
February 29, 2016 at 11:13PM Well, we had another lovely time at the Hockey Tournament. This time it was the turn of our Yr 8's. As the girls were preparing for the task ahead with a pre-match sing song on the minibus I knew we were in for an enjoyable evening! We played 6 7 - a - side games. 8 minutes one way. Results: v Wayland we lost 1-0 (literally in the last 2 seconds of the match) v Wymondham College B we drew 1-1 v Old Buckenham we won 1-0 v Diss we drew 0-0 v Wymondham College A we lost 3-0 (at this time in the tournament this was the least amount of goals they had scored against a team, so I'll call it a win!) v Wymondham High we lost 1-0 (conceding in the last minute of the game). Maddie Street stepped up to play goalkeeper as unfortunately our regular keeper was absent. She was brilliant! Strong, confident and determinedly clearing balls out of the D when necessary. Amber Wilson, Gabby Sharp and Amelia Morse played in defence over the course of the tournament. Amber tackles effectively and has a powerful pass which she used to move the ball up the pitch to our midfielders. With Amelia's 'sweeping' out of defence and Gabby's strong tackling, the girls made it very hard for the opposition. Arden Scott, Bethany Holland, Tasha Ward, Abbie Mackay and Alex Crichton were the midfielders. Bethany really excells at channelling her player, so much so that time and time again her opponents simply ran out of space to do anything useful with the ball! Abbie and Alex constantly made a nusiance of themselves, carefully timing their tackles, and not giving up until they had won the ball. This paid off for Alex who scored the goal against Wymondham College B. Arden simply didn't stop. Attacking and defending and of course scoring a magnificent goal, striking just inside the D against Old Buckenham. Hannah Spalding was our lone attacker, when she wasn't making runs into the circle with the ball she was busy creating space for her team mates. Tasha was also good at this during her games as a forward. She was very unlucky not to score. If only the goals had been a little bit wider!! Two major positives to be taken from the evening, any little mistakes that were made were discussed and not repeated. I never had to scream 'stop bunching', not even once. You should all be very proud of yourselves girls, it was a pleasure to watch. Big thanks to Wymondham College's Sports Leaders who umpired the games giving me the opportunity to see just how much progress the girls have made. The committment and enthusiasm shown by these girls and our Yr 7s means I am really hoping to be able to field 2 full teams in the U14 League next year. Super job! COACH TOPPING via Dereham Neatherd High School http://ift.tt/1oKkRYE