Pre-season Hockey Tour

9 October 2017

During the summer, the Senior girls travelled down to Eastbourne for their pre-season tour hoping to pick up where they left off last season. The tour was a great success but not just because of the impressive results. On the first day, we met in Eastbourne and had a two hour training session. By the end of the session our training game was a lot more free flowing which was good to see. We concentrated on a core of three things that we would work on during the week. In the evening we went out for dinner together which proved a great way to break the ice between age groups. On the Wednesday we headed to Buzz Active for a morning of Paddle Boarding and Raft Building in the rain. The girls had been split into three teams for the week and were awarded (or docked!) points for different things... performance/effort, punctuality, dress and so on...The girls built their rafts in their teams ably led by Miss Whyte, Miss Jordan and JP. After a session of Paddle Boarding in which every person either fell in, or got pushed in, the girls raced their rafts! It was very tight between Charlie’s Angels (JP’s team) and the Dragons (Miss Jordan’s team) but Charlie’s Angels pipped them to the post. In the afternoon we headed to our first fixture at Hurstpierpoint and played Mid Sussex. We were under pressure for the first 10 minutes but broke and scored from our first attack through Alice Maclure. We added a second through a Yas Mama short corner strike before conceding a goal from a short corner ourselves. In the last few seconds of the half, Fifth Formers Charlotte Would (Queen’s) and Imy Joyce (Stanhope) combined and Imy scored to put us 3-1 up going into the break. Within five minutes of the second half Charlotte Would scored to make it 4-1. The rest of the half it was very even and we rode our luck a little towards the end as twice the ball fizzed past our back post. The match ended 4-1 and all coaching staff were very pleased. On the Thursday morning we did a fitness session on the cliff top opposite the hotel which involved speed and agility work, ladders, resistance running and running with parachutes. We got some impressed and bemused looks from the locals! The girls then did a team time trial through the speed and agility course with no overtaking allowed and having to cross the finish line as close as possible - the Dragons won this. We then had a big game of rounders which got very competitive and again the Dragons prevailed. In the afternoon we headed to South Saxons and played 3 x 20 minute thirds. We dominated the first period but could not score and took a long time to get used to the pitch. The second third was slightly more even but we couldn’t find the net and were fortunate not to go behind. Lottie Hopkinson saved a penalty flick to keep things at 0-0. The final third saw us finally break the deadlock. Yas Mama (Upper Sixth, Nugent) thundered in a short corner before Tallula Douglas Miller (Upper Sixth, Queen’s) doubled the lead. We then scored the goal of the tour, Mama, Martha Combe (Upper Sixth, Nugent) and Alyssia Dockerty (Fifth Form, Queen’s) combing in midfield for Charlotte Would (Fifth Form, Queen’s) to finish from close range. It finished 3-0. We headed back to Eastbourne where we went out for dinner together and the girls were on a real high. Yas Mama and Alice Maclure (Upper Sixth, Nugent) were presented with Player of the Tour awards and Charlotte Would was presented with ‘Tour Legend’ award for her hockey performance and great attitude throughout the week. This was greeted with huge cheers from the older girls. A thoroughly enjoyable few days with some impressive performances on the pitch. 

Ben Scott, Head of Hockey