Over the half term, 16 of Shiplake’s finest Hockey players took part in a tour of Barcelona, organised by Mr Walter and Miss Mordue.
When the girls arrived, they had no time to relax as they were quickly ushered to an intensive training session. Shortly after, and with the Spanish sun shining down they went into their second training session with the international coach. It was another intense session; where they learned how best to individually improve their own game; ultimately learning how to work together more effectively. What the girls didn’t know was that the international coach also turned out to be the coach of the Junior Hockey Club which they were due to face the next day. As their coach knew our girls’ tactics, it seemed as though they were immediately disadvantaged.
The first match started well and the Shiplake girls were confident. Unfortunately that was short lived as The Junior Hockey Club’s quick passes made light work of our girls and they managed to score a goal. Our intrepid travellers then pressed hard and managed to get the ball up several times, but they couldn’t quite manage to convert it into a goal.
They came out strong at halftime and played some exceptional hockey, working the ball up the pitch and made some great shots on goal, but the home team’s goalie was of a high standard and deflected every shot. With full-time approaching, the girls played on all engines, but even with all their efforts, the Spanish team used their skill and knowledge of our girls’ tactics to their advantage and managed to score again. Well done to the whole team and well played.
The final training session was just hours before the final match so they decided to have a fun training session and to work on things such as short corners. It was a great training session and set Shiplake up perfectly for our last match.
The closing game was against Terrassa Hockey Club. The Shiplake girls started the match with confidence. Quicker passes between each other meant they were able to get the ball up several times in our end before scoring! Facing a very strong defence, it was proving harder for our team, and they scored three goals in quick succession, making it 3-1. It was a tense second half and with 5 minutes left of the match and with a short corner left to play, the water cannons came on! After waiting for the water to stop, the game carried on and the intensive training proved worthwhile as our girls managed to score a goal making the score 3-2 to Terrassa. We dug deep and managed to hold them off until the end of the match. It was a great match and really well played by everyone.
It was a fantastic Hockey Tour and the girls learnt an abundance of new invaluable hockey skills, which will be used to better their play for the rest of the season.
The girls would like to say a massive thank you to Mr Walter and Miss Mordue for an amazing trip.