THE CLUB
Welcome!
Slough Tornados have three times been UK national Champions and have also won numerous league and challenge cups.
We regularly play in tournaments, and have played in Iceland, Netherlands, Scotland, Spain, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and France.We play games with a London group of teams in the winter and summer cups. The winters being our A level team and the summers being our B level team. We play our games at the Slough Ice Rink, which is five minutes of the M4 south of Heathrow and the M25, 30 minutes from central London.
If you would like to be part of this exciting team playing the world's fasted sport please
contact usClub History
The Slough Tornados Ice Hockey Team has was formed back in 1986
Some of its original players were John Glenny, Martin Krauka, Kevin Edmunds, Jack Jones (G), Kevin Smith, Geoff Delderfield, Leroy Rumble, Steve Martin, Billy Laven (goalie), Jack Jones (goalie), Jeff Yavorski (Canadian), Mark Cleversly, Craig Moran, Mark Strutton, Derek Glassford, Alan Gray (G) and Austin Crabbe, and Aneil Kumar. There was no formal training and the sessions were really a knock about.
We originally played against teams such as Medway, Richmond, Telford, Romford, Lee valley, Bournemouth, Swindon, etc.
In around 1992, Bill Tait and Bill Jones reformed and re-organized the club and managed to arrange fixtures. Bill Tait's coaching, despite his never having played hockey was excellent, particularly on the bench during games.
His authority as a retired senior NCO in the Guards and his experience as a rugby player were invaluable in getting the team confident and motivated. We knew we were the best and repeatedly demonstrated it. He knew exactly how to get the best out of every player, both good and not so good. Bill passed away in 1998. Bill's death was a very tragic loss to us, and left big shoes to fill.
On Bills death in 1999
Simon, Bill and John continued to run the club for a couple of years then a new executive took over the management of the club. This was Mike Fay, Kevin Barsby and Simon Woodey who became the coach and Dwayne Pascal Captain. Simon brought in a group of new players of which formed the backbone of the club today. Due to Simon Woodey’s coaching talents, he turned the club into an English recreational hockey dynasty, beating virtually most English and Scottish hockey clubs during this period.
Honours in this time include:
Founding the Southern Cup competition - with the Bill Tait memorial trophy, then winning on numerous occasions.
EIHA Recreational National Champions.
Awarded Slough Sport and Recreations team of the year
- Present
In 2001 Mike Fay, Kevin Barsby & Simon Woodey handed over the team to Miroslav Rakovan (Raki.)
Raki brought a new way of playing to the Tornadoes, focusing on skill rather than sheer physical presence.
This had a big impact and took the Tornadoes to new levels of playing ability. We started playing UK teams from the ED1 leagues, International Teams – such as: Valkenburg (Holland), Rekyavik (Iceland), Martin (Slovakia), Prague (Czech Republic), Italy, Spain and a number of new recreational teams around the UK.
The focus was all about having fun but playing hard. The experience that Raki had gained playing at high levels in Slovakia was having a positive impact on his coaching skills with the Tornadoes.
The Tornadoes current Executives are:
ABOUT US
The Tornados have players that range from highly skilled international level, to medium skilled players. We consider ourselves an‘A’ level team in England. We have Male and Female players that age from 18 to their mid 60’s, our average age would be in the low 40’s. We are mostly a highly skilled club with most of the players having played elite hockey in Canada, the US and Europe. Most team members would play at Canadian Adult Recreational Hockey Association B to A level in their respective age groups.
Being close to London, the Tornados have been a home for recreational ex pat players and high performing British players. We have had players from all over the globe join us. The Tornados have come from Canada, the United States, Wales, Scotland, Norway, Finland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Greece, South Africa, Japan, Australia, and even from Liverpool, England. Due to the ex pat nature of our makeup and their transient; we are always looking for players to join us.
In the past the team has won the English championship four times and no longer compete in the competition due to it being a checking competition. In 2004 we were voted the Slough Community Sports Team of The Year. We were the first team in England to champion non-checking hockey. Before our involvement all recreational hockey in England was full checking.