Wapping Kidds: EAST London hockey sessions for all

Wapping Kidds (a nod to Captain Kidd of Wapping infamy - not just bad spelling) welcomes and nurtures all children, from complete starters to kids who’ve been playing hockey a while. We are a mixed London hockey club covering age groups 6-18 and have competitions and games for those who wish to participate, but operate on a non-committal basis - if your child wishes to try out hockey, just come along!

Coaches.

Our Head Coach, Sandra Akinbolu, and Youth Coordinator, Miranda Russell, manage a friendly and enthusiastic voluntary coaching team. Our volunteers are passionate about helping young people access hockey, with most attending our adult club.  

All coaches are DBS checked and we require our regular coaches to complete England Hockey safeguarding courses. More information about Safeguarding at Wapping can be found here. Our coaches are experienced in helping children integrate into the club from their first session.

As the club grows we are always looking for new coaches/assistants. The sessions are planned and led by our lead coaches, and we provide training and ongoing support throughout the season for our volunteer coaches.  We would welcome parents and supporters who wanted to become assistant coaches, and now run a junior coach program for any 14-18 year olds wanting to help out. If you’re keen to be involved, please do drop us an email, and we can discuss it further.

Where and when.

All training sessions are held at John Orwell Sports Centre, Wapping, Newham, East London, E1W 2QD.

• Sessions for children in Years 1-7 are held on Saturdays from 9:30-11:00am

• Training for children in Years 8-13 is held on a Friday from 18:00-19:30pm 

Our U10, U12 and U14 teams are invited to play in tournaments against other clubs in London on Sundays. Some over 13s also play in the senior hockey league on Saturdays as part of our men’s development team or with our ladies’ teams. We provide details to parents about these fixtures throughout the term.

Term times, weather and cancelling sessions.

For the 2023/24 season, our terms will operate as follows:

• Winter term: 8 September - 9 December (including half-term)

• Spring term: 5 January - 23 March (including half-term)

• Summer term: 19 April - 13 July (including half-term)

We play in all weather conditions and we will let parents know as early as possible if a session will be cancelled. This is only likely in extreme weather when the pitch is unplayable due to frost/snow. Please ensure suitable clothing is worn for the applicable weather conditions.

Cost and membership.

We believe that hockey should be accessible to all children so we do not charge membership fees for our youth section but instead facilitate a ‘suggested donation’ system (of £4 per play). This helps keep costs at a minimum for those who can pay, and provides access to those who are unable to.

We believe all children are equal and that all should have access to sport. Some children attend every week, and some once a month, all are very welcome! All funds received feed directly back into the youth hockey section to ensure its continuity.

Sponsor.

We are delighted to welcome Salmon Hockey as sponsor of the Wapping Development Team, and kit provider to Wapping Kidds.

Salmon shares our passion for making hockey accessible by offering kit at affordable prices (which you can purchase here) and is also donating £5 from the sale of each shirt to the Wapping Kidds Foundation.

Find out more about Wapping's sponsors and partners here