Our Under 16 hockey team experienced an intense day in Ashford, where lots of determination and hard work was demonstrated throughout the day.
The tournament started at Ashford Hockey Club with a pool of five schools; our first game against Tonbridge Grammar School resulted in a 1-1 draw with Millicent scoring. An intense game followed against The King’s School Canterbury which was a fast speed game with lots of intensity, however due to our slower set ups at 16s to press the ball, this unfortunately resulted in a 1-0 loss.
After a break and a positive team talk from Mr Evans, our players had the determination and drive to improve, which was reflected in our 2-1 win against Kent College, with both wins scored by Millicent. We then played Simon Langton Girls Grammar School which was our last game of the pool. The game was intense, consisting of lots of quick turnovers and opportunities at goal, resulting in a 1-1 draw.
After a tough morning of matches, the hard work from the whole team paid off, putting us in second place in our pool which was a fantastic achievement due to the talent of all the other Kent schools who competed.
Playing against St Edmunds in the quarterfinals was a tough match due to the fast speed from our opponents however our fantastic early goal from our centre forward Chloe, gave us an early lead in the match. Our tight defense pressured the ball at all times, and goalie Nathan made the save of the tournament which meant the end result was 1-0 to us, getting us to the semi finals with Sevenoaks School. Despite keeping up the positivity and pushing ourselves to perform at our best, the game ended in a 3-0 loss.
Our last match of the day against Tonbridge Grammar School started off with the team being 1-0 down, however the goal gave the team the drive and determination we needed to win, as we upped our intensity and speed of which we played, resulting in two excellent goals from Millicent leading to a 2-1 win.
Our under 16 team finished third place in the Kent Schools tournament; congratulations to all the players!
“I would just like to give a big thank you to Mrs Crawford for her support and encouragement on the sideline that day and of course to our coach Mr Evans, who gave us the drive and confidence to succeed, getting the best out of us on the pitch and providing the useful advice and encouragement, through a lot of helpful yelling and shouting in which we all needed in order to better our performance. Finally, I’d just like to congratulate the entire team for such an incredible day of hard work and determination reflected by our fantastic result and a big thank you to Millicent, Ella, Chloe and our goalkeeper Nathan who stepped up to play for us that day and with such little training and familiarity playing with each other, the whole team should be extremely proud of themselves for this fantastic achievement.” Florence, Under 16 Hockey Captain