Women's hockey talking points: How champions Surbiton prepare for match day

This weekend features a table-topping clash in the Investec Women's Premier Division as leaders and defending champions Surbiton take on newly-promoted Hampstead & Westminster.

The coach

Brett Garrard was meant to coach Surbiton ladies for only one season. Eleven years on, the GB Olympian has led Surbiton into the top flight and overseen six successive titles. Every year he has to juggle losing an array of international players (eight so far in 2019-20) through the season due to the centralised system and has used 22 players this term. He doesn't look at the league table until at least the fifth game in, with Surbiton now leading Hampstead by five points after eight successive wins.

"From a coach's point of view I'm still as up for it from game one," he says. "I enjoy the challenge of the different dynamics, such as having 15-year-old players up to thirtysomethings. I had to adapt my own style in order to be able to communicate. The one thing that stands out coaching a ladies team is that they are very attentive."

The player

"We owe a lot to Brett and he just sets the standards," says Emily Atkinson, into her seventh season at Sugden Road. The 28-year-old chartered surveyor joins her team-mates for Monday and Wednesday evening training for 90 minutes. Either side will usually consist of gym-based work, with Friday off and yoga stretching on Sundays. The long-term goal every season, adds Atkinson, is for semi-professional Surbiton to combine their domestic season with qualifying and then playing in Europe year-on-year. "We've had the most consistency I think we've ever had," she says of this campaign.

The manager

Tony Jones sees increasing availability issues with their colts' players combining school games at the weekend with the Elite Development Programme. He uses Google Sheets to anticipate session numbers, while one recent problem with their array of young England juniors created a clash with performance centre training and no goalkeepers available for club training.

In a new initiative, Jones also oversees match videos uploaded to Hudl which are then shared by a majority of the other clubs to view. Surbiton's own ability to film matches properly has been blighted by a council request to take down its video tower after breaching planning regulations.

The volunteer

Jones will also help get the club and pitch into shape for match day. An array of tasks include line repainting, making sure wifi works pitch side for realtime statistics, sorting ball patrol and liaising with staff for gate entrance fees. The club has also invested in a tractor to help with brushing the pitch twice for match day and the constant leaf battle.

Surbiton ladies' shirt sponsor, Edel Grass, told the club in the summer that its water-based pitch had two full seasons left to run. As a club owning its facility, a five-year plan has been put into place and, due to their domestic success, budgets are increasingly tight as Surbiton plan for continental trips at Easter. The women's and men's joint Euro Hockey League campaign will cost at least £40,000.

As an amateur club, Garrard will also rely on trusted professionals associated at the club if players pick up serious injuries. For instance, he is well connected with one of Britain's leading osteopaths Jonathan Bailey-Teyletche, who has travelled with the team for previous European club tournaments.

The preview

Both will likely field their strongest sides, with the Olympians now back on the domestic trail. "An Olympic year is always tough and it can have an affect on the standard of the league," concedes Garrard. "We still want the league to improve and we still have some way to go in comparison to the Dutch and German leagues."

Ahead of the weekend, Jones says: "They [Hampstead] are on the up. They play on the break well and it's the way a lot of teams play against us. For women's hockey they score a lot of goals [26 in eight matches]. It should be a cracking, free-flowing game." Meanwhile, Hampstead's Joie Leigh is the league's leading scorer with seven goals, while their penalty corner specialist Grace Balsdon has notched four goals in seven starts.

Bray hits her stride

On Saturday, Sophie Bray, the former GB international, was in sublime form as East Grinstead's season continued to improve. The West Sussex side were always in control as they beat Clifton 4-0 for their third consecutive win, with Bray scoring a second-half hat-trick.

The 29-year-old seemed to be in the right place or on the end of any crash and aerial balls into the D as Clifton found the going increasingly tough in defence or facing a quick counter. Bray's touch has always been one of her strongest assets and the way she volleyed home from an aerial move - where others may have waited for the ball to drop - was a particular delight in a highly impressive display for the forward.

Investec Women's Premier Division results

Surbiton 3 Buckingham 2
Grinstead 4 Clifton Robinsons 0
Hampstead & Westminster 2 Bowdon 0
Loughborough Students 1 University of Birmingham 0
Holcombe 3 Beeston 0

What's on this weekend - November 16

Buckingham v East Grinstead, 12pm
Clifton Robinsons v Loughborough Students, 1pm
Holcombe v Bowdon, 1pm
Beeston v University of Birmingham, 2pm
Surbiton v Hampstead & Westminster, 4:30pm

Times as published by England Hockey