Sports Minister Tracey Crouch MP is hoping more people get into playing hockey after Holcombe Hockey Club opened their new pitches at the weekend.

A £700,000 investment at the Rochester based club has seen two new surfaces laid, enabling the Kent side to have superb facilities for their world class players to play on.

On Saturday night, the Sports Minister was invited to come and officially open the pitches between the ladies and men’s sides winning against their East Grinstead counterparts.

With hundreds of fans packing into the stands to watch the grand unveiling and the two elite fixtures, Trcaey Crouch was pleased to see the local club really going places and wants more people to get into such a great game:

“As a local MP I am very familiar with the club and read the results after the weekend’s games and this is an amazing facility.”

“I’m familiar with the club from a hockey perspective, but also because my football club has trained here for many, many years.”

“This new pitch is fantastic and I’m sure it will serve the club well.”

“People that come here, live locally and it’s fantastic to see the club doing so well. It’s good to see so many youngsters here and it’s important we develop the next level of hockey players and I think it shouldn’t just be a sport that’s confined to schools.”

“That was my experience of hockey and it’s good that we have seen participation rates increase across the country with Holcombe at the forefront of that.”

Hockey tends to be a sport that appeals to all age groups, both boys and girls, men and women, and the Sports Minister is hoping it continues to appeal to all generations:

“I think there is a position on the field for everybody in hockey and it’s one of the few team sports where that is the case.”

“The good thing about Holcombe Hockey Club is that there are stars and potential stars, playing alongside younger players and they can really learn from that.”

“I think all team sports have a particular issue around the 14-18 year old age group and that’s particularly relevant around girls, but there are lots of people doing things to make sure you continue to play hockey as you get older.”

Sport is all about role models and inspiring the next generation and Holcombe Hockey Club have them in abundance with the likes of Ashley Jackson and Maddie Hinch plying their trade with the Kent club and Trcaey Crouch is pleased to see such talented players helping to get more Kent hockey players onto the field:

“You can’t but help notice that they have a number of England and Team GB players here, both in the men’s and women’s sides and it’s nice that they are still playing at club level.”

“I imagine it keeps the players grounded if anything, but for the younger age groups that come in, even if it is just to watch them and see their heroes on the pitch, I think that’s incredibly important for them.”

As we head ever closer to the 2016 Olympics in Rio, the Sports Minister believes it is important we harness the excitement that surrounds sports such as hockey at this time:

“One thing about local clubs is that they must involve their local communities as much as possible. I think it helps having a good media profile.”

“That’s really important as it reminds people around places here in Kent that we have potential Team GB players that they can come and watch on their doorstep.”

“They don’t have to wait until Rio next year to see them perform.”

“There are a lot of tournaments that people can get involved with and come and watch, so I hope people will come on down and see what the club has got to offer.”