Tuesday 23 December 2008

Merry Christmas and Happy 2009!

Hi All,

There have been a few changes in December, I returned to the Green kit of Chelmsford HC for the National Indoor League at Croydon where we had a slow start but a successful second day of results which still gives us the opportunity to qualify for the National Finals at the NIA in January which is our aim at the moment. We beat Ipswich 8-4 and Olton 4-2.

I have also been fortunate to become a Team Essex Ambassador towards London 2012 Olympics which offers a chance for me to promote sport across Essex and help give an insight to youngsters about what it takes to be an elite athlete and reach the Olympics. It also gives me some more support to enable me to train more and focus my attentions on hockey.

This week I was invited to Gosfield Golf Club to meet and see how the Juniors are developing at the golf club. I played many golf fixtures at Gosfield GC and was lucky enough to captain the Essex Girls Team to Regional winners of County Week, so it was a nice visit back to the club in Essex.

I would like to thank all my sponsors and supporters for 2008. It has been a successful year in reaching the Olympic Games and I hope 2009 can be just as good and hopefully in future times we will be challenging for medals!

Happy Christmas All.

Chloe 12
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Below are pictures of the flowers presented by Gosfield GC...



Monday 22 December 2008

Essex Legacy Wesbite

Essex County Council have launched a new website highlighting London 2012 Olympics news.. Well worth a look for the latest developments...

http://www.essexlegacy.org/

Saturday 20 December 2008

Indoor Hockey Pictures of Chelmsford

For pictures from the first weekend of indoor hockey in Croydon check out Nick Robinson's flickr site

He's got plenty of shots of Chelmsford ladies in action, along with Ipswich, Olton, Clifton, and Bowdon Hightown.

Here's a taster:


Top shot: Chloe in action and below with Chelmsford's Lynn Bollington.



Newspaper Report

From the Dunmow Broadcast

Dunmow's sporting stars Chloe Rogers and Dan Bentley have been selected by Essex County Council as recipients of the Team Essex Ambassador's Awards, a funding programme which will help support potential Olympians across the county.

Twelve athletes identified as having the potential to compete at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be awarded a £6500 bursary to help with the cost of training and competing at the highest level.

Dan Bentley, 24, won Paralympic gold in the team Boccia competition in Beijing in September.

The victory brought Great Britain's first ever gold medal in the event which is similar to indoor bowls but designed for people with cerebral palsy, and he has received the backing he needs as he chases further success in 2012.

Twenty three-year-old Chloe, alongside fellow former Helena Romanes School pupil Lisa Wooding, did the town proud as they helped Great Britain to their highest Olympic finish since 1996 in Beijing.Team GB finished three places above their world ranking in sixth and Chloe is now dreaming of a medal in London.

The athletes selected come from all across the county and cover a wide spectrum of sports from hockey to 100m hurdles and disability swimming to sailing. In return for the bursary the athletes will become sporting ambassadors, expected to dedicate time to inspiring young people across the county to become involved in sport.

Cllr Stephen Castle, Essex County Council cabinet member for Economic Development, Regeneration and the 2012 Games said: "In our Essex Sporting Ambassadors we have 12 great athletes and it gives me enormous pleasure to know that Essex County Council funding could contribute to their success in London 2012.

"As equally important as the funding is the commitment the athletes are making to work with the young people in our county - to encourage them in sport and teach them about commitment and discipline."The athletes will be formally presented with their awards at a reception at The House of Lords in January.

Wednesday 17 December 2008

First Weekend of Indoor Hockey

Chloe's been playing for Chelmsford in the indoor hockey league last weekend... Check out Peter Savage's report and excellent photo of Chloe, Lynn Bollington and Ipswich's Emma Lee-Smith...

Talk Hockey Radio Blog

Newspaper Report

From the Southend Evening Echo

Essex County Council announced the recipients of the Team Essex Ambassador’s Awards, a funding programme which will help support potential Olympians across the county, yesterday.
Twelve athletes identified as having the potential to compete at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be awarded a £6,500 bursary to help with the costs of training and competing at the highest level.

The athletes come from all across the county and cover a wide spectrum of sports from hockey to 100m hurdles and disability swimming to sailing.

In return for the bursary the athletes will become sporting ambassadors, expected to dedicate time to inspiring young people across the county to become involved in sport.

“In our Essex Sporting Ambassadors we have 12 great athletes and it gives me enormous pleasure to know that Essex County Council funding could contribute to their success in London 2012,” said Cllr Stephen Castle, Essex County Council cabinet member for economic development, regeneration and the 2012 Games.

“As equally important as the funding is the commitment the athletes are making to work with the young people in our county, to encourage them in sport and teach them about commitment and discipline.”

The athletes will be formally presented with their awards at a reception at the House of Lords in January.

The other nine recipients are: Anne Wafula Strike, 39, from Harlow, athletics (wheelchair racing); Chloe Rogers, 23, Barnston, Gt Dunmow, hockey; Sarah Claxton, 29, Colchester, athletics (100m hurdles); Alexander O’Connell, 20, Brentwood, fencing (men’s sabre), Daniel King, 25, Colchester, athletics (race walking); Ryan Crouch, 14, Colchester, disability swimming; Dominic King, 25, Colchester, athletics (race walking); Martin Evans, 16, West Mersea, sailing; Daniel Bentley, 24, Great Dunmow, boccia.

Saturday 6 December 2008

Film

BBC Essex film about a visit to Helena Romanes School in Great Dunmow. Click here to view...

Sunday 23 November 2008

Newspaper Report

Article from the Bucks Free Press

Life after the Olympics

8:30am Sunday 23rd November 2008

FOR most of us, resuming normal life after the Olympic was as awkward as changing channels on the television set.

But after years of preparation and tunnel-vision focus, the readjustment process was not as straightforward for many who took part in China.

Great Britain hockey star Chloe Rogers has been back for almost three months.
She said: “I really struggled when I came back. I was pretty down, not depressed, but it was like: ‘What do I do now? Where do I go from here?

“I’ve known Beijing was coming for the past three or four years and the last year has been all about the Olympics. Now I can’t believe it’s over. It went so quickly.

“I’ve got London to work towards, but that is such a long way away and it’s hard to get going again.”

Rogers enjoyed a brief lift when when she took part in the Olympic parade through London and met the Queen at Buckingham Palace – “I will never experience anything like that again in my lifetime,” – but reality has since bitten.

As part of the English and British squad, Rogers receives annual Lottery funding through Sport England.

It covers expenses but is not enough to live on and many of her team-mates also hold down full-time jobs. Rogers herself worked for Reed Recruitment before taking two-months unpaid leave around the Olympics.

The High Wycombe company kept her position open for her, but the 23-year-old with a degree in Sports Management from Bucks New University has used the time off to take stock and does not see her long-term future in recruitment.

Like many of her peers though, she is finding that elite sport and a career make difficult juggling.
She said: “I’ve never really had a chance to think about my career. I came out of university and went straight into hockey.

“Reed was the first job that was flexible enough to fit around it and I must really thank for that, but I want to do something in sports development.

“I went for an interview a few weeks ago and the first question they asked was how I was going to fit the job around my hockey.”

Rogers is currently working part-time for England Hockey at Loughborough, but if she has to enter the job market for real in four years time she will be a long way behind the game.

She said: “At the moment I’m focussed on London and making the squad then.

“I’ve got another 40 years of working so hopefully the next four years won’t affect that too much and I just have to hope employers understand why I haven’t really worked for the past four years.

“It might be difficult but it’s the sacrifice of being an elite sportsperson and I wouldn’t swap four years of being outside doing what I love for four years in an office.

“I wouldn’t change anything I’ve done or any decision I’ve made.”

Saturday 22 November 2008

Newspaper Report

Article from the Reading Evening Post

Olympics star Chloe Rogers proved an inspiration for budding hockey players at The Abbey School.

The Great Britain hockey international spoke to the schoolgirls about her Olympic training and what it takes to be a good hockey player before autographing their hockey sticks and trainers.

Hockey players from Year 6 at The Abbey Junior School joined Years 7 to 9 for the afternoon of hockey-related activities, which included a training session led by the international.

Nicky Hurley, development and communications officer at the Kendrick Road school, said: “Chloe’s visit was a bit of inspiration for the hockey teams.

“They all had an absolutely wonderful time and the girls that came up from the junior school now know what to expect in terms of hockey when they come up to the seniors.”

Wednesday 19 November 2008

Essex Sports Awards Evening

Hi All,

The Essex Sports Awards were a lovely evening with Essex boy and Paralympic Gold Medalist Danny Crates as Guest Speaker for the night. It was great to see so much development of all sports across Essex and volunteers spending so much time helping others.
I managed to be highly recommended for the sports personality of the year award (runner-up), Alex O'Connell from Brentwood won the top award after competing in Beijing for Team GB at Fencing.

On to hockey...
We had a good result in the National Premier League last weekend away at Clifton. Leicester managed a 1-0 win in a very well fought match and we knew we needed the points after a few dodgy results so far this season. Hopefully this win will now continue forwards and roll on with some more wins.

We take on Trojans away on Sunday 23rd November.

Chloe12

Thursday 6 November 2008

BBC Essex Sports Personality of the Year

Tonight, 6th November 2008 I will be off to the BBC Essex's Sports Awards in Chelmsford. This year I have been nominated by Chelmsford hockey club for the award along with GB team mate Lisa Wooding. It should be a great function with the opportunity to catch up with fellow Team GB athletes who where out in Beijing and are also from Essex and other sports stars from around the county.

I attended this awards evening about 6 years ago when I was shortlisted for the Young Sports Personality award and its now nice to be invited back for the senior award and show that I have continued and developed on to reach the highest level. That year I remember Ronnie O'Sullivan won the top award on the night.

We will have to wait and see who win's it this year!

Chloe 12

Sunday 26 October 2008

Welcome!

Hello Everyone! Thank you for visiting my website today and I hope you've enjoyed viewing. There has been a few changes and updates, this is my new blog so I can keep you all up to date about what's going on in my world.

This summer saw me spending some time in Beijing at the Olympics and it fulfilled a life time dream of playing in the Olympic Games but however I was disappointed not to achieve my ultimate dream of winning a Gold medal! Well, we are hopefully moving in the right direction up the World Rankings and by London 2012 should be in contention. I did however have a fantastic time in Beijing and the Games hosted by China were brilliant for all athletes. The stadium and facilities on offer to all athletes were 1st class and the logistics of events taking place such as the Opening and Closing ceremonies were spectacular to view.

I have had some time to reflect on my experiences out in Beijing and now have a renewed drive to continue forward and strive to winning a Gold Medal in 2012. I have returned with an understanding of how hard it is to get your hands on one of those Olympic medals even when you have trained just as hard as someone who has a medal its not always that simple, so I have a huge respect for all medal winners.

At the end of September the club season was up and running again in England and I felt it was the right time in my playing career to experience another national league hockey club. Having played against Leicester quite a few times they are a club that play exciting attacking hockey with a highly commended coach, who aim to achieve high standards and winning titles is there priority. With this in mind I am now playing for Leicester and hope to develop more as a player. So far I am enjoying myself at Leicester even though we have had a few mixed results to start the season we are playing some nice hockey.

Chloe 12