Neatherd High School: Girls U12 Hockey Mini-Tournament Neatherd vs Northgate Report Coach Topping reports: "Yesterday we popped along to Northgate with two teams of Year 7 Hockey players for a mini-tournament. They also had two teams so we played three games of 12 minutes one way. I am really pleased with the enthusiasm and commitment the girls are showing to their Hockey at school Club and this was demonstrated brilliantly in the games last night. All 14 girls worked really hard to get the ball and try to use the space available, working together as a team. (We did have 15 but poor Katie’s finger got involved in a stick and ball sandwich at lunchtime practise so we thought it was better she watched. She made an awesome photographer and will be playing when we host next Monday)! The channelling of players and effective tackling was a joy to watch from our youngsters. The support play was also positive and positional play, although needs some fine tuning, was pretty impressive as our new teams ‘gelled’. For some of the girls it was the first time they had played competitive Hockey for school as some were not available for the tournament we went to a couple of weeks ago. Elisha and Holly were our goalkeepers, and as 2 inexperienced ‘new to the job’ players, they did a sterling job. 2 other girls have also requested to ‘have a go’ in goal next week, which is delightful as it’s not always an easy spot to fill and shows confidence. It was also great to hear how encouraging they are towards one another, (at least I think it was, it’s often hard to understand ‘gum-shield speak’) and if mistakes were made it didn’t matter and we just knuckled down and got on with it again. Neatherd A were winners on goal difference scoring one more than Northgate A and Neatherd B came in 4th, again on goal difference, scoring just one fewer than Northgate B. Valuable lessons learnt and much to take forward to next week’s games. This all bodes well for the 2016/17 season! Well done everyone! Neatherd squads: Elisha Smith, Ellie Ampleford, Jasmine Hudson, Isla Reid, Bethany Payton, Kiera Stubbs, Milly Ogden, Katie Lockhart Holly Lloyd, Molly Ashton, Katie Bottomley, Lucy Gedge, Kayleigh Munt, Bronwyn Neil, Hannah Reid