The theme of the 2025 International Women’s Day is Accelerate Action. Jean Fitch from Bedford Hockey Club has spent the last 30 years involved in the club and was integral to the launch of the successful walking hockey sessions while playing in goal and fundraising for the club. We invited her to share her love of hockey and the positive changes that have been made at the club and the sport.
Sport and music were my main passions growing up, every spare moment taken up with one or other. Being born in the 60s, however, there wasn’t the same diverse range of sports available to girls and women, there being a strong gender bias regarding what was ‘acceptable’, something I struggled with, being a quintessential tomboy.
I would play cricket in the back garden with my brother for hours on end, but there were no clubs in my area that recognised that as a sport for girls, a situation that has thankfully changed, and enabled me to take it up in adulthood, and to continue playing to this day.
My first taste of hockey was when, aged 13, we relocated and it, along with netball and cross country, were the winter sport options for girls at the comprehensive school I moved to, and I loved it, transferring the hand-eye coordination skills I had developed through my cricket to this newfound sport, and seeing me selected for the school team, as a left back.
It was a very different game then from the one we play today – the pitch was the same muddy field used for boy’s rugby and football (sports that weren’t on offer to girls in schools back then). Play was started with a bully (three taps between the ground and stick); I quickly learnt the off-side rule; woe betide anyone who lifted the ball off the ground, and goal keepers were lucky if they had a pair of cricket pads and leather gloves (no helmet).
I still remember the thrill of travelling to the old Wembley Stadium, with a coach full of girls from my school, and the deafening roar of the stadium, filled with 60,000 cheering schoolgirls, as England’s women took on Ireland.
The halcyon days of childhood ended abruptly when, at the age of 18, I enrolled as a student nurse. Little did I know then that my choice to go into nursing would, ultimately, lead to my return to the hockey pitch, 10 years later.
I will be forever indebted to Rob Oakley, then a Consultant Radiologist at the hospital, and now our club’s President, who placed posters in the corridors asking if anyone would be interested in playing mixed hockey if he were to set up a hospital team. The rest, as they say, is history, hockey having been a central part of my life for the past 30 years.
Bedford Hockey Club is my found family, a family that has supported me on every level over the years.
What I absolutely love about the club is their acceptance of me for who I am, with all my peculiarities. As a socially awkward introvert, it would be easy for me to shut myself away, but participation in sport provides me with social interaction, something I appreciate is important for everyone’s wellbeing, but in a safe and non-threatening environment. Furthermore, being a club that embraces diversity and inclusion, I am not just tolerated as a gay woman, but welcomed, wearing my rainbow laces with pride. My involvement in the club was even celebrated through being nominated as Unsung Hero at the recent Bedford Borough Council Sports Awards. The nomination cited the time I spend at the club photographing matches, my endeavours to raise the club’s profile in any way I can, in my capacity of Publicity Officer, as well as my involvement with Walking Hockey. It was an award I was privileged to be the recipient of. I am only sorry that I couldn’t attend the awards ceremony myself. Whilst sport is my life, the thought of attending the event was just too much for me to even contemplate.
My preference will always be behind the camera, and not in front of the lens. It was the club membership who ensured I was able to continue snapping them in action, after I returned home a few years ago to find my house ransacked, my camera being one of the items taken. I was totally overwhelmed when, two days later, I was handed a cheque for £800, the club, unbeknown to me, had made the collection for a replacement camera.
Many years ago, I transitioned – to being a keeper, as at the time there was a major shortage of goalies. Playing in goal has kept me physically agile. It also aided my recovery from breast cancer, when I was diagnosed 9 years ago. Four weeks post-mastectomy, I was back between the posts, playing in a veteran’s tournament. Club members were a major support to me throughout my cancer journey, especially as it coincided with the death of my father and my struggling as a carer to my mother, whilst dementia slowly destroyed her.
Without doubt due to the influence of Maddie Hinch, female keepers are now abundant at our club, so my services are rarely needed, although we have a wonderful Women’s Over 55s squad, which it is a joy to be a part of. With less than a year to go before I turn 60, I also love participating in the club goalie training each week, attempting the drills alongside the youngsters, being in awe of the talent they have.
Another highlight of my week is attending the aforementioned Walking Hockey, which takes place twice a week from September to May. Recognition for initiating this goes to our Ladies’ Club Captain, Kate Costin, who arranged a taster session during a club tournament six years ago. This group is so much more than just the hockey, one player telling me it has been a lifeline for her.
Walking Hockey has removed many of the boundaries preventing sectors of the community from participating in the sport of hockey. It is gender inclusive and the format of the game makes it highly accessible, due to its slower pace and lower impact, enabling individuals with all nature of illnesses and disabilities to not only participate in exercise, but to do so in an enjoyable, and competitive arena.
Since its introduction, the group has had members across the age ranges use this format to try hockey for the first time, others have returned to the sport after a significant period of time away, whilst some, who were faced with giving up playing the sport due to illness, injury or fitness levels, have discovered a form of the game that enables them to continue participation.
Many of the ‘walkers’ have progressed on to playing mainstream hockey for the club, including Steph Daniels, now 78, who back in the day was taught and coached by, and played alongside, Val Robinson. Twice-weekly Walking Hockey is still part of Steph’s calendar, simply for its joy and camaraderie, even though she has also reached the dizzy heights of attending training with the England Women’s Over 70s squad for the past couple of seasons.
There has been a ripple effect from when we were the only club in the local area offering this format of the game, and several matches and tournaments have already taken place, with others in the pipeline. A growing number of clubs are coming on-board, seven of us in the area now being connected through a WhatsApp group.
The introduction of Walking Hockey is just one of the changes I have witnessed over my 30-year involvement with the club. Most notable, is the growth in membership, in particular of female participation, swelling from four women’s teams in 1994, to seven today, with talk of the possibility of creating an eighth.
Attendance of girls in all the age groupings at Sunday Juniors, under 5s, 8s, 10s and 12s, is blossoming, whilst the creation of a Development Centre for girls under 14s, 16s and 18s, has provided a pathway for their on-going development. This benefit extends to several surrounding clubs too, girls from those clubs that don’t have their own age-specific coaching being able to attend the training, returning to their home clubs for match play.
The other major growth I have seen, and been able to benefit from personally, has been the development of Master’s Hockey within the club. This is thanks to Bedford Hockey Club legend, Joy Leeson, who stepped up to take a lead promoting Women’s Masters Hockey at the club, organising matches, tournaments and training for us more mature members. Our Women’s Over 35s, 45s and 55s all participate in the England Hockey Championships, and have seen success over the years, taking them to Lee Valley for the finals on several occasions. A number of our Women’s Masters players are currently trialling for their home nations, across the range of age groups, including Over 35s, 40s, 45s, 55s, 60s and Over 70s.
Another incredibly exciting initiative supported by the club this season is targeted at addressing the significant decline in hockey participation in schools, most specifically state-run schools, the shift from grass to astro being a death knell for hockey in many of them.
Inspired by Ellie Scott, herself a former state school student and current Bedford Hockey Club 1st team player, who also represents the English Universities team, and spearheaded by Rachel Grainger, Head of Sport in a local secondary school, there has been a revival of the Bedfordshire Schools Hockey League.
The project has seen a return to a structured league format featuring U14, U16, and U18 competitions for girls, boys, and mixed teams. League matches take place on Monday afternoons, utilising the facilities at Bedford Sports and Hockey Centre, with an estimated 200 pupils having taken part so far.
Alongside this relaunch, a new Bedford Hockey Club Allstars team was founded, to provide an opportunity for club players from state schools, who currently have no access to hockey through their schools, to participate in the Under 18 Girl’s competition.
“This team is about breaking barriers,” said Kate Costin, who helped instigate the team along with assistance from supportive parents, “For all these girls, this has been their first taste of competitive school hockey, and they’ve really embraced the challenge”.
If anyone has any doubt as to why sport, and hockey in particular, is so important for women and girls, my own personal experience is testament to the life-affirming benefits participation can bring, physically, emotionally and socially. Furthermore, having been on the hockey scene for the past 30 years, I have observed the journeys of many girls and women within the club, some, literally, from taking their first steps, through to adulthood, and witnessed the value hockey, and involvement in club life, brings to them. The club has several mother and daughter combinations, and it’s wonderful to see the bond between them, especially when playing on pitch at the same time.
Watching the way the hockey club can play a part in nurturing its female players, both on and off the field of play, is heartwarming.
My advice, to every girl and woman is that there is a level of play for all. Go to the England Hockey website, search ‘Find a club’ and enter your postcode.
Give it a go, like me, you might just get hooked.
