Proud Mum Caroline Golledge Loves Sharing The Hockey Pitch With Her Two Daughters

After an incredible summer of women’s sport, which saw England’s women’s hockey team take home gold at the Commonwealth Games and then play in the successful EuroHockey Qualifiers in Durham, the charity Women in Sport is encouraging mothers and their teenage daughters to use that inspiration and spend #TimeTogether this October, trying out new activities to experience the joy that sport and exercise can bring. 

England Hockey back Women in Sport and want to encourage more families to #PickUpAStick together. 

We spoke to the Golledge family who have been lucky enough to play hockey together over the past year.  

Caroline, 53, is a proud mum who gets to spend most Saturdays on the hockey pitch for Berkshire-based team Scarlett Runners. 

Scarlett Runners are a ladies club team based in Berkshire consisting of just one team, founded over 100 years ago, currently playing in the South Central Women's Division 3 Thames League. The team, built up of local players from across the county who love to play hockey but can’t commit to weekly training or matches, encourages players of all ages and abilities to come, pick up a stick and play hockey in a fun and relaxed environment.  

Caroline joined Scarlett Runners aged 31 after a 13-year gap. Daughter Ruby, 22, like her mum, played hockey throughout school and took a step back whilst at university. Ruby decided just over a year ago to get back into hockey with her family and joined the Scarlett Runners alongside her mum and sister Daisy. 

Daisy, 19, played hockey until she was 14, but, with some persuasion and encouragement from the Runners, joined the team and has been playing ever since.  

The trio love being able to play hockey together, they tried other activities like running, but found hockey was perfect because women can play in the same team regardless of their ability, fitness and age. 

As a mum, Caroline loves spending time with her family, she commented: “Logistically it’s really really good because you’re all going out together, but also, it gives us something to talk about after. We’ve got a really nice team that we play for but it’s nice that we have something to talk about and do together. 

“As you get older and we all get busy and are working at different times and don’t see each other in the weekday, it’s really nice to see each other on a Saturday,” continued Daisy. 

Ruby added: “I was really excited about the idea of the season starting again and being able to play more regularly. It’s really nice to do something together and to have a bit of guidance from someone you are really comfortable with and get a bit of support from your sister”.