Having won the Tier 1 County Tournament in January, and having had a good season since, the U13A hockey team went into the South Regional Tournament feeling quietly confident. With the matches being 35 minutes long, there were to be plenty of opportunities and the team had to have their wits about them all day, especially with the standard being so high.

Up first we had to play Reeds, who not only won regionals last year, but beat us en route to doing so. However, we left that result in the past and moved forward to beat Reeds 6:3, playing some excellent passing hockey in the process.

Next we had St George’s College from Weybridge, with both teams going into the game having won their first matches, we knew this would be a competitive match. The game kicked off with both teams showing their quality. Shortly St George’s scored. Our heads didn’t fall with a long way to go. With shots coming fast and good chances for both sides, we decided to show up with a wonder strike from Cian. This then made the teams level at half time. As the second half started we had a short corner, well worked by Nathan scoring a beautiful goal into the bottom corner. We held the lead for a long time until St George’s pounced, levelling the game. Struggling to keep hold of the ball, we struggled to score, leaving the final score 4:2 to St George’s, despite some heroic efforts from the boys.

Up next we had Kent College. Our team recovered well and won the game 7:3, including some beautiful team goals and a double hat-trick from Cian. We finished the day proudly in second place, knowing that if things had gone slightly differently, we could have been victorious. However, the boys worked incredibly hard, playing a beautiful brand of hockey and we should be very proud of ourselves.

Report by Xavier E (Second Form)

Team: Chester L, Gus G, Aaryan H, Nathan C, Huw E, Xavier E, Seb H, Wian B, Cian N, Max J (all Second Form)