This year I have been playing hockey in the German Bundesliga for Der Club an der Alster. The overall experience has been enjoyable, incredibly valuable, and has aligned perfectly with my aspirations to play hockey full time for Great Britain. British clubs can definitely draw upon the culture and professionalism of German hockey at the club level, both at Alster as well as in the wider league. I have thoroughly enjoyed training more frequently, in team sessions as well as in more individual, technical focused sessions. I have learned a lot from the style and competitiveness of the league where every game is a closely fought battle and have developed my individual attacking and defensive skills over the year to adjust to these differences. Additionally, playing a full 3-4 month indoor season has massively improved my speed of decision making as well as reinforcing a detail-focused approach to improving my technical skills. The league is very well covered on social media with Hockey Bundesliga's partnership with Dyn Sports which makes broadcasting and advertising the sport to a wider audience possible. For example every game is livestreamed with high quality cameras, including instant replays and commentary. This has definitely added to the professional feel of the experience.
Der Club an der Alster is a special club with a great community feel and have been very supportive of me as a player this year. This past weekend we beat the league's top seed HTC Uhlenhorst in a three game quarter final series to qualify for the club's first Final 4 appearance in 13 years (where I managed to score the winner in Game 3 with help from the post). The club has a rich history of past success and returning to the top of German club hockey was our goal for this season which is something we are looking to achieve at the Final 4 taking place in Bonn over the weekend of 18th-19th May.
Overall, the year has been a great year to experience a different hockey culture and take numerous learnings from both players and coaches over here in Germany on board to improve my game going into the future. Next year, I will be returning to the UK in order to continue my hockey pursuits with the continued support of Grays with the goal of playing full time for Great Britain. Thank you Grays as ever for the continued support, and also Der Club an der Alster for making my experience playing in Europe so great.