In the first week of the Easter holiday the Under 14 A and B girls’ hockey sides undertook a short tour to The Hague, Holland, building on the excellent links the school has developed with several of the leading hockey clubs in the area.
Canford’s first matches got underway at Alecto, a club that the teams have visited many times before. The A’s played against a strong side and although Alecto twice took the lead, Canford fought back, eventually securing a combative draw. In the B’s match, Alecto took the narrowest of leads but after half time the game was level at 2-2, with the final score 2-5; a poor reflection of a closely fought game.
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For their second game against Berkel en Rodenrijs, the B team were pitched against a very skilful junior side – to their credit the Bs chased every ball, but the Dutch youngsters found the net regularly and ran out 11-0 winners. Watching the Dutch A side warming up it seemed that they might have the same score for this match too, but luckily Canford’s A’s rediscovered the form that had deserted them at the Nationals, and turned in what was possibly their performance of the year. The girls worked tirelessly in all areas of the pitch to knock the Dutch out of their stride. 0-0 at half time but Canford found the extra gear after break and managed to finish the game with a 2-0 win. A fiercely competitive and enjoyable match followed by a very sociable evening in the clubhouse.
After some sightseeing and a brisk bike ride, Canford’s third and final game had arrived against Roomburg HC in Leiden. This turned out to be a very friendly club, and two perfectly pitched games played concurrently. The B’s played out a fast open game and ran out 1-0 winners. It was a great team performance to round off the tour – all sections of the team played their part. The A’s game was a weary one, but late in the game a triple save by Canford was quickly followed by a two goals to secure the victory.
The A’s thus returned from Holland undefeated, a rare achievement. The B’s benefited from the intensity of the hockey and showed huge character to bounce back from a difficult middle game to end with a stylish win. All in all a very successful trip – everyone who came across the tour party was impressed by the Canford teams, both on and off the field.
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