London Wayfarers Hockey Club is delighted to announce the appointment of Tim Davenport as Director of Junior Hockey. This is an exciting and important new role for London Wayfarers’ thriving, dynamic and ambitious Junior section, and most importantly for the c600 girls and boys at the club.
Tim’s appointment as Director of Junior Hockey reflects our commitment to investing in and developing one of the strongest club coaching set-ups in the country as London Wayfarers continues to grow, raise standards and drive a hockey philosophy based on “fun, friends, family & fast hockey” while providing hockey coaching and support for girls and boys looking to play at the highest level as well as those who want to learn new skills, make new friends and have fun playing the fantastic sport of hockey.
Introducing Tim
Tim brings with him an outstanding hockey pedigree, both as a player and as a coach, and will be a huge asset to the club. As a player, Tim has played at the highest level for many years and has a remarkable scoring record over that time. He started playing National League hockey for Havant before moving to Team Bath Buccaneers in 2003, while completing his Coach Education and Sports Development degree at Bath University. Tim had 10 successful seasons playing for Buccs, captaining the side from 2013-2015 and being named in the England Hockey’s All-Stars Conference West Team at the end of the 12/13, 13/14 and 14/15 seasons.
More recently, Tim has played for Teddington Hockey Club since 2016 in the England Hockey League Conference East. Last season saw Tim scored his 300th National League goal in Teddington’s 7-2 win over West Herts to become one of the all-time leading goalscorers in the National League.
Tim is also an exceptional indoor hockey player. As recently as 2016, Tim scored a remarkable 11 goals against Holcombe, while playing for Wimbledon at the Super 6s. He finished the tournament with 28 goals from 6 games. Tim’s passion for indoor hockey is second-to-none and we are excited that London Wayfarers will be able to broaden their hockey experiences by playing indoor as well.
Beyond playing, Tim has, in recent years, translated his on-pitch success and leadership to the coaching, mentoring and development of the next generation of junior players. He is currently Hockey Development Officer at Whitgift School, South Croydon, where he is a key member of the coaching staff who consistently nurture, mentor and develop some of the strongest young hockey players in the country. Whitgift age-group teams have regularly won national schools titles over the last few years in both indoor and outdoor hockey.
Strong Coaching Set Up
Tim joins an already strong coaching set-up in the Junior section at London Wayfarers across both girls and boys. Niels Rudolphus, who played with Tim at Teddington, joined us last season as Boys’ Head Coach. Niels has a wealth of experience playing and coaching at the highest level across Europe. In his role at London Wayfarers, Niels is also lead BU16 coach. We are also lucky to have an excellent coaching group in the rest of the boys and girls sections with lead coaches Mark Thirlway, Matt Dean, Adrian Darley, Richard Carter, Tara Wright, Adam Beese, Angela Durnin supported by many excellent parent coaches and assistant coaches. Additionally, London Wayfarers is very proud of our Junior GK Academy, led by Head Coach, Barbara Pawson. Plus of course the involvement of senior lead coaches such as Joe Oddy, Jared Oliver and Anto Rawlinson across the club.
We roll out a big “orange and black” carpet to welcome Tim to the club and are delighted that he has accepted this key role at London Wayfarers Hockey Club.”I’m absolutely delighted to be joining London Wayfarers as Director of Junior Hockey and I’m looking forward to working with our junior players and team of coaches. A lot of hard work has gone into getting the junior section into the position it is today and I hope to continue this and add further value moving forward. I feel like I’m joining the club at a very exciting time and I’ve been hugely impressed and completely sold by the ambition and vision of the club”.