Senior Reserve Hopes High

The return of several former senior Victory Hockey Club players to Wellington and the acquisition of a number of promising young members, has made the club appear, on paper, to have enough talent to win the senior reserve grade again this year.

Over the four seasons that the team has won the grade, it has established an enviable record of consistency and has shown on many occasions that, if it were given the incentive, it could hold its own as a senior side.

The club has applied, for the second year running, for its second team to be entered in the senior grade.

But this application was rejected. Thus many of the more experienced members of the side have lost the incentive to apply themselves to the physical fitness and skills necessary for high class hockey.

This attitude is unfortunate, for not only are the younger members of the team failing to gain the full benefit of playing with the more experienced members of the side, but the side is not functioning as a co-ordinated unit.

In only one game this year—against what must be regarded as one of the strongest sides in the grade, Karori—has the side combined as a team and played as it can (the game was won convincinly 4-2).

Overall, there is a strong feeling in the team as to the wisdom of the Wellington Hockey Association's rejection of the club's efforts to give the members of the team the standard of hockey it deserves—especially since the association is in somewhat of a quandary as to how it can advance the claims of the strong Tawa Club.

It would seem that the logical solution to the dilemma would be the promotion of both teams.

There is, however, strong competition for all places in the side and absolutely no certainly that players, who may have previously regarded themselves as "established" in the team, will maintain their positions for the full season.

Such strength in the club means the team should perform as creditably as its past record suggests it should.