CEO Update #1 2023

To the Victorian Hockey Community, I am writing to provide an update with regards to HV and Victorian Hockey more broadly.

As you will all appreciate, the last three years have been some of the most challenging as we lived through two years of minimal Hockey followed by a 2022 with a range of new challenges and ongoing COVID-19 rules.

The net result for our sport, was a 15% decline in overall participation across Victoria when we compare participation to 2019. Now Hockey is not alone, as all organised sports have seen participation declines impacted by the pandemic.

Addressing the participation decline is now our biggest focus at HV. In doing so, we are concentrated on delivering quality competitions and events for our members both now (in pre-season) and during the winter season. This includes competitions with good balance, fixtures and officials to support these competitions.

So far, we are hearing positive signs in our communication with clubs with many indicating the same number of teams or better than 2022. Throughout January and February, HV hosted the Indoor Club Championships across both Monash University and in Parkville which saw a 40% increase in team entries compared to 2022. This was a fantastic result from our clubs and shows the appetite for Indoor Hockey in Victoria.

I also want to acknowledge the amazing work of our clubs and Associations in delivering Hookin2Hockey for over 1,000 participants in 2023 so far. I want to say how proud I am of the community and the 43 teams who entered the Stand Out Cup in late February. Another fantastic display of our community’s inclusive culture with our largest turnout for the event.

This year we have several important projects to target the participation decline. These include:

1. The establishment of Coach & Umpire Developers at club level.

2. Larger push into schools and driving greater participation in Hookin2Hockey programs across the state.

3. Piloting of Hockey 5s in Goulburn Valley and Warrnambool as part of their traditional winter competition.

4. Piloting midweek Open Women’s Competitions in Melbourne at specific venues on Monday nights.

5. Maintaining our 5 game flexible membership to encourage past players and new players back to the sport while looking further into pay per game models for the future.

By December this year, we aim to recover another 5% of our loss of players since 2019. We expect to be back at 90% of our playing population in Victoria by then.

Workforce is of vital importance to rebounding at all levels of hockey and we are very aware of the declining number of volunteers across the Association and club network. I am working closely with the Victorian Government and fellow sport leaders on funding opportunities to support roles historically carried out by volunteers at both regional association and club level.

From a High Performance and pathway perspective, we were disappointed not to win the EOI to host the National ‘Home of Hockey’. However, there are some ongoing opportunities to develop Melbourne Sport Centre – Parkville and grow the game in partnership with Government which we will work through.

We are also pleased with the numbers coming through our pathway programs and we look forward to some incremental improvements in our Under 15 and 18 teams this year at National Championships.

From a profile and visibility perspective we are delighted to see the evolution of LiveHockey as a broadcasting solution for you, our members. All registered members will now be able to access all Hockeyroos, Kookaburras, Hockey One, National Championships, Local Premier League and HV major events. With the local content available from Round 1 of the HV Competition and the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos content from mid-year. Furthermore, HA are close to signing an agreement with Channel 7. This will agreement will see all Hockeyroos, Kookaburras and Hockey One matches on 7+ and free to the wider community. This progress in broadcast is of vital importance to HV and Hockey Club Melbourne as it opens opportunities to drive more non-member revenue into the business. It also allows us to improve the HC Melbourne program for our emerging players and our support teams.

Finally, we do need your help and your clubs need your help. Reach out to a friend, someone who played in the past. A friend who has a stick in the garage. Get them back to play a few games with a 5 Game Membership. Connect with this friend socially as we know the ‘social benefits’ are the biggest driver of retention.

I thank everyone across our community for your continued commitment and contribution to our great game. The team at HV is looking forward to working with you to take a leap forward with the game in 2023.

Andrew Skillern