As we start to settle into 2019, we welcome back all the teams from youth to senior level. Training at Gwent Hockey Club is back in full flow, and it's time to shake off the turkey and Christmas chocolate. We at Gwent hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas holiday break, and cannot wait to see what the second half of the season brings.

Friendlies are already in full flow to ensure maximum fitness and reaction times are at their peak level ready for that first league game back.

Our Men's teams all have their first league fixtures on the 12th January. Our Men's 1sts playing Bristol & West A away at 12:00, our Men's 2nds (A) against Cardiff Uni B are home at 13:00, our Men's 3rds (B) against Penarth C) away at 15:30 and finally our Men's 4ths are home against Bridgend C at 15:00. Our Men's section has a very successful start to the season, with our Men's 3rds having an undefeated first half of the season!

Going into 2019, the Men's 1st team are currently 3rd in De Cymru & The Marches 2 with 24 points, just two points behind second-place Wotton-U-Edge A and three points behind top-of-the-league Whitchurch C. The Men's 2nds (A) are sat in 9th with 9 points in De Cymru 1. The Men's 3rds (B) are top of the league at the halfway point in De Cymru 3, holding onto 21 points and three points clear of second place. Finally our Men's 4ths (C) are currently 5th, also in De Cymru 3, with 12 points in hand.

Our Ladies teams are more sporadic with their league fixtures starting back up, with the Ladies 3rds being the first from the section to start back to the league. They face Rhondda 2nds at 11:00 on the 19th January, playing at home. Our Ladies 4ths join them the weekend after on the 26th January, facing Pembroke 2nds home at 11:00. Our Ladies 1sts are finally back in action on the 2nd February against Haverfordwest, away, at 12:15, while the Ladies 2nds face Dowlais at 10:30 on Gwent home turf.

At this halfway mark, our Ladies 1sts are sat in 6th place of the South Wales Women's Premier 1 League with a total of 13 points. The Ladies 2nds are 7th in South Wales Women's Premier 2 League, holding securely there with 10 points at this halfway point. Gwent's Ladies 3rds are 9th in South Wales Women's Div 2 League with 7 points, and the Ladies 4ths are 3rd in South Wales Women's Div 5 League with 9 points, just three behind second place Cardiff & Met Ladies 5ths.

Gwent Hockey have been extremely excited once again about the fantastic results within our youth section. As a family based club, here at Gwent we pride ourselves on having a fun and engaging learning environment for youth players. We cannot thank our coaches and volunteers enough for what they do and bring to the club, and it's fantastic to see the results reflecting all the hard work of the volunteers and the youth players. The youth are currently playing friendlies, but these are all in preparation ready for Cup/Plate qualifiers, and maybe even Finals, in the Spring.

There's the round up for Gwent Hockey Club as we move forward into the 2019 fixtures of the 2018/19 season, and it's all to play for at the moment! Here's to the rest of the season.

Pob lwc, bawb! Good luck everyone!

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