Rumours link his U21 deputy with Elliot Bullman, but he is said to have been plagued with injuries and without much national league experience at Teddington it would be quite a step up for him (or for anyone in that position; U21's isn't men's league!).

http://www.surbitonhc.com/2016/06/surbiton-hockey-club-announce-signing-of-three-new-players/

Gibson's switch to Mercian rhp

As I've barely been to any games in person this season, it's been harder to track any equipment changes in the top ranked goalkeepers in England, but however small, they can make a big change in the goalkeeper in question's playing style and save making. One change of note is Hampstead's and GB trialee Harry Gibson changing his Obo rhp for a Mercian design.

At a time when nearly all the other Obo users in the division have switched back to the Obo Hi Rebound RHP design (Smith and Kettle), it's interesting that Gibson has made the decision to change gloves having been using the Obo blocking style for such a long time in his days with Loughborough and beyond. I don't know if it was mid-season as the footage was from the last few games of the season, but is definitely a changeover since the start of the season.

With the Mercian blocking design hinging on a cross-continental design where the stick does the work rather than the wrist i.e. with the Obo, pushing out from the wrist from the elbow can be used to more readily 'punch' the ball away to redirect over the post or away, with the large square face, whereas the wrist turns with the stick as one more readily with the Mercian. This in turn means more of a flicking motion/rotation to make saves standing up from the wrist; an extension of the stick a lot like the Obo hi control in standing saves, and makes ground work easier.

In game terms, this seems confusing as he stands up a lot more, even when closing down, as in the game clip below, but also diving and recoveries should be easier than the Obo hi control with less emphasis on refined/evolved technique, for getting back into the play more quickly. Features that a hybrid style glove can bring into his game to finish off areas of save technique etc. ...

Tommy returns to the Gym!

With the transfer window just about to close on Monday, a last minute-ish transfer is Tommy Alexander returning to Indian Gymkhana, who he was playing for last season. Helping HWHC 2's to a dominant first place in the London Premier League and playing for the 1st team in the cup rounds, Tommy is obviously itching to take over as a first choice and push to stake his claim for a spot for the long term, as one of the more ambitious high level goalies knocking around the national league. Tommy helped the Gym to a good finish last season after joining midway from Surbiton, where he was second choice behind the now-emergent David Kettle. Indian Gymkhana are second place behind Bath right now, and with Cardiff dropping off from the pack, a good run of form could really make things happen. So not only can Tommy regain a national league spot, but also have the chance to help them to promotion, killing two birds in one stone as they say, by aiding his ambition to play in the Premier league and pushing the Middlesex side up the divisions potentially (if all goes to plan!).

Ian Scanlon: under rated because of HWHC?

Ian Scanlon, the oft under appreciated and represented (in my opinion at least), starting goalkeeper for the North London premier league side, is one seemingly outside of the England coaching radar. Having been at the club since his university days [Edit: An interesting tidbit though about Ian Scanlon is that he has scored roughly 130 goals for LSE (London School of Economics) whilst at uni there and can drag flick pretty well; have faced it when doing a bit of warming up, plus the choice of uni means he's a smart one as they say!], having been at Brooklands MU before that, and being around the squad when Welsh goalkeeper was there, having the chance to develop quickly early on and mentored by Lee Ible who was first choice at the time (and is now at Oxton and still involved in the Welsh international set-up).

He is also starting to get places now that age and maturity is quicking in, over and above what you was able to achieve stepping straight into the premier league at the age of 19. In the follow-up clash this season past he kept East Grinstead to a single goal which is an achievements in itself, a reflection of how far he has come from those babysteps. Asserting this in his play and self confidence, his is often dominant at corners (an incredibly cruicial part of the game at this elite level) and strong out to challenge against free balls. Prefering to play without arm guards, he has lightning quick reflexes and strong self confidence, very important for competing at this level accountability wise. Also notable is the fact that he has taken Hampstead on long cup runs for three seasons in a row (or more, can't remember!), and they even managed to turn over Beeston, their bogeyman opponent this past season, falling at the final hurdle to Surbiton though.

On the flip side though, he does falter in his consistency at times, in terms of sometimes being amazing, sometimes not "turning up to the game" with that same fiery desire to win, where playing all out every game would be better than losing track, which is where the criticism comes from, from those that voice it. One key problem though is his self doubt and hesitation, especially against drag flicks, which seems to be his Achilles heel. Over thinking where he would be better off reacting out of instinct subconsciously, he is often giving away unfortunate cheap goals by over commiting and ending up unbalanced and in the wrong direction, unable to shift back across to make that all important save.

But for me, he is still a solid choice when "on his game". Even the world's best struggle with consistency, like Cortes has; great at the HIL and international games, then tails and sometimes Ian plays running boiling like a lost person in the Arizona desert, then lukewarm and cold. Even though some see his performances as sub-par, he has kept Hampstead out of the relegation zone and away from the danger of losing that important and hard earned status, year after year, for four seasons now (and many believed they wouldn't be capable of staying there), and seeing as they are always bombarded (for some reason it's a lost , but important for discussion), I even might dare to say that Scanners is often let down by HWHC, especially in the runaway demolition away against East Grinstead where the opponents were let loose and were just free scoring and free to do as they pleased. Sometimes I feel that he has the most work of any of the national league goalkeepers, but without a scoring stats system like in ice hockey, there is no quantified.

For me, personally, I wonder if he had a permanent goalie coach and competitor to keep on task; as humans we need accountability and target setting and review and feedback to make sure we are always improving. Having trained with him when he was preparing for the Junior World Cup in Malaysia, I have seen his level of commitment, desire and hard work, but it seems like it's not being pushed to its optimum best. But without regular goalie specific related analysis week in week out, his form seems to drop and wobble in comparison to the breakout season he had at the spritely age of 21 when he fought out Mat Simkins for the starting role. He performed well in a squad that was all over the place, in the U21's tournament and kept them in games where they shouldn't have been so, so I don't know why on earth he was dropped, and I was surprised to see Bailey thrown to the wolves where he was embarassed and outplayed, as demonstrated below (not fair or easy on a young 17 year old struggling with drag flicks at the time):

'Scanners' looking pretty imposing and annoyed at that very same EG game after letting in the only game post penalty corner!

His stance is quite compact for a tall goalie, almost hunched down for all shots he faces, but it works with a good balance of movement and explosivity. As demonstrated below, with a set body position on angle and challenging properly. Similarly with his glove positioning, he is able to get low for diving saves, or quick enough in raising to make a high stop.

In terms of back-up options in the reserve goalies, again, there hasn't much competition. The signing of Coates did just what it was meant to (in terms of lighting a fire under Scanlon), as he battled for his spot, and kept the number one shirt (metaphoricall, he prefers number 23 for some reason!), and continued apace after the Australian joined in January. But this is where the super signing (no jokes, I highly rate Tommy) of Mr Alexander comes in. Showing his ability right off the bat for Indian Gymkhana, his intensity showed an immediacy of ambition as quality as he offered stability between the posts, shutting out opposition after opposition, clicking his new team just at the right time to safe them from demotion and put them right up the table where they should have been to start off with.

Whilst it is great experience for third choice Leech being at such a strong club as Hampstead, I can't see him getting much opportunity to assert himself. Given that game experience is worth more than any training session, if he wants to push for national league level at some point, he will probably need to look for a transfer at some point, a la Tommy Alexander and similar, making the most of learning behind two great goalkeepers and seeing how they train and play and treat the game seriously.

For the season upcoming, I can see some great things happening as the battle for first place commences. Given it's the only 1A/1B (i.e. equal status goalie duo) set-up in the whole national league, it's like the equivalent of a pro football team have a star starter join them to battle it out, like if Arsenal signed competition for Szczesny. This is the competition we need at national league level it's a shame it's the only scenario right now. Either way, HWHC are going to have a decent goalkeeper behind their back four and thus strong defence, and I can see them starting to build a better squad off the back of this and finally doing themselves proud and pushing up the table and stay there for a good while, now that they have begun to manage this in recent seasons.