Over the Easter break, England Hockey hosted the National Junior Finals at the Nottingham Hockey Centre, and SVS was superbly represented. A total of 12 pupils competed across four teams from three different clubs, one of the highest representations from any school nationally, and certainly across Kent and the South East.
Congratulations to all involved for their outstanding achievements, not only on finals day but throughout the season in reaching this level of competition. Their commitment, effort and hard work have clearly paid off, and we look forward to following their future successes.
Below are reports from each team.
Knole Park HC U14 Girls, Tier 1 Plate Final (2nd place)
Written by Mollie H, First Form
On the 13th of April the U14 girls Knole Park HC team headed up to the Nottingham Hockey Centre to play in the National Plate final against Leeds. The weather in the Midlands was not great but we still had a good warmup and were ready for the game. The team started strong but against the run of play Leeds scored their first goal, we kept our heads up but about ten minutes later a ball rolled onto one of our players’ feet and Leeds were awarded a penalty corner. The injection was fast and a drag flick went straight into the corner of the goal we were all disappointed but we did not give up and subsequently we got a penalty corner we were confident we could which we did and now we were back in the game at 2-1. It was a hard fought, end to end battle with four penalty corner goals scored by Leeds and 3 from Knole Park, unfortunately we could not catch up with them and finished the game 5-3 becoming silver medallists; which was an incredible feat given most of the team were, in fact U13 and some U12.
Sevenoaks HC U16 Boys, Tier 1 Supra League (2nd place)
Written by Archie A, Fifth Form
Archie A, Seb H, Cian N, Wian Band Marek O delivered an outstanding performance at the National Finals, topping their group winning every match quite convincingly. Our teamwork, discipline and determination carried us all the way to a hard‑fought final against Wimbledon, where we were narrowly edged out 2–1 in a tense contest. Although a few contentious umpiring decisions added frustration, the boys showed exceptional character throughout. It was an unforgettable experience for us and hopefully we will bring more success next year both for school and club hockey. A special mention to Cian N, who finished top scorer at the tournament with 7 goals in 4 games.
Sevenoaks HC U16 Girls, Tier 1 Supra League Final (1st place)
Written by Ella Gates and Lexie Slater, Fourth Form
On the 11th of April we travelled up to Nottingham to play the National shield tier 1 final against Beeston Hockey club. We qualified after having won all but one match all season. The final was a great game with end-to-end hockey from both teams; However, we secured a convincing 6:0 win to win the title. It was an amazing weekend in Nottingham watching a fantastic standard of hockey across the two days; especially as so many SVS pupils representing different teams were there.
East Grinstead HC U16 Girls, Tier 1 Plate Final (1st place)
Written by Lula O’Neill and Lara Lambert, Fourth Form
The East Grinstead U16 team played Stourport in the T1 plate final in Nottingham. EG came up against a very strong and physical Stourport team and went 0-1 down, before Lara scored to pull it back to 1-1 and take it to shuffles! EG held their nerve and didn’t miss a shuffle – both Lula and Lara took a shuffle for the team. It was a great ending of a successful but eventful season which had seen the team suffer lots of injuries and set backs, but they came through it all to win the plate!
Holland Elite Hockey Cup (U12 Girls)
Over the Easter weekend, five of our U12 girls travelled to The Netherlands to compete in the Holland Elite Hockey Cup, an annual 11 a side tournament that attracts some of the strongest young hockey teams from across Europe.
Mollie H, Ciara C, Zara H M and Iris L represented Knole Park HC, while Poppy Lambert competed with East Grinstead HC. Both teams faced high quality opposition from a range of European countries, including the hosts from Eindhoven, Oranje Rood.
Following several impressive wins, both teams progressed to the semi finals, where they were narrowly beaten in closely fought matches. This led to a third and fourth place play off, with East Grinstead edging the match 2–1.
All the girls enjoyed an incredible weekend, gaining valuable experience against elite opposition and creating unforgettable memories in an outstanding international tournament.
