The Year 9 hockey team have had a very successful season having won the district league and the Midlands finals. As a result of their success, the team were entered into the National Hockey Tournament held at Nottingham Hockey centre on the 4 May.

They travelled up to Nottingham in the morning for a day of hockey. A tightly packed schedule of 6 matches against schools from as far south as the Isle of Wight, to the North of Derbyshire awaiting. We travelled in the minibus with motivational tunes playing all the way the squad were excited and ready. Excitement grew as we arrived, and the scale of the event dawned. Six full size hockey pitches circling a club house, made a fine setting.

The group of 9 players have developed as individual players and as an effective team over the season and put together some well-coordinated and high quality plays. The team played some very strong opposition and put the defence under significant pressure. The assertiveness and commitment from Isobel. S, Mia. S and Radhika. M in defence to keep the score line low was exceptional. Emily M, from Y8 has had a fantastic year as the goalkeeper and has performed well beyond her years to make some very exciting saves during the tournament. Like the defensive play, the attacking performance got better and better though the tournament with many attacks being created by Ellie. S.

Weaving in and out of the opposition, great vision to release passes to the high forward Lucy. K, who relieved the pressure many times to receive the ball high up the pitch creating some super opportunities on goal against some very strong opposition, as well as some lovely accurate crosses to the back post. Another assertive player making great efforts in attacking and defensive play was Kiara. K. Last ditch tackles, never giving up on tracking back with a player or driving forward into space and having a significant influence on the play. The consistent and persistent efforts from midfield/wings Liv. S and Felicity. R. The distances covered by these two players, sometimes without receiving the ball, but to keep creating the opportunities was commendable.

With some games back to back the intensity was high. Rotating the players on and off the bench was managed well with the squad being supportive both on and off the pitch. CCS played their final match against the eventual winners of the tournament. By far this was the most impressive performance from the squad. The quality of the tackles, the communication and back up play was fantastic and really limited the opposition’s opportunities in front of the goal. Early on, CCS had an opportunity to score with a high pass from Ellie. S made to Lucy. K who narrowly missed. The high intensity continued throughout the game. The squad should be really proud of how the approached the high level of challenge and the quality of their performance. We are also very proud of how they conducted themselves at the tournament and how they responded to some difficult opposition.

The team finished 6^th overall in the National A tournament.

Players player: Isobel. S

Coaches’ player: Emily. M and Kiara. K