Maroochydore Hockey Club was formed on February 17 1976.
Members of the inaugural A.G.M included Joy Lane, Lyn Moore, Shauna Niland, Debbie Lobwein, Kerrie Lamb, Faye Lamb, Debbie Morrison and Wendy Gardiner. Absent from that meeting Di Hurst, Leanne Williams and Shiree Moule.
President: Wendy Gardiner
Secretary: Kerrie Lamb
Treasurer: Debbie Lobwein
It was through the hard work of Wendy Gardiner that Maroochydore Hockey Club was set up and running: Our home ground was the Maroochydore High School, our club uniform was a yellow skirt and white top.
- Games were played at the Maroochydore Primary School, Petrie Park and Caloundra ground.
- The club fees at this time were $2.50 for working members, $1.50 for school members.Ground fees were 25c per player.
- The good old leather hockey balls were a priority on the order form and fund raising was through street stalls.
HISTORY:
1977 – Brought about the familiar names of Kym (Russell) Fey and Leona Lavery Stalwarts of our club today. And the clubs first premiership win. A uniform change took place to the familiar colours of green and gold.
1980 – Our junior teams started to develop and Lorrie Bryers became actively involved in the club, not only as a player, but also as a Junior Coach. Training sessions commenced at the Maroochydore Australian Rules Football Club: there appeared to be a break – away during this period 80-81 to Nambour as travel and training sessions not being held in Nambour itself proved to be a problem.
1983 – Saw the establishment of the new hockey grounds at Ballenger Park, and the arrival of Jan Connors, Pauline (Martin) Harris and Maureen Craske to the club. 1983, 85, 85 and 88 – Were all premiership Years for our Senior Women; all contested with arch rivals Kawana Hockey Club.
1989 – Our Inaugural Men’s team was formed through the efforts of Ian Suthers. Up until then Marooochydore Hockey Club was predominantly female orientated. Over the years Greg Watson has consistently helped out with the development of our boys and men’s teams. The mid 80’s and early 90’s was the clubs stronger years, fielding teams in all divisions.
1991 – Leona Lavery was awarded the clubs first ever life membership for her tireless efforts.
1995 – For her continuous help and support, Maureen Craske was awarded life membership. The club has been fortunate over the years to have had a lot of valuable workers, that through their efforts and leadership we strive to develop and succeed.
1997 – We again maintain a strong representation throughout the minor finals.
1998 – Kym and Lorrie endeavour to develop Minkey and U11’s with teams consisting of both boys and girls. We introuduce our existing club playing shirts and notably the first club to have player numbers on the back of our team shirts.
1999 – The Maroochydore Hockey Club becomes incorporated. The club changes training venue from Maroochydore Football club to Immanual Lutheran College. Our annual Guinea Pig Drop hits the sccene, and continues to be a major fundraising event. We are represented in the Minor and Major finals with Women’s A runners up to Nambour. The finals that year were transferred to Petrie Park, and yes, because of wet weather.
2000 – A new century a new beginning for Ballinger Park. Field 1 and 2 sacrificed for a million dollar artificial surface: Randell Spice and David Lavery represent the club with development committees involved. An exciting time for Sunshine Coast Hockey and all involved. Maroochydore venture into Stella Maris with clinics and training sessions for our younger team members. We can only hope for some positive results. Joanne Greensill achieves her Australian Badge for umpiring. Div 1 Women Minor Premiers, Div 2 premiers and Division 3 Runners up and Under 16’s through to the second round of finals.
2001 – Our preseason fixtures played on the New synthetic turf. A slight change in playing surfaces we also experience a change in numbers. We lost players who had been with the club for over 10 years which was disappointing but we have been fortunate to have gained some new ones as well a lot of our juniors who have been with the club their whole hockey career come of age and move into their senior years of hockey.
2002 – This year bought about a change to the look of Maroochydore. For so many years we have been a Women predominant club. This year bought the arrival of the Lambs, bringing with them a tribe of men for our teams.
2003 – Maroochydore Women’s hockey changed face with the arrival of lycra uniforms. For the first time in Maroochydore’s history we fielded more men’s than women’s teams.
2004 – Fees once again took an upward turn, with fees for division 1 well into the $400’s. Maroochydore started to field more junior teams. Maroochydore also had 3 mens teams, two in Division 2 and one Division 1 team. Our division 2 men Gold team, faced went down in a thriller in the grand final after the siren sounded.
2005 – This was a history making year for Maroochydore Hockey Club. With Division 1 women achieving the minor premiership and both Division 1 men and women taking the crown by winning the 2005 premiership. In 2005 we also had 2 Australian representatives. Cameron Baker made Australian Country and Tracy Armitage was named QLD’s talent identified player for the Australian Country Team.
2006 – What a good looking club! Our women in new lycra body suits and our men in new flash playing attire. Division one men were going through a rebuilding phase but our women were as strong as ever. We have the most senior teams Maroochydore have ever had, fielding 3 Division 2 mens teams, a Division 2 ladies teams, a Divison 3 ladies and both Division one teams. The Division 1 women won their second consecutive premiership.
2007 – Strong showing in all divisions of the senior competition. Unfortunately no grand final success apart from our Under 16 boys who won very strongly. This team was amazing with many players regulary playing Division 1 Men.
2008-12. The club secures our major sponsor in the Maroochy RSL. Much appreciated funds go towards subsidising the costs of training on turf and our uniforms now sport the RSL’s branding.
