Nine girls set of on the long journey down to the Under 12 IAPS hockey finals at Rugby School. With exams on the horizon, plenty of work was done as we travelled south.

We headed to our accommodation before setting of for a practice session at Rugby School. It was lovely to stretch our legs and see the pitches we would be playing on. We found a Pizza Express in the town and enjoyed a hearty meal before heading back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep.

We woke up ready to take on the challenge we had before us. Our first match was a close fought game against Cranleigh, who unfortunately managed to score in the last two minutes to win 1-0. Despite this disappointment, we dug deep, winning the next two games 6-0 and 3-0. Our final group match was a tense affair, but we came out of this with a 1-1 draw, which placed us second in the group and took us through to the Championship Competition. We had a two-hour break, so took a stroll around the school and visited the pitch where the game of rugby was born!

Our competition ended in the quarter finals where, try as we might, we couldn’t get the ball in the net against a Kings Hall team that had scored one goal on a breakaway. We were naturally disappointed but after time for reflection we realised that this experience would give us motivation for next year and we were pleased to have finished in the top eight teams.

Many thanks to Rugby School for their hospitality, to Mrs Fletcher for taking us and to our travelling supporters for all the touch line cheering.