Help Irish U16 boys hockey reach the 6 Nations

Photo shot from our recent Birmingham outing. 

The Irish Under 16 Boys Hockey squad is a self-funded team working our way towards the Six Nations this July in Eindhoven, Holland. To prepare for the Six Nations we run an intense training program to include regular squad sessions, training camps and test series against other Nations. This program is entirely self-funded and in order to get to Eindhoven in July, we need to raise €60,000.

We need your help to get to the Netherlands! Step by step we are raising funds to help us be the best prepared we can be for this pinnacle event in 2019.

As part of our preparations we recently travelled to Lilleshall where we played England in a 3 match series. In April we have an intense four day training camp in Cork, we are competing in a Training Camp in May and will play Scotland in a test series in June, all before the Six Nations in July. We do this while still playing our local school and club hockey.  
 
Hockey has over 50,000 participants across the island of Ireland and the profile of the sport is growing rapidly especially following the great success of the senior women's and men's teams over recent years. While funding has increased for those teams, the Junior Age Group (JAG) teams are entirely self-funded and every player is responsible for their own fund-raising to meet the expenses incurred by Hockey Ireland for the JAG teams. 

Its an incredible honour to be selected, but each player has to contribute/fundraise over €3,500 (per player) to take part in the full program. We are raising funds for pitch hire, travel and accommodation costs (including that of the voluntary coaching staff) and also for our two coloured kits shown in the pictures above (sponsors always welcome!)

Our parents are extremely supportive of us both, as individuals and teammates giving their emphatic support, helping us to reach our targets and dreams and we take this opportunity to thank them. But to play a part in this amazing journey we are seeking assistance from you, our country men and women, which would help with the financial pressure on our families. Hockey is still one of the only team sports Ireland is successful in at the Olympic level and you can help it be even more successful in the future by investing is us now. 

The overall target for our fundraising appeal is €60,000, we thank you for any and all support you can give. If you would like a photograph for the office wall, or a personalised photo of your key player this is possible and a fitting thanks for your contribution.