Fiona Harfield

Fiona Harfield – East Lothian Hockey Development Officer since November 2003

Fiona Harfield is the East Lothian Hockey Development officer. She has been in this role for over 3 years after working for American Express for 18 years as a Relationship Manager.

Fiona began coaching hockey over 10 years ago as a volunteer for East District. Her first role was Assistant Coach for the girls U15 and U16 East District squad before becoming Head Coach for both squads for over 5 years. In 2003 she coached the U16s to victory in the girls U16s Interdistrict Tournament. She now coaches the U18 squad.

Fiona is Assistant Coach for the East Performance Squad and is also involved in the U16s girls national training squad. She organises and coaches the East Lothian Hockey Development Squads.

Fiona has also been coaching in the States for the last three years and has worked with international coaches at camps in Vermont and Pennsilvania. She still plays herself for Stirling Wanderers in both the indoor and outdoor National Leagues and in 2007 made her debut in the Scotland veterans squad at the Home Nations Tournament in Wales.

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Regional Hockey Finals Championships 2011

 

Meadowmill Sports Centre hosted the 2011 Regional Lothian Hockey Finals on Wednesday 18 May.  Four teams from Mid Lothian and East Lothian attended the annual event.  Representing East Lothian was Yester and Prestonpans primary schools who had earned their place in the tournament through excellent sportsmanship and by being runners-up in the P7 ELPSSA Hockey Tournament in October 2010.

 

The tournament cup was fiercely contested right up until the grand final, which was between Yester, who had yet to lose a match and defending champions Paradykes primary school from Mid Lothian.  Coming into the final, Yester were in the lead on goal difference so Paradykes had all the work to do. 

 

At half time Paradykes were in the lead by one goal.  The second half saw both teams narrowly missing goals and tremendous saves from the goal keepers.  However the momentum carried Paradkyes through and their constant driving attack led to another three goals and the successful retention of the trophy.  Paradykes can boast being only the second school to have retained the trophy since the tournament began several years ago.  The first school being East Lothian’s very own Cockenzie.

 

Prestonpans came joint third on points with Tynewater primary school from Mid Lothian.

 

Pictured are Yester, Prestonpans, Tynewater and Paradykes primary schools.

 

 

Festival Time in East Lothian

 

There have been festivals galore taking place in East Lothian since the start of the year.  The postponed Haddington P6 cluster festival took place in March, almost 4 months after it was originally scheduled.  Snow meant that the pupils from Kings Meadow, Yester and St Marys had to wait a while before showing off their talents following visits from the Hockey Development Officer back in November.

 

The next festival to take place was Preston Lodge cluster, which was held at Meadowmill Sports Centre, also in March.  16 teams from Prestonpans and St Gabriel's attended the event.

 

The teams were all mixed so that the children could all get to make a new friend from a different school.  It was a cold day but the 96 children who participated have a fantastic time and showed some great hockey skills.

 

S5 pupils from Preston Lodge High School who are completing the Community Sports Leaders Award, assisted the Hockey Development Officer, Fiona Harfield, in running the festival by umpiring all the games. Help was also provided by young adults helping out at Prestonpans Primary School who are on the Future Jobs Funds programme.

 

The last festival to go ahead for this year was in Dunbar. Another postponed event that took place at Hallhill Healthy Living Centre in April. It was a glorious day with all the pupils in t-shirts and shorts – a first in Dunbar on the all-weather pitch!

 

Please look at the photo gallery for picture on all of these cluster festivals.

 

National and District Success for Hockey Athletes

 

There has been a flurry of success for hockey athletes in East Lothian.  The start of the year was a great start for ex-PAiS athlete and North Berwick pupil Fern Mitchell.  Fern was selected for the U18 Scotland squad after weeks of training and a rigorous selection process.  Fern was part of the initial intake of athletes when PAiS started in 2009 when she experienced her first taste of success.  She was in the East District U15, U16 and U18 squads before being spotted by U16 Scotland selectors, and playing her first caps in the summer of 2010.

 

Another ex-PAiS athlete Fergus McMahon, also from North Berwick is part of the East District U15 boys squad and will take part in the Interdistrict Tournament in May.  Guy Rowson who trains with the East Lothian U14 Boys Development Squad has been picked to represent East District at U14 but he has also been asked to attend the U15 training squad, which is fantastic considering he is still only 13.

 

 Another remarkable and future star of hockey is Fraser Leonard who at only 11 has also been selected to represent East of Scotland in the U14 Interdistrict Tournament.  Fraser from Kings Meadow PS turns 12 in May and is currently a member of the U12 East Lothian Hockey Development Squad.  He has been invited to join PAiS in August 2011.

 

There is similar district success from the girls too.  Catherine Dodson from Knox Academy and Kathryn Wilson from North Berwick have been chosen to play in the Interdistrict Tournament for the U15 and U14 district squads in May, respectively.  They are both full-time PAiS athletes and play for Haddington Ladies and Fidra Lions.