We are delighted to announce the appointment of two new coaches for our Men’s and Women’s 1st XI squads for the 2020/21 season.
Asif Rais has been appointed to the Women’s 1st XI role and has great experience developing junior players into senior squads. Teamed with a broad knowledge and understanding of the game, we hope that he can bring his core values into the team and build on an already talented group of players and set of foundations laid by player coach Emer Acton last season.
The men’s 1st XI are delighted to welcome back into their fold in a new role as player-coach, Harry Rayner. Harry was previously a member of the team between 2010 and 2016, during which time he won the player of the season on two occasions. Since then he has been playing at National League level with St. Albans, as well as taking on an increased number of coaching positions. He has had many years coaching junior level hockey locally with Blue Hornets and Braintree and then, whilst at St. Albans, spent a season with the Northwood Performance centre, mentoring eight players on to Futures Cup representation. At a senior level, he was instrumental in assisting the lead coach at St. Albans Men’s 1st XI during the 2019/2020 season, a season that represented their best performance for several years.
Harry said, “It’s great to be back at Chelmsford Hockey Club, with a team where I spent a lot of my younger years playing and learning about the sport. I’ve learnt a lot in the four years that I’ve been away, and I’m very excited to bring that knowledge back to the squad. I’m excited to get started”.