Hockey and Muni weekend 23/24th Sept, Manchester, UK

General
1

The weekend will be in 2 parts.

Part 1 is the hockey tournament on Saturday 23rd Sept, detailed below:

Part 2 is the Muni ride on Sunday 24th Sept. See details also below:

People can come to either, or both if you wish.

Hockey details

The Denton Unicycle Club (DUC) are holding two more hockey tournaments this year.

Saturday 23rd September.
Saturday 25th November.

These will be held at the same venue as usual.

Egerton Park Community Arts College
Egerton Street
Denton
Manchester
M34 3PB

The tournament is for everyone, whether you’re just a beginner or seasoned pro! We’ll be splitting everyone into scratch teams to balance the sides out as best as possible. Nobody will be left out - if you turn up then you’ll be put into a team.

One slight change from the normal proceedings will be a beginners only game to start things off. Then everyone will be put into scratch teams for the tournament proper.

This will all take place between 12 noon and 6pm. The cost is going to be £7 for adults and £5 for students and the under 16’s.

The hall itself is large, perfectly suited for hockey and has been recently renovated with a new floor laid (plastic pedals only). For the ones that would like to shower afterwards, then both the men’s and women’s changing rooms have been completely renovated and recently re-opened (very new and modern looking they are too).

Incidentally, there will be free tea, coffee and soft drinks throughout the afternoon.

For the ones among you without SatNav, here are the Directions:

From junction 24 on the M60, follow the sign for Denton A57 to the second set of lights (sign posted Audenshaw, Arrow Trading Estate) where you turn left. The road then bends to left and then to the right. After this right bend take the first road on your right into Egerton St. We’re 200m on the right, just after the college main building.

Alternatively, join the M67 at junction 24, turn left at the first exit (junction 1A) and Egerton St is the 3rd turning on the left.

Note: please ensure that you use plastic pedals and NOT metal ones.

We’ll be able to do pick-ups and drop-offs from Stockport station if you’re arriving by train.

Muni ride details

On the Sunday morning we’ll be meeting up in the Peak District at 10am. I’ll confirm the ride and meeting point soon, but it may be a ride that Paul Royle and myself did a year ago. The ride in question took us 5 hours to cover the 18 miles, including lunch stop. I would class it as strenuous and technical (rocky) in parts. The link below offers a glimpse of what to expect.

http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44074

Hope you can make it to one, or both.
Steve

2

We were just talking about this at our practise tonight - I would be almost totally sure that you can count on a fair sized mob (for that is the collective noun) of EMU’s attending. I was going to say gracing, but you’ve seen us play so gracing probably doesn’t really cover it. Anyway, can’t wait, if its as good as the last ones then it will be mos excellent

See you there

Roland

3

:smiley: makes it sound like we students are not adults.

However, whether adult or student, I will be there for the hockey.

Cathy

4

I shall be there for the hockey but at the moment I can’t make the Muni, though I’d like to as I’ve ridden around where your suggesting and it’s good stuff.

5

Haven’t worked out the practicalities of it yet, but should be there.

I’ve only done the west half of the muni ride you’re suggesting, but it looks super fun and I’d be well up for that.

If you wanted a change and did want to do a different one, I know the area okay. There is a slight alteration to your route like Phil said on the original thread, that takes in the Beast, which is nasty in a very good way. You can also do a shorter route, just on the west side of the lake, that is more uppy downy, and rides some of the uphills and downhills in both directions, but maybe nicer to do a good long route like yours.

Joe

6

I’d kill to be there for the UniHoki…

7

Re: Hockey and Muni weekend 23/24th Sept, Manchester, UK

in the intrests of continuing our strong SA/GB relations i won’t be as
childish as to say “we’ll wait until seeing the whites of you eyes
before shooting you… if you keep calling it UniHoki”… It may
also be seen as a little aggressive, so i won’t say it…

GILD wrote:
> I’d kill to be there for the UniHoki…
>
>
> –
> GILD
>
> ‘three short gs and a long e-flat™’
<Snip>
<\snip>
> View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/52933

8

Good.

The last time we chatted, words like ‘bounder’ and ‘cad’ ended up being used and I had to go look them up.
I’d like it if we could prevent that from happening again.
Ta.

9

Hockey News

Certificates for 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed teams. Prizes for 1st place.

For the ones among you that haven’t seen the new Uni Mag, then this will be your opportunity to have a look. We’ll have the mag for sale and you can also subscribe if you so wish. The cost is £5.00 for a single issue and £30 to subscribe for 6 issues. If you subscribe, then issue 2 will also include a 2007 year calendar and a multi-use unicycle buff. Cash or cheques will be accepted.

For the ones travelling some distance to the hockey, you can stop over as usual at our place. There is one slight difference to things though. Wendy’s not around to feed us. :frowning: The plan will be to walk round to the Indian, or Italian restaurant (5 mins walk from our house) and be fed there. You don’t have to be going on the muni ride to be able to stop over. If you want to stop over, then make sure you bring a sleeping bag/mattress and some money for a curry/pasta. You can either let me know now if you’re stopping over, or when you register at the hockey on the Saturday. Anyone can stop over, as long as you like curry or pasta of course.:wink:

If anyone would like picking up from Stockport train station, then please let me know. i.e. Johnny, Kit, Pete, Simon, etc.

Muni Ride News

If anyone would like to join Joe (pleased you’re up for it) and myself, then let us know. We’ll be meeting up at the car park opposite a pub on the East side of Ladybower reservoir (sorry I don’t know the name of pub), close to where the A6013 meets the A57. I’m not sure what the mobile reception will be like there, but here’s my number anyway. 07990 600 006. We’ll be meeting at 10.00am. You can’t miss the pub, as it’s the only building for miles around. It really is beautiful scenery round there, so try and make it.

See you all on the 23rd.
Steve & Stu

10

Hi steve, I’ll be there and stay over for the MUni. Shame about the lack of Wendy:( If anybody wants a lift from Bristol/M5 area then let me know.

11

I’ll almost definately be coming for the muni ride, so will be staying over/eating curry. Cheers Steve.

12

So, any thoughts on ball type street hockey or tennis that will be used?- I suspect that the way things are going most people would vote for the tennis ball- thats what we at the EMU’s use and it certainly seems a lot safer-we’ve not had any black eyes since we started using the tennis ball - so is that what we’re going to use? - and as an extra incentive it’ll be tennis balls in Darmstadt so it would be good practice

13

Another vote for a tennis ball

14

Me too.

Me too too.

Joe

15

I certainly prefer playing with the street hockey ball, but…

We’ll be using a tennis ball, as things seem to be going that way (woosies) :frowning:

Yes, I suppose it will be good practice for Darmstadt. I do seriously need the practice with a tennis ball though. Hmmmm:(

Pleased to hear there’ll be a few stopping over for a curry and a ride on the Sunday.:smiley:

Is this the end of the street hockey ball then? :frowning: :frowning:

See you next week.
Steve

16

I think we still count as a final outpost for the street hockey ball.
With an eye on future international competition, I’ve been trying to re-introduce the tennisball but have met with fierce resistance from most all the players. I also find the definition of the ‘dead’ tennisball to be very vague.
30-50% is a pretty impressive margin.

I prefer the street ball myself as it is possible to play a much more attractive, quick-(and accurate)passing game using the street ball while the tennisball seems to lead to the immediate adoption of ‘river-ball’ strategies.

I don’t like long-ball football and I don’t like long-ball Unihoki.

But I guess we’re not getting the Germans to change to the street hockey ball, are we?

17

I think the tennis ball becomes way less significant if you play with it weekly, and learn to pass it and to stop bouncing balls. What it adds, is the ability to play in the air, which is much less there with a hockey ball.

I didn’t really understand the tennis ball that well until we played against a German team at BUC. The accuracy they play with is insane, and there’s so much play a foot off the ground that you’re literally adding a new dimension to the game, like they pass in the air to someone who will volley it into the goal without stopping it and the ball touching the ground.

As for the deadness or not of it, that is wacky, but I dunno how to make it better.

Oh yeah, one other thing about the tournament - the Joe Rule will be in operation. That is, the first person to score a goal off a header is entitled to a free pint from me. I think the pint is pretty safe though, we’ve not managed it on a tuesday night yet and I think I started it about two months ago.

Joe

18

Quite safe, given the ‘spirit’ of the rules?

19

I’m a tennis ball convert. I still think the street hockey ball has something but it can hurt, especially when it hits the face (I haven’t been hit in the face but I’ve seen it, ouch).

The air shot aspect of a tennis ball is something that when done right looks very impressive and feels great to do. I still don’t get the idea behind the ‘dead ball’ thing though as I think what is more important is the quality of the rubber and that the tennis ball doesn’t have much fluff.

Anyway I’m looking forward to this tournament as I’m sure it’ll be a good one (again)

Gary

20

No, that’s exactly the point, you are allowed to bounce the ball off a unicycle, your legs etc. into the goal. You’re not allowed to whack it into the goal with your hands or arms, the rules are very clear about the hands and arms being an exception to the rest of the body in this case.

So headers are allowed for sure.

That’s why it says ‘For arms and hands see also section 7.1.’, because 7.1 doesn’t apply to the rest of the body.

Joe