Having come down from Division 8 in the previous season, the Men's Academy for this season had a new look to it's members, with the intention for the season to be a chance to welcome some new new, and old new faces to the team.

The Robert Clack summer league 2014 had introduced Ted, Shash and Ben into the men's leagues and given them confidence to start the season, with Owen de Graaf and Callum Clamp as Academy veterans who have shown consistent improvement in the last couple of seasons. Towards the end of the year we have also seen Archie Williams step into the fray, and show some real promise for the next edition of summer league where the team will also welcome some more new youth faces to come and play, showing that the pipeline of players coming from the hard work Di, Ruth and Chris Gladman are putting into the youth section is going to deliver a constant pull through of players to underpin the Academy side and hopefully the future of the men's side in years to come.

The adults that then structured around the kids this season have included, Dave Gardner who came back from injury, Matt Ruddick, Roger de Graaf, Nigel West, Paul Cooper, Merv Berrill when injury allows, and in the latter half of the season having bounced back to be even faster after his heart attack Colin Finch.

New to Redbridge hockey this season we gained the additions of the ever present Angus Kearin, and the back to hockey addition (thanks Karla) of Gary Shepherd, who despite a season interrupted by injury has now provided the versatility of another goalkeeper and outfielder to the team, we fleetingly met Matt Readman who blew the cobwebs out of his return to playing and then went on to the threes, and there were of course the usual cameos from some other players as the season wore on, where numbers were stretched on certain weeks, and thanks to all that stepped in to play for the Academy when it was needed and fulfil the fixtures, only having to concede one game (whilst painful given the new rule on being deducted 3 points) was fairly promising, demonstrated the stability of keeping the youth players together, and is testament to the adults that turned out to support the Academy side (this included a Parvin Mangat coming back from knee surgery to play striker in the 9 man away trip to Plashet)

As it stands, with just the Southend game to play, the record for the season is Played 17, Won 11, Drawn 2, Lost 4. There were two games which we won scrubbed out by the pulling out of Crostyx in the latter part of the season, so with two defeats coming at the hands of Plashet who topped the league, one from Wapping who finished above us, and the concession to Thurrock, it's been a very positive season in the league. The teams finishing above us it would be fair to say contain a lot more 'experienced' players, and everyone in the team this year has put a shift in - adult opposition players have come off the pitch shaken up by the scrappy-doo nature of Callum when he is fearless going up against men twice his size.

Whether or not we end up being promoted, because of moves and pull outs in the league above is by the by, there has been a lot of promise shown by the youngsters in the team, and some of the play that has come from them, and some of the fantastic goals that they've also scored. Speaking of which, the stats on goalscoring at the end of the season are that we scored 41 actual goals (when you ignore a walkover we were given, and add back in the Crostyx games) and nearly 30 of them have come from the younger guys in the team, they've all listened to the experience around them and have put in the hard work on the pitch to reap the rewards. Owen, Ben and Ted are all representing the county at JAC this season, and had Callum not been unlucky with injuries that were/weren't injuries I'm sure he'd have pushed on as well in that regard.

Top scorer this year has been Ben Kearin, with 15 goals to his name, top MoM's this year is split amongst about five players because of the various times people have stepped in and had cracking games, and just purely based on the number of match reports I've ended up writing it's fair to assume that I've been DoD of the season for the Academy (at least I've been consistent I suppose)

Whilst at certain times this season the club has been stretched in terms of players, we have proven on certain weeks (and through Rachel & JP's records of membership) that the club can support 4 teams in East , and whilst it's cold comfort to some that we've been threadbare on several occasions this year, by keeping together the Academy side that has been, and keeping the youngsters as a core together they have all progressed immensely, and it bodes well for the future. It's cliche, and meant in only a positive way, it's going to be short term pain for long term gain, and the 2's and 3's will gain in the coming seasons from the pipeline coming through as they develop.

When Owen stops planning his dates around playing the regular occurrence of an early morning game that the 4s seem to be 'blessed' with, he should be pushing to play higher and beyond, and with another season or two for the guys finishing strong in the Academy this year, the ambition to move up and be big influences on games for the teams above will be there - all at the right time to make sure the club builds a sustainable base on which to continue growing and pulling through the youth players.

Thanks to Charlie, Nick, Steve and Ali for their tolerance of keeping a settled Academy side in that respect, and however the off season shakes out in terms of how we set up for next season, there is a core of youngsters that have performed admirably this season, and it's testament to them in terms of the amount of positive feedback that's been given by those who have watched them play and progress that year (including many of the opposition players, parents, and those whose paths we crossed during summer league and have seen the progression of the side)

Thanks to the umpires, spectators, and parents who have supported, come away to games at silly o clock in the morning and evening! Here's to the next group coming through for Summer League, and the 2015/16 season to build on what's been started.