Perthshire Hockey Club president Gordon Loudon hopes the buzz for the sport remains when the latest restrictions are lifted.
Activity on the pitch is currently paused due to the coronavirus pandemic but online sessions are continuing off it.
Keeping engaged with members despite being unable to meet in person has been imperative for Gordon and the club’s management team.
And he would like to think that has helped to maintain an appetite and desire to get stuck back into hockey when the green light is given.
“Health and safety is absolutely paramount and that is the most important thing,” Gordon firstly stressed.
“It’s been a tough couple of months and I think it’s the not knowing.
“If somebody said the season is finished and we would be up and running by September, then we can all get organised.
“We are making plans and then having to put them back or off altogether. It’s not been the easiest time to keep people motivated.
“Our captains are keeping in touch with players and we do have online Zoom keep fit sessions. Squads are together in that point of view.
“The fitness side we can deal with. We’re setting them tasks to do but that doesn’t substitute a couple of hours every week with a stick in your hand and against opposition.
“I have a fear that we will lose a number of players to other sports as we come out of lockdown.
“I think team sports will suffer more than individual sports, where you can go play a game of bowls or tennis one on one. There are concerns there.”
Planning for the future has still been taking place and, if restrictions allow, Perthshire will be holding an Easter holiday hockey camp for youngsters.
“We have a junior camp planned for April for the school holidays and we’re hoping we can get that on the go,” said Gordon.
“We’re certainly hoping by Easter time to have our youngsters on the pitch. But I can’t see the adults getting back on the pitch much before the end of April, beginning of May. Again, we just don’t know.
“I feel sorry for our under-18s who won the Scottish indoor and outdoor cups last year. It is pretty much the same squad this year but they haven’t had the chance to defend it.”
When the time does come to return to a sense of normality and the club can meet on the pitch once again, Gordon has stressed the importance of the initial sessions being centred purely around enjoyment.
“What we have agreed is that, first and foremost, it will be to get people back on the hockey pitch with a stick in their hand and ball on the ground to just enjoy it,” he said.
“When we have everyone enjoying it again, then we’ll start to develop into the more intense part of the game. The worst thing we could do would be getting back to intense situations straight away.”
There is much to be positive about at the club moving forward and certainly when you look at the promising batch of youth players.
A long list are involved in Scottish Hockey’s under-18 and under-16 academy programme, delivered on a regional basis. Pre-Christmas squad sessions took place in Galashiels and Dundee but the programme has now been adapted due to COVID.
Gordon hopes the club can play their part in producing more internationalists.
