Women across Wales have thrived on the hockey scene in the past 12 months from international representation to achieving royal honours!
Take a look as we celebrate some standout moments 👇
Sarah Jones continued to make Welsh History as she was selected as part of Team GB at her second Olympic Games where the team made it to the quarter finals.
Following Sarah's retirement from GB Hockey, Millie Holme and Rebecca Daniels secured training contracts with the GB side to ensure that Wales will continue to be represented at Bisham Abbey
History was also made by our female umpires this year as Clare Barwood became the first woman to umpire the Egyptian mens team at the Nations Cup in Oman. Also increasing our representation on the international stage was Abby MacArthur at the Indoor Hockey World Cup in Croatia
It has also been a fantastic year for our performance squads.Wales Women have been able to continue their positive momentum, welcoming Malaysia to the National Hockey Centre for a home summer series alongside securing a place in the final of the Euro Qualifiers in Glasgow.
Meanwhile, the U21s squads also had a great year of development. The women had one of their most successful cycles to date, including winning Gold at the Euros in Czech Republic, which booked them their place at the 2025 Junior World Cup.
Education has played a significant role for our performance squads over the past 12 months. Each player and staff member has gone through a project conducted with Sport Wales' female health team around menstrual cycle education and impact and effects on performance aiming to establish a better working practice and process to better support all our female athletes and to remove unhelpful barriers. Additionally we partnered with FAB little bags so now all our County, Regional and NAG sessions have access to period products which players can help themselves to when/if needed.
Our Masters national teams have additionally celebrated great success over the past 12 months with highlights including the Women’s O65s team earning a second-placed finish at the World Cup in Auckland
Back at home, the achievements just kept coming:
Lily Morgan continued her trailblazing work about neurodiversity in sport which culminated in her recently being named ‘Youth Sport Trust Young Activist of the Year’.
We also celebrated the success of Sheila Morrow as GB Hockey President as she announced her retirement having served in the role since 2017.
On the domestic circuit our clubs thrived with over 3000 registered female players. We saw success for Cardiff & Met women winning the Welsh indoor cup and Swansea HC thrived in Europe.
In our own office we celebrate that 63.6% of Hoci Cymru staff are women.
These past 12 months have been a phenomenal year for female hockey in Wales and we can’t wait for more success in 2025.