Leeds Medics and Dentists Hockey Club is a mixed hockey club that plays in the Yorkshire Hockey Association (YHA) Mixed League Division 2, YHA Mixed Cup and in the National Association of Medical Schools (NAMS) Mixed League (North). Each year we go on tour to Blackpool (for the Blackpool Hockey Festival), to the NAMS weekend tournament and to Solihull in Birmingham for the Silz Hockey Festival in the Summer. All of our home matches are played on Sundays at around 12 noon. Our members range from current students studying at the University of Leeds to professional persons who have finished their degrees around 15 years ago. The members base is mainly medical and dental but not completely. Your non medic/dentist friends are welcome too! Hockey is played to an average standard, with some of our members starting having never picked up a hockey stick to those with national league quality skills. Many of our members also play for university or local hockey club teams, and play for the Medics and Dentists hockey club as the social scene is unbeatable. Our club has a comedy knack of not training too hard, but rolling up to competitions and doing extremely well!

Leeds Medics and Dentists HC have an infamous social scene. As a fresher your first real social will be the Fresher's Initiation in early September. You get to meet tons of club members whilst learning what the notorious Leeds Otley Run is like in crazy fancy dress! After you have completed your challenges detailed conveniently on a card around your neck you become a fully initiated club member! Following the Fresher's initiation there are parties, pub crawls, nights out after match socials and much much more in the run up to a Christmas Dinner in December. Our club consists of student members and Gimmers who are previous club members who have finished their degrees and are now in the world of work. The formal Christmas Dinner, usually held at an excellent Leeds Hotel Restaurant, allows you to get to know many of the Gimmers who you will be going on tour with later in the year. Don't worry, you will be formally introduced to them! Next term there will be more partying and socials like the Cheese and Wine party (how cultured) and a club BBQ (new for 2005). Then its tour time! Tours with the Leeds Medics and Dentists Hockey Club are sooo much fun (see later)! Another formal Summer Dinner sums up everything that has happened over the year! The hockey club social calendar won't take up all your time, but provides excellent memorable events spaced out through the year to leave you looking ahead to the next one!

Last year the hockey club trained on a Tuesday and Thursday evening in the week. Occasionally, we use our Sunday match slot as a training session if no match is to take place. This training schedule may change for 2005-2006 although you can be assured it will not interfere with university commitments. Training usually takes place from 9.00 PM until 10.00 PM at the University of Leeds Weetwood Astroturf.

We play in green and white quartered shirts with blue shorts and red socks. We tour in a different kit which changes each year. Your tour kit will have your 'Tour Name' on the back (explained later).

The first tour of the year is to Blackpool, where we compete in the Blackpool Hockey Festival. The whole team travels to Blackpool where we take over a B & B (The Goldhurst) for four days in the Easter holiday. We enter 2 teams into the tournament and usually do very well! Each person that attends the Blackpool tour has a 'Tour Name' that has been awarded to them on their first tour as a 'Tour Virgin' usually because of the antics they get up to or because of some characteristic feature they possess that has been noted by the other club members. Sometimes, people become known only by their 'Tour Name' and in many cases people don't know their actual given name, like NATO. Following the Blackpool Tour, we have the excellent NAMS weekend in Spring/Summer. This is where the student members of the club enter the NAMS tournament and compete against all the other Medical Student teams in the country. The event is hosted by the previous years winners. In 2005 we all had a classic weekend hosted by the Liverpool Gnomes Medics Hockey Club. NAMS is very chilled compared to Blackpool as you will be an experienced tour attendee by then, and Pimms O'clock is celebrated in the correct manner every day! The final tour of the year is to the Silz Hockey Festival in Solihull Birmingham. This sunny festival involves lots of fun camping, hockey and very chilled bbqing next to the hockey pitches!

Well first of all you have to get to Leeds University, but we are sure you are all extra clever and will do that! If you are still having doubts about what university to go to Leeds is ace! It is, after all, the UK's most popular university. If you are a medical or dental student, listen out for announcements from the Leeds Medics and Dentists Hockey Club in your lectures. We will have a stand at the MedSoc fresher's reception where you can come and meet team members and party on with them into the night! Watch this space for information on when that first training session will be (will be early in the start of the 2005-2006 term). If you have any questions please feel free to email them . Have a look at our Photos and Videos using the menu on the left. Please also feel free to register and have a look around the site, just select 'Fresher 2006 - 2007' as you register!

See you soon!