Navy News November 2010

48 NAVY NEWS, NOVEMBER 2010 Next month Thai-di-hi

farewell to the S-boats

Swiftsure sunset –

KHRU Yai (assistant master) Gary Gregory (in red) leads the inaugural training session of the Royal Navy Muay Thai Association in its new dedicated training facility in Portsmouth.

Muay Thai – commonly known as Thai or kick boxing – was formally established as an RN-approved sport in June 2010.

The boxers have now converted a disused area above the Defence Mail Centre (just inside Marlborough Gate) into a gym which is fully kitted out with training equipment, punch bags and even a full-size boxing ring. Portsmouth’s Captain of the Base, Capt Paul Lemkes, offi cially opened the new facility, sparring with Logs Dan Bugden.

The dedicated centre will allow members to develop skills in Muay Thai – still used by bodyguards of the Thai royal family.

governing body in its native country and with people who train the Thai military. Beyond preparing top-end fi ghters for competitions, the sport promotes good levels of all-round fi tness (cardio vascular, core stability and fl exibility). More details are available from Lt Cdr David Goldsmith (93832 8963). Sessions are now also being run at HMS Heron – contact LAET Jamie Mitchell on 93510 5222 for information.

Picture: LA(Phot) Chris Mumby, FRPU East

out – Royals fi nishing training Nigerian forces

School’s Gary has developed ties (sorry) with Muay Thai’s

The martial art grew from roots at HMS Sultan a few years ago, crossed the harbour, and moved into Nelson gym last year with training sessions each Tuesday and Thursday.

Indoor fi reworks

THE Navy Inter Command Indoor Hockey Tournament was held over a 24-hour period in

HMS Collingwood. Sixteen matches, ten

for the

five men’s teams and six for the four women’s teams competed on an ‘all play all’ basis, writes Lt Cdr Alan Walker, RNHA. There were 199 goals scored in the 16 matches, 123 in the men’s event and 76 in the women’s. The men’s top scorers were PO(AET) Mark Stanton of Naval Air Command with 24 goals averaging six a match. The pairing of LET(ME)

Hoofi ng time – the submariner sampling life in the cavalry

Danny Makaruk with 14 and Lt Mark Dixon (13) topped this with a Portsmouth 27-goal combo and usual

suspects Woody McInally

(RM) with 13, Matt Brokenshire (RM) with eight, Nick Carter with eight for Plymouth and Sean Trevethan six for Plymouth. With over 100 U23 male players on the database, not many of them were selected in their Command teams which is something RN Hockey must address. It was left to Lee Milton (two) and Callum Watkins (three) for Naval Air; AB Liam Pickford rattled in one for Portsmouth.

The best U23 performances came from MA Mike Nock (Scotland) with five – earmarked as a future U23 captain but sadly due to leave the RN – and Mid George Cave from Glasgow URNU with four.

Sick sense – grim tales from the Navy’s old medical fi les

One hundred and 20 players took part – 45 women and 75 men – of whom there were 13 officials. Just eight U23 male players took part. Fifteen of the over 35s veterans – now known officially as masters – also took part, which was significant because 2010 is the first time in 38 years of Inter- Services indoor hockey that space has been found for an IS indoor masters championships (along with U23 men, senior women and senior men). Of the 45 women, more than one third have been seen in a RN shirt over the recent past. Portsmouth Command women’s management took the opportunity to present their players with Command Colours – a practice

● Lucy in the sky... Portsmouth’s Lt Lucy O’Connor leaps on her way to scoring one of her nine goals during the Inter-Command indoor championships, as her teammate Musn Amy Drinkwater and Lt Sarah Pierce (Naval Air Command) look on

which seems to have died out in recent years but one which went down very well with those selected who turned out to play. Naval Air Women won the ladies event, with Plymouth second and Portsmouth a very close third. A recent survey has suggested

that only about half of the Naval uniformed personnel play sport regularly, inferring that the other half play irregularly. Many RN sports, now just

play an East vs West competition. Hockey is jealously working on keeping its preferred – and entirely achievable – command structure of Portsmouth, Plymouth, Scotland, Royal Marines and Naval Air. The good news is that the Royal

Marines women may have a team next time out.

Hudson, Kate Beard and Amy Drinkwater of the RM School of Music reckon they will have the support to persuade enough of their friends to play to make up a green machine team. Royal undoubtedly seems a bit preoccupied elsewhere just now, the men’s team were pipped of their nine-year crown in the outdoor event in June by Naval Air and now have been topped by both Naval Air and Portsmouth in the indoor event. The next event on the calendar is the Inter-Services Indoor Inter-Command tournament at Collingwood on November 17. Away from Fareham, HMS Neptune undertook a mixed hockey tour of the USA.

Navy players Msns Alice

and beginners, many of whom are products of the grass roots level and RN Hockey Development processes that are established in Scotland, headed to Washington DC.

was to acclimatise to the hot and humid East Coast weather;

novelty for sailors and marines based on the wet and windy west coast of Scotland. A training session was run by CPOET(MESM) Russ Garner (HMS Vengeance) to ensure that the jet lag was blown away and with the sweat pouring the team prepared for their fi rst indoor match

Dragons. Playing against strong opposi-

against local side DC

The fi rst item on the agenda a

A potpourri of 13 seasoned pros

tion the women’s team, captained by AB(Wtr) Laura Laing (Nep- tune), were unlucky to be beaten 4-0 and 4-1. The men’s team fared slightly better by drawing both their games 4-4.

mixed match, which ended in, yes you guessed it, another 4-4 draw. Next

a road trip to Philadelphia. A convoy of three cars, with one sat -nav between them, fi nally got the team to the next hotel via a few (unplanned) de-tours... only for the pre-arranged game to be called off.

Not to be defeated another training session was organised to prepare the team for the forthcoming outdoor game in New York. The day in Philadelphia allowed the team to relax and visit this historical city with the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and the Rocky Balboa Statue of particular interest. New York was the next stop on this whirlwind tour with a game organised against Rye Hockey Club.

national team – including four ex- internationals and the current US national goalkeeper – the sailors put up a spirited performance, losing 5-1. Undeterred by the lack of a

victory, the team headed back to Washington DC to prepare for the outdoor game against DC Dragons. Playing at the University of

Maryland, the team played some excellent hockey and recorded their fi rst victory of the tour 3-2 with Mne Kyle Pinnock (FPGRM) and AB(Wtr) Amy Trakos (Neptune) receiving well-deserved

from the opposition for their performances. Overall the tour was a

magnifi cent success – four games in three cities over ten days against some very strong opposition. The entire team acquitted themselves extremely well and it is hoped to build on this success in the future. Meanwhile

BRNC led the charge for the RN  Continued on page 47

back plaudits Despite playing against a multi- on the schedule was The fi nal game of the day was a

in Blighty,

Published by Navy News, HMS Nelson, Portsmouth and printed by St Ives (Roche) plc.

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