Waspies Minkey and Grads Program

MINKEY AND GRADS

For over 35 years Wesley and South Perth Hockey Club has hosted a junior development program for our little hockey players. On crisp winter mornings at Richardson Park, we have hundreds of participants and their families being active in the South Perth community.

Registrations are now open for season 2025 and we would welcome more juniors (we aren't capped and have heaps of space ) - so register now and join us:  REGISTER HERE

Grads: Year 3 - Year 4 (mixed boys and girls) | Saturday Mornings | Richardson Park | 8.00 - 9.30

Minkey: Pre-Primary - Year 2 (mixed boys and girls) |Saturday Mornings | Richardson Park | 8.30 - 9.30

Dates for 2025

Friday 2 May - Open Day Sundowner  | Skills Clinic | Socialise and meet other parents and families

Saturday 10 May - Saturday 30 August | Normal Saturday progamming | We don't host or organise minkey/ grads on long weekends or in school holidays and may move around a bit based on invitationals and carnivals.

Communication, Coaches and Volunteering

• Newsletter - We have a Minkey/Grads newsletter that will regularly be sent to parents to keep everyone updated on season calendar, cafe happenings etc. 
• Volunteers - We are a club that is 100% run by volunteers. For this junior program to function every year we seek the following (in the spirit of 'many hands make light work'):
  • Coaches
  • Team Managers
  • Minkey Coordinator (currently vacant)
  • Grads Coordinator
  • Cafe Roster Coordinator
  • Fresh food collector 
  • Local Primary School Champions
• Sausage sizzle and cafe - As part of the Club's fundraising efforts and to provide a good atmosphere, there is a sausage sizzle and cafe open every Saturday morning when Minkey/Grads are playing. All teams will get a BBQ and cafe duty (where they will be asked to bring some baked good to sell) or duties during the season. 

Fees

2025 Minkey / Grads Fee Information When you register your child you will be directed to make a mandatory Hockey Australia registration fee payment (of between $20-$40 based on the program). This is a fee from/by the national sporting body and provides a small level of insurance to our players and is separate from Waspie's club fees (i.e. we have no control over the Hockey Australia levy). The fee structure from WASPs for the programs for 2025 is: Minkey: $110 per child Grads: $120 per child WASP's fees include a playing shirt, socks, weeks of structured fabulous hockey fun, invitationals to other clubs and involvement in hockey clinics run by our Premier League players. The Club will send out invoices for payment of these fees (to the email address used when registering) and you will be able to pay by credit card or EFT transfer.

Structure / Development

We plan for 15 rounds in our program, mostly played on our grass fields at Richardson Park (opposite Perth Zoo) on Saturday mornings.

Minkey partcipants will participate in 30 minutes of drills followed by mini games of '6 v 6' each week. These smaller sized games allow active involvement for all children (to touch the ball as many times as possible) and keep it fun!

Grads participants will have have 45 minutess of technical drills followed by 40 minute games, which will provide a good balance of skills development, enjoyment, and healthy 'competition':

• • Grads have 'lightning' rounds were there are multiple stations and coaches to rotate through
  • Games progress during the season from smaller fields to 3qtr size fields
  • By the end of the season year 4 players will be giving 'full field' hockey a go

Regional Carnivals and Invitationals

Our Club sees the value in our junior participants growing and developing by interacting and playing with other clubs and teams (it keeps things interesting and exciting!). In 2025 we hope to continue with our involvement in regional carnivals and invitationals with other fantastic local hockey clubs including Vic Park, Fremantle and Reds. These are usually opt-in opportunities for the juniors and the season calendar will adjust as we lock in dates, but to give an indication of the current planning:

• Hook into Hockey Carnival - mid June
• Sundowners - specific Friday nights. In past years Red Hockey Club and Fremantle Hockey Club have invited us to play round-robin games on their turfs. We reciprocate and invite their teams to Richardson Park towards the end of the season for larger field games (getting all of our Year 3s and 4s ready for full field hockey and enjoying interclub competition). 

Skills Clinics by our Premier League Players

Our Premier League players are terrific supporters of our Minkey and Grad programs. Not only do they coach our little stars, but they also organise and host at least two skill clinics every year.

Please save the following dates:

Friday 2 May | CLUB OPEN DAY | Try Hockey | PP - Year 8 | Technical Skill Stations by WASPs Premier League players - followed by Premier Squad and Year 5/6 Shirt Presentations | Sausage Sizzle | Mingle and make friends

Friday 20 June | SKILLS CLINIC SUNDOWNER | Technical Skill Stations by Premier League players

CONTACT US

If you have any questions or would like more information, please get in touch:

Minkey
Mitch and Ash Bailey: wasphc.minkey@gmail.com

Grads
Hayley Prendiville: wasphc.grads@gmail.com