INTRODUCTION x R&R #25

Hey guys!

My first post on Gryphon-Life has been a long time coming and here it is.

Firstly, let me introduce myself. My name is Justin Reid-Ross, I am 23 years old and I am proudly South African born and bred. I made my international debut at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and since then have played 47 times for SA, including 2 World Cups; ’06 &’10. For the last two seasons I have played in the Belgian Championship for A.R.A Gantoise along with G-Team members Wade Paton and Lloyd Norris-Jones.

I am currently checking out the vibe in Perth, Australia with Lloyd N-J and newcomer to the mighty G-Team, Rhett Halkett. I’m studying while I’m here, doing a degree in English, specialising in creative writing. I’ve also managed to join up with a team in the AHG League, Old Guildfordians Mundaring HC for a run around every now and then!

I have recently committed to joining yet another SA international and G-Team player, Lloyd Madsen(the lads are getting around!) at Pinoké in the dutch Hoofdklasse next season. The opportunity to play in the best league in the world against some of the best international players on a weekly basis is pretty mind-blowing to say the least. Excitement levels are high!

In terms of international competition, after a successful outing for out team at the recent World Cup, in terms of world rankings, South Africa’s next major tournament will be the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India in October. The team is announced on July 1st, so hold thumbs!

I’m really looking forward to throwing out some updates of my stay here in Perth, the build-up to my move to Holland and Team South Africa’s preparations for the Comm Games.

Keep the vibe strong!

R&R #25

SEMI FINALS x HOOFDKLASSE PLAY-OFFS

Hey Everyone!

So… The moment we were waiting for finally arrived. The semi final of the Hoofdklasse! Training 5 times a week, doing fitness sessions, briefing before matches, debriefing after matches, team talks, physical trainings, training sessions with the national team, healthy food and drinks (except after a win offcourse!), giving up parties, giving up vacation, getting warm before training and cooling down after training, trying to arrange things with your school so you can do every training,….

It seems a lot but it is nothing when you get the chance to play a match in front of thousands of people, trying to win the title with your teammates and friends. Winning matches like that is the reason why you do all the hard work. I haven’t win a lot of ‘big’ matches in my life, maybe the biggest match I’ve played in and won was at the European Cup in Manchester against the Germany. We won 4-3 in the last second and qualified for the Olympics in Beijing. It was the first time in 32 years that Belgium qualified for the Olympic Games. That is a moment I will never forget, I still know how it made me feel and I know for sure I am willing to make the sacrifices to get this feeling again. I really hope we can have a similar feeling this season with Oranje-Zwart. All of the team worked really hard during the year and out of the last 9 matches we won 7 and drew 2. So everyone is really excited to play the first semi final against HGC.

For myself, I am really lucky not to miss the play offs. I sprained my ankle just 2 weeks ago in a competition match against HGC and tore 2 ligaments. The first week I had to walk with crutches and yesterday I could train 2 times! It is really amazing so I want to thank our legendary physio Frank Hagenaars for this!

The semi’s are a best of 3 set up. We are playing this Saturday at home against HGC and the day after we play away at HGC. If no team wins 2 times we have to play the third match on Wednesday evening to decide who will play the final. It’s not going to be easy, HGC has a good team with Guus Vogels, Ashley Jackson, Barry Middleton, Rodrigo Garza and Rob Short in their team! The final will be against Bloemendaal or Laren. If we make the final we are also sure to play EHL next year. That would be great offcourse and I hope we’ll make it!

I hope you are cheering for us, I will try to post some photo’s of the team and the atmosphere of the play offs in Holland when I get a chance!

PS. I am still kicking Sander and Marc ‘s asses at FIFA!

Take care,

Thomas

4 NATIONS POL X LUCAS SEVESTRE

Forwarding the Final of the French Championship, the 4 nations U21 in Poland was planned at Sienamowice, the town where the Euro CUp U21 will take place in July!

_{My Brother and I, trying to stop Germany}

It’s has been difficult to prepare well this tournament with the team because a lot of players were involved with their clubs for the Semi-final and the Final. So we couldn’t manage to train as well as we expected… Moreover, few players were not able to come because of injuries or exams! When you have a group made up of 19 players, if you have 4 players who couldn’t come, you can imagine that we were in trouble.  The coach decided to select 3 new players, to balance the absences. We were missing 2 very important defenders, whose one is our top pusher!

Coach Rowli managed to compensate all the absences and we were 18 at the airport, the 18^th May! The forecast journey was Paris-Frankfurt (GER) then Frankfurt-Katowice (POL), which guaranteed us a long and tiring trip! Arrived at 20h in Poland, we discovered with surprise that our stickbags didn’t follow us during the journey. The stress growth up because we were supposes to play the day after, at 5pm!
We all reached the hotel “Arsenal Palace”, high quality, but I was the only guy who hadn’t his travelbag and stickbag, whereas my team-mates had at least their travel bag… In the morning, we all discovered at the reception, a mountain of luggage… If you have seen that, you would have thought about Childs at Christmas!!  Hilarious

On Wednesday, we played against the hosting team, Poland. My first game with the team, and also my first as Captain.  Playing as a center midfielder, I have a lot of to do on the pitch. Always communicate with my  team-mates, think about the way we press/outlet, and sometimes discuss with the umpires was harder than I thought, but I liked it! This is much more tiring than just thinking about you-self and what is around you, this is a mental tiredness. To illustrate my words, I don’t have a lot of memories about the times I’ve just concentrated about me but I played well, the team to, even if we’ve made too many little mistakes. Poland leaded 3-1 at the half-time, but we manage to increase and we won 5-4, with my first goal and my performance awarded me as member of the players of the game by my coaches.

The new key sentences are “Small things can make a big differences” so “Concentration to the details”
In french it is “Les petites chose peuvent faire de grandes différences” and “Se concentrer sur les détails”

The second game was against Germany (last game, loss 8-2), this time we’ve lost 5-2… And unfortunately, I finished the game with one legs, because of two hits on the right knee. This injury, made me stay away from the pitch for the two last games. From my physio, this is not too serious; I must keep cool for one week. It allowed me to observe the way we were playing, and what were our mistakes on our press, our outlet… I get some interesting information! Against England, we’ve played very badly, and lost 5-1, then 6-4 against Poland… One more time, we finished fourth of the tournament! But there is a lot of positive things and one of the worst things we did, was not playing for each-other, not made good passes, not make a good lead to create space… We targeted few important issues, that we hope fix as soon as possible to get ready for the next U21 tournament, Celtic Cup at Belfast in Ireland, in July!  A lot of trainings are planned, and we need it to increase our level as a team!

The potential is there, I can feel it!

By the way, we are leaving in 10 days for Germany, at Monchengladbach, to play 3 games against U21 Germany with the France A team.

Readers, if you are interested, we’ll catch up in 10 days 

Kahlu!

TOURNAMENTS x MAAS x VIDEO

Hi all,

Last weekend we played the EHL final four in Amsterdam. Hockeyclub Amsterdam organized the last round of  this tournament. For those who have never been at hockeyclub Amsterdam; it is located in a huge park with 2 other hockeyclubs: Pinoke and Hurley. (see google maps: nieuwe kalfjeslaan, amsterdam). Every sunday this is the meeting point for hockeyplayers, every sunday one of the three clubs is having a party, every sunday there are parking problems, every sunday there are matches in the hoofdklasse. Playing hockey in Amsterdam is something that everybody should experience.

During the EHL there was another tournament at hockeyclub Amsterdam: onderbond. This is a recreative tournament where the beer and party is more important than the hockey performance. During the EHL matches you could hear the music beats of the recreative tournament and the recreative hockey players could hear the EHL spectators screaming for their clubs. Both tournaments were representative for the hockeyclubs in Holland, at one side you have top hockey matches, at the other side you have the 23rd team, you want both of them to be happy and at the end everybody has a party together.

look at this little movie of both tournaments:

see you

Paul

ps. rob, lucas, thijs, thomas and sander: good luck in the play offs, I will support you!

EHL FINAL x UHC v ROTTERDAM x VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Gryphon’s own Simon Child (NZ Internationalist) and Paul Maas (NED Indoor Internationalist), playing for Rotterdam HC, were unlucky in front of the net, eventually going down to the power house club team of Europe in Ulenhorster HC of Hamburg. Check below for the highlights of this great final. For the record UHC has made the last three EHL finals and won two making them the dominant team in Europe since the inception of the EHL in 2007/08.

WE ARE [NOT] THE CHAMPIONS X LUCAS SEVESTRE

After a difficult first part of the season, fifth at the winter break and non-qualification at the second EHL’s round, we won 8 of our 9 games. It shows that we have reacted quiet well face to the difficulty. This last week was harder than the other, because we played 2 games in a week-end, and thanks to our qualification for the play-off, ranked second, we’ve hosted the semi-final against Lille HC.

w ww.lsnphoto.com

The Semi-Final:

Theirs supporters came with numbers, and it assured a very good mood on and off the pitch. We clearly dominated 60 min of the game, and Lille woke up the in 10 last, but we didn’t leave them the pleasure to reach the Final, and we won 2-1.
With this success we’ve reach our sixth final in a row, with 4 consecutive victory.
In 6 years, it was the first time that Montrouge passed the semi-final. Both clubs were sure to play a European Cup next year, but only the Champion will get an EHL ticket, because of our bad ranking this year, there will be only one French Club in the Amazing Competition.
So as you may guess, this Final had a double goal, the French title and the EHL ticket, moreover, it has been the first of the French hockey history, that the Final would have been broadcast.

The Finale:
There was crowd, and the mood was very good.. About me, after 3 games where I didn’t play at my good level, I had the obligation to increase a lot. We scored quiet soon after the beginning of the match, but Montrouge came back thanks to a penalty stroke. The game was more a war between both 22m, there was not so many opportunities to score for both teams, so the game wasn’t so pleased to watch…
But the intensity, the physical, and the commitment were there. Montrouge definitely took the advantage with a second penalty stroke. We try hard to get into the circle and win a PC, or a goal shoot, but despite some success we didn’t managed to score another goal. The end of the game was given, so you can imagine the disappointment of the team.

It’s hard to learn to loose, all this years, because I’ve never known the defeated in Final since I play in the first time .
This is a new sheet, and some players may stop, others may leave, so changes are coming. We’re going to wrote a new story or keep up this one. We might have a young team next year, and when I think about it, I’m aware that we’ll may be more relax, less pressured will be on our shoulders then if we won the French title. We won’t have the pleasure to play a new EHL but we’ve gotten a European Cup B.
So this sounds like the end of the Club Season, I’ll watch with passion the last Round of EHL, where I’m going to support Hamburg from Poland.
Now I’m attending the 4 Nations Tournament of U21 which will take place in Sienimanowice, in Poland, where I expected the team will play better than <a href=”http://gryphon-life.com/?p=2393″ the last tournament we did . We are going to play Germany, England and Poland, and we have a team affected by injuries…
I’ll post a new one soon…

Regards readers!

Lucas

ALTITUDE JACKET DEAL x FHE RETAILER

One of Gryphon’s premium retailers, which happens to be in Australia, is just launching an amazing deal with one our better but lesser known products.  The Gryphon Altitude Jacket is designed for extreme cold conditions (like Holland in summer), with two jackets in one.

The outer shell is a full rain jacket with stashable hood and closable wrist handles.   Inside is a removable Fleece jumper which is super warm. Together they are a the perfect combination and separate serve their purposes like no other.

So what are F-H-E.com.au doing?  This premium Gryphon retailer is selling this jacket at an amazing deal for less than 50% off retail. And if you buy more than 10 (so as for a club or group purchase), the guys at F-H-E will be getting your Jackets embroidered to your club logo. With winter hitting in Aus and the season in full swing, this little known great Gryphon product is at its peak time to buy.

For me, head along to www.f-h-e.com.au  or here’s the link to the special deal.

I’M STILL ALIVE x THOMA BRIELS

Hi all!

The last time I wrote for gryphon life was when I was in Argentina playing the world cup qualifier with Belgium. The tournament ended very disappointing for me and that’s also the reason I wasn’t in the mood to write! ;0) But here at gryphon we can write whenever we feel like it!

The last training before the final in Argentina against Argentina I broke a bone in my foot. So I missed the final and I had to watch my team trying to get a world cup ticket, from the stands. Unfortunately we lost 4-3 against Argentina while being 3-1 up with 17 minutes left on the clock!! For me, being in the stands watching my team and friends work there asses off for the victory and watching them lose at the last seconds was very hard. But that’s the beauty of team sport, you win together and lose together. After the game everyone was very disappointed but we played very good hockey and we know there is a good future ahead for this very young team if we keep working like this. (I think the average age at the tournament was 23) The beers taste better after a victory but we still enjoyed a couple with the whole team the last night in Argentina!

So after the tournament I had to walk for 2 months on crutches and after that I couldn’t run for another month! So I couldn’t run or play sports for 3 months!! All because I broke a little bone in my foot, incredible!  But in the end I didn’t miss much of hockey with my club Oranje-Zwart because the competition in Holland stopped for 5 months due to the Champions Trophy and the World Cup.

We had a difficult first part of the season with Oranje-Zwart, ending 7th after 13 matches! But 4 weeks ago we started the second part of the competition, with Rob Hammond back in the team and you can say we are on fire! The second part of the season was the money time, we had to win all our upcoming matches to still have a chance to get in to the play offs! We won 6 matches and drew 1. Earning 19 points in 7 games and scoring 29 goals! We are playing exciting hockey and I love it!

Currently we are ranked 3rd and we still have to play 2 matches. 1 more point and we are sure of play-offs. Playing the play offs in the Hoofdklasse is incredible so that’s where we want to be!  Tomorrow we play HGC, ranked first, so wish us luck!!

Besides hockey I still have a great time in Eindhoven, kicking Sander Baart and Marc Salles asses at FIFA (I hope they don’t read this!) at our home, the “Pius Mansion”, and having a great time with my girlfriend Jolien who lives 5 minutes from the Pius Mansion and OZ.

In one month I have my final exams so if we become champion and I pass my exams I will be a happy man!

I will try to keep you posted about the competition and the play offs!!

Regards, Thomas

AUSSIE IN FRANCE x COACH x ROLLY

PS. Big ups to the Gryphon crew and DC and Rob Hammond for driving what I believe to be the best field hockey info website in the World. Keep up the good work lads!

KOOKAS DEBUT x AZLAN SHAH CUP x MITTON

Hi all,

This is my first post so we’ll see how it goes.

The tour so far has been more than I had ever expected from making my debut against Egpyt, playing in front of six thousand screaming Malaysian’s and then scoring my first goal in our game against India.

Being a new kooka in this team is something never to be forgotten with 3 other debutants sharing the experince with me. Although scoring a my first international goal was a great feeling, the highlight of the tournament so far would have to be our 2-1 victory over Malaysia. The crowd was massive and were constantly cheering throughout the 70 minutes making for an unforgettable close match. We were lucky enough to get up with a goal towards the end. You could tell we scored as it was the only time the crowds was dead silent, and our 10 fans were the only ones cheering.

We have a rest day today then play again tomorrow night so heres hoping we have a big win and I knock a couple more in…

Mitts

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